Illiterate People Preserve An Ancient Art
Mystic sects and practices that exist in India today
Literacy isn’t the hallmark of progress that we think it is.
In a world where literacy is usually celebrated, the idea that it could also be eroding ancient, sacred traditions might be surprising.
The book Nine Lives is a collection of interviews by William Dalrymple. He highlights how illiteracy has preserved the art of epic storytelling in some communities. The art is threatened by modern recording methods and the spread of literacy.
This poses a provocative challenge to the conventional belief that literacy is always a positive force.
An oral tradition of storytelling is being lost because of an increase in literacy, disease has impacted the devadasis tradition, ongoing political conflict over religious practices, and an invasion threatens the ability of these people to follow their path.
Each chapter provides insights into one person’s sacred life and the devotions that connect them to their God through ritual and prayer.
They represent examples of the mystic sects and practices existing in India today. Living on the edge of society, these individuals preserve their traditions in a changing land.
Most of the customs are threatened in some way by a more defined Hinduism, a radicalized Islam, and the modernization of society in general.
The nine stories are:
1. The Nun’s Tale
Dalrymple begins this book with an interview of a Jain nun named Prasannamati Mataji. Jainism requires adherents to avoid harming any living creatures. She sweeps the ground before her as she walks and drinks only filtered water. He describes her devotion to this ascetic faith and her determination to remain free of attachments to attain release from this world and attain salvation. She describes sallekhana, which is a gradual ritual fast to death that is considered by devout Jainists to be the ultimate goal of liberation. He leaves the story of Mataji as she decides to follow the path of sallekhana, while still struggling not to mourn the loss of her friend who followed a similar path.
2. The Dancer of Kannur
A traditional dancer named Hari Das becomes the personification of the God Vishnu through his dancing during the three-month holy season. Although he is a member of a low caste, he is revered by higher-caste Brahmins while he is in this holy state. This reversal of ranking is an interesting insight into the complexities of the caste system. Das works as a manual laborer and prison guard during the rest of the year. The oppressive constraints of the caste system are challenged by changes in societal attitudes and increases in education which bring opportunity to all. This dancer’s hereditary tradition is threatened as his children are unlikely to continue in this way of life because of these opportunities and because of the financial and societal difficulties they would face if they continued in his footsteps.
3. The Daughters of Yellamma
Rani Bai is a devadasi who is resigned to her profession while remaining devoted to Yellamma, the deity of the temple. The devadasis once danced and sang at the temple as part of worship rituals and worked and served as needed. Today most devadasis support their family by working from their homes as a prostitute. Although she isn’t happy with her life, Rani Bai follows tradition and dedicates her daughters to the temple; they subsequently die of AIDS.
4. The Singer of Epics
In a rare example of a living oral tradition, a hereditary singer of epic stories still travels and performs, although his tradition is threatened by modern recording methods. Dalrymple proposes that Mohan Bhopa’s illiteracy gives him the ability to remember these monumental epics. It is an interesting insight that literacy is destroying this art form, which breathes life into the stories as they are spoken.
5. The Red Fairy
Lal Peri is a powerful mystic who lives and dances at a Sufi shrine in Pakistan. She came from eastern India as a Muslim after her father died and conflicts between Hindus and Muslims grew. Her family fled to Pakistan where they encountered more violence and eventually, her visions led her to live at the shrine. The shrine and her way of life are under threat of destruction because of the conflict between Sufism and Muslims.
6. The Monks Tale
Tashi Passang is a Tibetan Buddhist monk who gave back his vows in order to fight against the Chinese when they invaded Tibet. The Buddhist tradition includes a duty to give back your vows and fight in order to protect the dharma. After years of fighting and hating the Chinese, he has found a way to release his hatred and retake his vows but still feels that he may not be forgiven for the killing he has done. He holds hope that one day Tibet will be free and he will be able to return home.
7. The Maker of Idols
Sirikanda Stpaty is the twenty-third hereditary idol maker in his line. Stpaty believes that once a statue is complete, the deity takes on the form of the idol and it is filled with the divine. In that way, he is creating a God. He is determined not to force his son to follow in his footsteps if he does not want to. His son is interested in becoming a computer programmer.
8. The Lady Twilight
In order to attract the attention of the great Goddess Tara at Tarapith, sadhus decorate their huts with rows of human skulls from the cremation grounds that they live on. These tantric practitioners believe the path to salvation is reached by opposing convention and social mores by living on the edge of reason. They are believed to receive power from Tara and many pilgrims visit them to gain strength. Manisha Ma Bhairavi is a woman who follows this tradition and strongly believes that Tara is her mother and protector. The Tantric tradition is under threat from the ruling Communist party.
9. The Song of the Blind Minstrel
Each January, at the Baul monastery in Bengali there is a festival where philosophers gather to sing of the truth found within oneself. Kanai Das is a friend of the Lady Twilight so Dalrymple finds him to interview. Das is blind and was lucky to have a good singing voice so that he could make a living as a Baul, or wandering minstrel. Bauls do not follow caste distinctions or religious rituals. They give up their possessions and follow the path of love, traveling from village to village and offering songs and knowledge in return for their daily needs.
On the surface, these stories present a wide range of seemingly unusual practices that stretch my Western views
In each of the lives described, the person has sacrificed something to follow their calling. They relinquished sacred vows to protect their country, gave up their daughters to earn money to support their family, surrendered their wealth or caste, and in most cases, their health to devote their lives to their God.
They receive something in return for this sacrifice. Many have found a strong sense of community where they are welcomed and understood, even among outcasts living on cremation grounds. Some of them came to a temple for protection and remained because of the support they received there.
They identify with something larger than themselves and have chosen their devotional path. A thread of peace and acceptance echoes in each chapter as each person describes their devotion.
This collection illustrates the gradual loss of diversity occurring around the world. Many of these practices follow a hereditary tradition and they are at risk because the next generation is unlikely to follow the same path.
A tradition of storytelling is being lost because of an increase in literacy, disease has impacted the devadasis tradition, ongoing political conflict over religious practices and an invasion threaten the ability of these adherents to follow their path.
The final theme is an underlying quest for liberation the cycle of death and rebirth and the need for release.
Each individual gives control to a power greater than themselves. The practice of sallekhanas is a gradual letting go. The singer loses himself in his song and the dancer is subsumed by his God while he dances.
This rich diversity is at risk of being homogenized. That’s a loss to all of us.
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A version of this story was previously published on Medium.
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