1. Introduction
“Pheriwala” Jogi community is one of the excluded and minority ethnic
groups in Nepal. This community is in the position of socially and politically
excluded, economically marginalized and ultra poor, demographically minority
and ethnically without defined ethnic identity. The distinct socio-cultural
identity and ethnicity of this community has not been recognized by the state
that would have eventually placed them out of the broader social groups of
Nepal, such as Brahmin-Chhetris-Thakuri-Dashnami Sanyasi, Janajati, Dalit and
Madheshi. Because of this identity crisis, the Jogi community has been left out
in the current development processes through political, economic and social
exclusion. This community has remained unlisted and unrecognized by the
government. The Pheriwala Jogi does not have access to inclusion initiatives of
government and I/NGOs for excluded groups, due to the lack of state recognition
and exclusion from the official list of excluded groups. Hence, the recognition
of their ethnic identity would lead them for development mainstream. There is
no anthropological written document on the socio-cultural identity of this
community till date and the census or other surveys have not comprised its
demographic and socio-economic data. An in-depth knowledge about the ethnic
history, culture, ritual, traditions of
Pheriwala Jogi is still lacking. Consequently, this article is written to
highlight the ethnic origin and socio-cultural identity of Pheriwala Jogi. The
identity of “Pheriwala” is derived from the “Pheri” culture. "Pheri culture" is socially recognized as the social
protection system from the evil spirits in Nepalese society. The Pheri culture,
"Bhairung" (ancestral origin) based egalitarian social organization, animist/shamanist
religious belief and ethno-spiritual faith healing traditions of this community
constitute their distinct ethnicity and identity. Hence, this article aims
at filling a void in the ethnographic knowledge and ethnic identity of
culturally distinct and historically separate peoples-Pheriwala Jogi who
inhabit in almost 24 districts east of Kathmandu.
2. Ethnic history of “Pheriwala” Jogi community
There is no evident
fact about the origin and history of Pheriwala
Jogi community because there hasn’t been any detailed anthropological study on
this community conducted yet. The myths of origin and history exist among Pheriwala Jogi people; however, they are
only in oral form. The meaning, origin and evolution of the term “Jogi” is not
very clear. It is most commonly being
used as an adjective word describing the state of a person who either has
nothing or has lost all belongings. The term “Jogi” refers to the status of an
empty hand, or a person who has given up the family relations or is far from
the social responsibilities. Broader Nepali Dictionary (2002) has mentioned
roughly the same meaning of the term “Jogi”, “Sadhu”, “Santa” and “Sanyasi”. The
dictionary defines the term Jogi as the state of having nothing or being empty,
Sadhu as the person who lives with meditation giving up the family relations,
sexual relations and social life, Santa as the person who is involved in
religious activities without getting involved in household matters and Sanyasi
as the person who has given up the family life and household matters. Due to
the almost identical meaning of these words/terms, all the priests, temple
Mahantas, the Sadhus, Santas and Babas taking shelter in various temples and
all the beggars are also known as Jogi. Nevertheless, the Pheriwala Jogi people
are very far away from the above definition and meaning.
The elders Jogi
people tell different myths, legends and stories about the origin of Pheriwala
Jogi people. However, Sharma (1982) and Briggs (1973) have provided the portrait
of their origin in Nepal from the anthropological and historical perspective.
Regarding history of origin of Pheriwala Jogi people, according to Sharma
(1982) there was influence of Kanphata Yogi of Nath Sampradaya in Nepal in the
ancient time. They were known as Nath-Yogis. Nath-Yogis acknowledged themselves
as disciples of Saint Gorakhnath. There is influence of Shaivism and Vajrayana
among Nath Sampradaya. That is why they used to believe in ‘Panchamkar’
(Liquor/Alcohol, Meat, Fish, Mudra and Copulation/coitus- Maithun). Nath-yogis
believe in Hathyoga and they are the follower of ‘Panchamkar’. Thus, they used
to accept women offered by others for devotion/penance (sadhana). The women used
to be called Mudra or Sadhya. There was adequate influence of this kind of
Kanphata Yogis in Nepal. After standstill of mall’s influence in Karnali
region, there was hegemony of those Kanphata Yogis. Chandannath, one of the
Nath-Yogi, united the stippled states and established Jumla state, which he
later handed over to Balirajshahi in 1404. Similarly, King Ratnanath/Ratannath
had established Dang and Salyan states. Saint Bhagawantanath was the last
representative of King Ratannath and he was in existence till the time of
Pritvi Narayan Shah. He was highly respected by Pritvi Narayan Shah and used to
be addressed by “Shree Chha Maharaj”. After 1766, Pritvi Narayan Shah
maintained friendly relationship with Bhagawanta nath and used him to expand
his relation with states in Karnali province (Yogi 2022BS: 458 & 459).
During the existence
of Gorakhnath (8th-12th centuries-BC) in Nepal, the Nath
cult underwent its greatest expansion; there was massive gathering of people
(Nath-Yogis) for devotion (sadhana) through hath-yoga mainly in Karnali and
mid-west region of Nepal. The slavery system was abolished only in 1934 in
Nepal (1981 Mangsir 14 B.S). Before this, every well-off family had male and
female slaves/servants. Most of the slaves/servants women and men were
belonging to Tharu, Magar and Gharti ethnic groups. The social status of those
slaves/servants was lower than animals. Many of the slaves/servants became the
followers of Nath-Sampradaya because their social status was then upgraded. At
the same time, they used to be offered by the well-off families as Sadhya or
Mudra to the Nath Sampradaya to acquire supernatural power/perfection
(Siddhi/Siddha). Hence, the number of women had risen due to the acceptance of
slave women as Mudra or Sadhya. These women were usually later converted into
Rakhautis (illegal wives). Being Rakhauti of Nath Yogis, they gave birth to
their children. Being follower of ‘Panchamkar’ including Maithun, the other
slaves/servants men also established illegal sexual relationship with the women
who gave birth to more children. Gradually, the number of illegal children
became high.
There was a growing
need of a social arrangement for those descendents of slaves. Then, guru
Gorakhnath called them Kambar (Kanwar) Jogi because they were not allowed for
internal observance of Nath Yogis (Karma chalaune process) by piercing ear lobe
(Bouillier, 1993). The offspring/descendents of Nath Sampradaya typically enter
into internal observance by piercing their ear lobe. The Kanwar Jogis (Karma
Nachaleka progenies of slaves) were disqualified to collect alms at the day
time, as the Kanphata Nath Yogis do because their status is significantly lower
than the status of Kanphata Yogis. Gorakhnath recognized them as disciples and
provided them the responsibility of protecting human beings from all the evil
spirits and ghosts by respecting earth and nature. Therefore, the Karma Nachalne men and women were
released from the world of Kanphata Yogis (Nath-Yogis) and sent to Eastern part
of Nepal to perform their duty. The Karma
Nachalne Jogi people were the descendents of Tharu and Magar women slaves.
The Tharu women with their children were accepted by other Tharu men in the
Tarai, so they did not follow the Pheri culture, but their clan names remained
Jogi, following their internal social system. Consequently, today the names of
Tharu sect/clans are found as Kanphata, Jogi, Mahanta and Bhagat. They are the
offspring of the Karma Nachaleka Jogi people released from the world of
Kanphata Yogis, who still respect and worship to Gorakhnath and Ratannath
(Sharma, 1982:360).
The remaining Karma
Nachaleka Jogi people; descendents of Magar women slaves; were divided into
52 clans/tribes. They agreed to accept the Gorakhnath’s responsibility.
Gorakhnath was enriched with magical and special tantric power to protect the
human, earth and nature. A system of
blowing Pheri in night time twice a year to protect the human beings from evil
spirits and collecting alms (Nevadan or Sidha) on the following day was
arranged for those Karma Nachaleka
Jogi people. Gorakhnath provided them with spiritually spelled “Pheri” (a horn
of Barath/Krishnasar – a blackbuck), tantric spells (mantras) and Bhairung (as
sub-tribe of Jogi people) name with special divine powers against ghosts and
evil spirits to them. As a result, the ancestral origin (Kul) of Pheriwala Jogi
is known as Bhairung. Due to the Pheri culture/tradition or ritual, they were
identified as Pheriwala Jogi. Then, they travelled to the Eastern part of Nepal
and resided in the hills in scattered numbers, as they divided the certain geographical
areas to each tribe for conducting Pheri ritual. According to the history, the
Pheriwala Jogi community came to the east during 8th to 12th
centuries (BC). Initially, Pheriwala
Jogi’s ancestors inhabited few villages of 17 hill districts east from Kathmandu
valley (Lalitpur, Sindhupalchowk, Kavrepalanchok, Makawanpur, Ramechhap,
Sindhuli, Okhaldhunga, Solukhumbu, Khotang, Udayapur, Sankhuwasabha, Tehrathum,
Dhankuta, Bhojpur, Taplejung, Panchthar and Ilam) in Nepal and in Darjeeling
district of West Bangal and Sikkim sate in India. Later, some of the Jogi
families migrated to Eastern Tarai districts: Jhapa, Morang and Sunsari from
hill districts.
According to various
legends (http://gorakhnath.org/legend.php), Gorakhnath (also known as Gorakshanath) existed between 8th
to 12th centuries BC. One
legend states that Guru Gorakshanath, the "eternal sage"
traditionally associated with Hath Yoga (one of the branches of Yogic
practices) spent most of the time in meditation, watching the welfare of
humanity for thousands of years. Initially, Gorakhnath
was the inventor of Vajrayoga and Vajrayana (Tantric and Mantrayana), one of
the doctrines of Buddhism among three Triyana: (a) Hinayana (b) Mahayana and
(c) Vajra Yana. Later on, Gorakhnath
was connected to Shaivism, considering Shiva as one of the two most important
disciples of Matsyendranath. Then, Gorakhnath
developed the two different disciples for Shaivism and Tantrism/Vajrayana. Nath
Sampradaya (Nath-Yogi) is the
follower of Shaivism. Gorakhnath had
instigated the system of Karma Chalaune
(eligible for cultural rituals) by piercing ear lobe in Nath Yogi Community to
become Gorakhnath’s disciple and to
enter into meditation process. By this, Nath-yogis were known as Kanphata Yogis (ear split Yogis).
The above description
of historical juncture provides an overview of the origin and evolution of
Pheri culture and Pheriwala Jogi community as a distinct ethnicity. To support this history of origin, Jogi
elders say that there were two-way marital relationships between Jogi and Magar
even up to last seven to eight generations and most of the women who married
with Jogi men were Magar, nine to ten generations back. The Pheriwala Jogis
continued performing Pheri culture, based on animism/shamanism, and maintained
alcohol/liquor drinkers, non-Tagadhari (non-wearers of holy cord) and non-arya
ethnic identity (key informant interview and study of life history, 2011).
A race is defined as
a group of people with certain common inherited features that distinguish them
from other groups of people. The most significant differences between the races
are language, hair and facial features, skin colour. However, based on the
circumstances resulting in the origin of Pheriwala Jogi people, they are not
inherited from a particular race. Like most of the ethnic groups, they did not
inherit all the characteristics of one group only. Pheriwalas were swelled by
the unions between an Indo-Aryan male and women from Tibeto-Burman speaking
ethnic groups such as Magar, Gharti and Tharu; and between male and female from
Mongolian race (Magar, Tharu). The physical appearance, hair, facial features
and skin colour of Jogi people are like Mongolian race people. Furthermore, a
sociologist, Max Weber (1922) differentiated between racial and ethnic identity
by proposing that a blood relationship was necessary for racial identification
but not for ethnic identification.
From the beginning,
Pheriwala Jogi people are religiously animist/shamanist, believe in tantric
healing practices, alcohol/liquor drinker (matwali) and non-tagadhari (no-wearer
of sacred thread) ethnic people. As per the socio-cultural relationship of
Jogis with other social group, Jogis fall under the Matwali groups. By origin, Pheriwala Jogis were the spiritual
disciples of tantric inventor Gorakhnath, but not the Shaivism follower. They
are non-Hindu community, as the Pheri culture and spiritual faith healing
practices are based on animism/shamanism and tantrism, which are as such
religious doctrines. With the separate ethnic origin, Pheriwala Jogis are not
part of Hindu Varna caste system (Brahmin, Chhetris, Vaishya and Sudra).
When we look at the Pheriwala Jogi society, it appears to be based on beliefs of
equality. In this sense the Jogi society is an egalitarian society. Though they
have a clan organization having 52 Bhairungs,
yet hierarchy is not found among them. Clan/Bhairung
as a system is very important in Jogi society to maintain social relationship
with one another. The Jogi society is divided into many clans/sub-clans and
finally into lineage.
"Clan" connotes the smallest patrilineal
descent groups, a specific name, having a generational depth also representing,
in ideal terms, the agnatic exogamous unit (Gaenszle 2000). The Jogi people are
divided into a number of named units as bansha
(ancestral origin), which can be considered as a clan. Over the years the clan
has become dispersed, and the names of Bhairungs/clans
have been forgotten. Pheriwala Jogi
people call “Bhairung” to refer to
their clan, sub-tribe or bansha. Bhairung is considered as ancestral
origin or Kul in this community.
There are 52 clans (sub-tribes) or bhairungs
in Pheriwala Jogi community, which is
also mentioned in their spells/mantras
to be chanted at the time of Pheri
ritual. It is believed that every bhairung
has a divine power to protect its descendents from evil spirits i.e. ghosts,
illness, crisis, famine or other scarcities. Collective power of bhairungs can protect all human beings
from evil spirits.
Pheriwala Jogi people
generally only write “Jogi” as their family name or surname in the formal
documents i.e. citizenship certificates, land ownership certificates, academic
certificates etc. While the Jogi people meet, they do not know each other's
clan or bhairung because usually they leave out their clan names as surname. In
that case, they ask each other's Bhairung's name, which would point out from
which sub-tribe they, are and their relationship (ancestral or marriageable).
The names of clans/bhairungs are generally derived from the names and forms of
evil spirits and natural powers.
According to the of Pheriwala Jogi customary law, a marriage between the same clan is
not permissible at any generation. At the time of field survey, respondents
said that there was no such practice of marriage by formal split of the clan
after certain generations. Several clans in the study area found to have an
uninterrupted clan continuity of more than eighteen generations. Bhairung is the main basis of sorting
the relations of father’s and mother’s blood/bansha/ancestor, marriageable (Kutumba) or other relations. Besides Bhairung, Totem (gotra) and Branch (Shakha)
are also the basis of relation classification for marriage purpose. Some names
of Bhairungs are similar to the name
of Bhairav, more terrifying aspects
of Shiva which is often depicted with frowning, angry eyes and sharp, tiger
teeth and flaming hair stark naked except for garlands of skulls and a coiled snake around the neck. In four hands, Bhairav
carries a noose, trident, drum, and skull
and is often shown accompanied by a dog. However, Bhairung has no image, it is invisible, and it is only a belief of
Jogi people as their ancestral origin/Kul/clan.
Bhairav has eight manifestations or names, including Kala (black), Asitanga
(with black limbs), Sanhara (destruction), Ruru (hound), Krodha
(anger), Kapala (Skull), Rudra
(storm) and Unmatta (raging). It proves that the names of Bhairav are
only eight but the names of Bhairung
are 52, although few names are similar which may happen because the names of
both are derived from the names and forms of evil spirits. This implies that
Bhairav and Bhairung, though there
are some similarities, are not quite
same and both have different meaning, role and spiritual beliefs.
4. The Pheri culture: making of Pheriwala Jogi identity
The people locally address the Jogi people as Pheriwala who perform the Pheri ritual. Pheri ritual is one of the most important ethno-religious-spiritual
attributes, continuously practiced, across both rural and urban spaces since
time immemorial. They believe themselves to be the loyal disciples of Gorakhnath, as Gorakhnath knew the world is featured with innumerable evil spirits
and authorized them to protect human beings from the evil spirits
characterising the world. Pheri is very essential instrument to perform the ritual and other
religious ritual performance. Some people know the Pheri as Shringinad (Kandel,
2004). During the months of Chaitra
(mid March – mid April) and Kartik
(mid October- mid November), in the nights from 12 pm to 3 am, Pheriwala Jogi people visit every
household in a village or a particular region and blow ‘Pheri” in four corners of the house as it is believed that evil
spirits are active during that period. In the process, they produce a series of
uncanny sounds supported by spiritual mantras
often hard to decipher by ordinary people. They start to chant mantras before reaching to the house.
After reaching to the house, they blow the Pheri
in four corners of the house along with chanting mantras, and then they blow the Pheri
near Main Pillar (mul tham) of ground
floor inside the house and other floors of the house. The Pheriwalas have to visit at least nine houses in one night and
should go alone to perform the Pheri
ritual. They spend half an hour to one hour in each house to perform this
ritual. The other people should not look at the Pheri or touch it.
The next morning, they collect
alms or what they also call Navadan from the individual households of
the village/region where they have performed the Pheri ritual in the night. In the morning they say ‘Jai Gorakhnath’ standing in front of main
gate of house and collect the alms (Navadan),
since they respect the Gorakhnath as
their guru or teacher. They collect alms for the nau graha santi (peace to the nine planets of the solar system) for
the members of the households. They believe, they have the power to carry along
with them all the planetary problems of human being inflicted upon by different
locations of nine planets revolving around the solar system. Rural
people often wonder why Pheriwala did
not visit their houses if, by chance, a particular village or a region is left
out during the period. It is strongly imbibed within the culture of Nepali speaking
households across Darjeeling, Sikkim, and Nepal. Superstitiously, Pheri phuknu or Pheri culture
is one of the important ethno-religious-spiritual attributes in force across Nepal.
One Pheriwala visits one pre-demarcated
village/region, as decided in advance in the common shelters. There is no
overlap in the performance i.e. no two Pheriwalas
perform in the same village at the same night. There are, however, cases when
two Pheriwalas perform collectively.
In that case, one of them would be a junior or a disciple who would be learning
the lessons of Pheri ritual and the
associated mantras from his senior or
a master.
This tradition has wide social recognition from all
caste and ethnic groups in Nepal since time immemorial. Spiritually, this
culture and tradition is being considered as social protection mechanism or
system in Nepalese society. All the religious followers of Hinduism, Buddhism,
Kirant, Animism and Tantrism, have strong belief in existence of ghosts and
evil spirits. Comparatively, the Janajati communities (ethnic groups) of Nepal
like Rai, Limbu, Tamang, Gurung, Magar, Tharu, Newar, Majhi, Chepang, Dhimal,
Santhal etc have strong belief on the ghosts and different forms of evil
spirits, their impact on human lives and need of the pacifying rituals. In this
context, People believe that if Pheriwalas
blow Pheri in the house supported by
special mantras twice a year, no
ghosts, preta and pichas (forms of
evil spirits) would attack or create horror in the house for the whole year,
all family member would be protected from illness or disease, family
environment and relation would be peaceful, prosperity would come to the house,
there is graha shanti in the house
and the crop harvest would be very good. Due to these believes, the Pheri culture has been acknowledged by
everyone as a religious, cultural, spiritual and social protection system. As a
result, there is a wide social recognition to the Pheri culture. The Nepalese societies have great respect,
affection, fidelity and faith over the Pheri
culture and its ritualistic Pheriwala
Jogi people. There is a client-patron relationship between Pheriwala Jogi and other ethnic communities because Pheriwalas are ritual shamanist to
pacify the evil spirits through Pheri
culture and other communities have confidence over the Pheriwalas' rituals. It has been recognized as distinct cultural
attribute and identity in Nepalese society and its followers have been regarded
as a separate ethnicity or ethnic group.
A certain geographical region or area has been
demarcated to the Pheriwala Jogis
residing in all districts. It was said that traditionally Jogi people had their
ethnic organization that distributed these areas to all Jogi families in a
certain district and it mediated all the disputes related to Pheri ritual. For example: a certain
area in Sankhuwasabha district was designated to the Jogi families of
Sankhuwasabha district and similarly an area was designated to Jogi people in
Tehrathum. They never interrupt each other's areas. Furthermore, in most of the
cases, Jogi families in each district were divided into different villages
based on their belonging to the same bhairung.
As a result, only members of the same bhairung
used to reside in one village and each bhairung used to get assigned certain
villages to perform the ritual. But over the time, after marital relationship,
the relatives of sons or daughters started to get migrated to son's or
daughter's villages. Consequently, at present, we can find the mix settlements
of Jogi families belonging to different Bhairungs due to migration and
marriages. However, the certain geographical area is assigned to the Jogi
families residing in certain geographical area. When the sons got separated
from mul ghar, father provides them a
Pheri, mantra and some villages to
each son to perform Pheri ritual
along with land and other property as Ansha
(share of ancestral property).
The Pheri ritual is performed generally only
by men. Women do not perform this ritual for security reason as the Pheri ritual must be performed only
during night time (from 12 pm to 3 am). The women stay at home and take care of
children, domestic animals and farming while the men go for Pheri ritual. Due to the patriarchal
tendency, Jogi women have generally not been allowed to go alone far from home,
which restrict them from performing the Pheri
ritual. However, they are actively involved in economic activities of their
families. While men are out of the house for Pheri ritual, women are responsible for their families.
It was said
that every new born Jogi male must perform the Pheri ritual at least once in his life time. Thus, almost all male
Jogis used to be involved in performing the ritual in the past. The fathers and
ritual performers educate all the children (particularly the boys) about Pheri culture, Bhairungs, animist/shamanist tradition and faith healing process
during the Bhairung/Kul puja.
The girls also can carry out the worship of Bhairung.
But, only men are involved in executing Pheri
culture, performing rituals and healing activities. After being inducted on the
Pheri ritual, the boys can
participate in Pheri ritual.
Generally, the fathers go to the Pheri
ritual together with their sons and the elders brothers go together with
younger brothers. In the past, the Jogi children did not use to go schools due
to lack of awareness and poverty. So, the children aged above seven years used
to accompany to their fathers, elder brothers and uncles to perform Pheri ritual during the months of Kartik and Chaitra every year. During Pheri
ritual, the fathers and elder brothers socialize their children about Pheri culture and teach them about the mantras/spells and procedure of blowing Pheri in the house. When the children
Jogis get matured, they also go for Pheri
ritual together with their younger brothers. In this way, the culture of Pheri ritual, Bhairung Puja and healing
tradition are transferred from one generation to another, from fathers to sons.
However, over
the years, Pheriwalas started to conduct
Pheri ritual at any time (beyond the Kartik and Chaitra months) as occupation, for their survival, because of their
state of extreme poverty. Pheriwalas
were scolded and neglected by the people when they were performing the Pheri ritual beyond Kartik and Chaitra
months. Hence, the young generation of Pheriwalas seem to be less interested to
carry forward this odd and old tradition. Jogis themselves feel that they have
been gradually deviating from their historical-cultural attribute over the time
and they seem reluctant in performing the Pheri
ritual. Unfortunately, non-Pheriwalas
Jogi people also adopted this culture, ritual as they saw it as a good source
of income. They started to visit the areas, where Pheriwalas also perform the rituals, at any time and preformed the
rituals for the daan. Consequently,
the Pheri ritual lost its virgin
spirituality, religious and cultural attachment and trust from other people and
communities. Subsequently, the present young generation of
Jogis do not want to follow the Pheri
culture by performing it in public sphere because of humiliation and for being
blamed for begging. This has led some youths to change their surname from Jogi
to something else, according to their personal preference. It was found that at
least four youths have changed their family name from Jogi in the study area.
The disarray in religious-cultural beliefs of Pheri culture, its transformation into occupation and reluctance of
youth generation to follow this tradition have resulted in declining of Pheri culture which jeopardizes it and
even challenges the ethnic and socio-cultural identity of Pheriwala Jogi community.
4.1 Mantras to be chanted during Pheri blowing:
The Jogi
elders use different mantras (spells)
during Pheri ritual. There is
variation in mantras by place, age
group and generation and by use of language. The elders have more knowledge
about the mantras while young people
generally have very little knowledge about it and they cannot even pronounce
the mantras properly. The Pheri ritual is a kind of tantrism.
Through the mantras and blowing of
the Pheri, Jogis perform this ritual
by worshiping and praying to please the Almighty for the protection of human
beings, using uncommon super power of Bhairungs.
They pray for air, water, fire, sky and the land in their mantras urging their 52 Bhairungs
to please them and to protect human beings from different kind of evil spirits.
In all the mantras, Pheriwalas pronounce the name of various
Bhairungs and natures and request for
power to defeat all forms of evil spirits.
It is believed
that the different kinds of evil spirits (ghosts, khyak, kitchkani, kankal-kawoncha, bhauta, preta, pisach etc)
appear time to time in human houses and create horror in the mind of the people.
These evil spirits hypnotize people and lead them to death or drive them crazy
or chronic sickness. Ghosts and many other kinds of phantom like evil spirits
easily bring uneasy disturbance in human life and snatch human peace and
happiness, disturb human mind by spreading fear in the living beings, give a
lot of unbearable pain and anxiety or simply put them in a dilemma about their
sanity, this way or the other (Bajracharya, 2005).
In addition to
performing Pheri ritual, Pheriwala Jogis also play a role of
traditional ethno-spiritual faith healers. Pheriwalas
Jogis, by spelling the ritual tantric spell, infuse their powerful spell over
the people and get them out of misery, illness, crisis, famine or other
problems. They take them away from the clutch of the evil and black spirits
that always push people to trouble, pain, problem and misery. During healing,
Jogis provide a Jantra that is a
crystal medicine religiously prepared with secret ritual spell to the patients
that should be hung unseemly round the neck so that evil spirits and black
spirits could not attack them easily. They also provide the spelled water (Jal)
to drink so that the patients feel to be free from pain in the body. They also
give spelled ash, which is known as Bibhuti
that is to be marked on forehead so that they feel to be Phree from the misery
of the disease. These are all the tantric methods of Buddhism (Vajra Yana) as
well. These are the requisites for Jogis to heal the diseases through the
tantric doctrine. The Jogis also give some rudrakshya
to the people while healing because it is taken as a means of protection of
life from evil spirits and other bad and negative beings.
The Pheriwala Jogi people get special
request from people at the night for healing their sick members and they
immediately heal them using the above methods. While healing, they request for
power with bhairung and the Pheri and they demand some special daan with people in the name of offering
sacrifice to the Pheri. In the
following day, the relatives of ill persons offer special daan (black goat or cock/hen, black clothes, metal, money etc) as
demanded by Jogis. Many healing practices also take place during day time while
collecting alms/daan.
The Pheriwalas' mantras are considered as pre-vaidik mantras. In general, the mantras pray to natural powers such as
air, water, fire, sky and land requesting to protect human beings from
different kind of evil spirits. The mantras urge the super powers of various 52
Bhairungs against the evil spirits. A
mantra collected from Pheriwala elder is presented below in his
own words (in Nepali roman):
Jala bhairung,
Thal bhairung, Agni bhairung ko shaktile Akash badhu, patal badhu,
Bal bhairung,
Narsingh bhairung, Seti bhairung, Thingala bhairung ko shaktile bhuta maru, preta
maru chheda maru, bheda maru
Vajra
bhairung, Batuki bhairung, Kal bhairung, Laure bhairung, Rakta bhairung,
Chanchal bhairung ko shaktile yasai ghar dwar charai sur badhi rakshya garau,
Boksi, dainiko gyana maru
Dare mashan,
Hwangre mashan, Danda mashan, Khola mashan, Karabir mashan ko shakti jagau
Purba kali,
Pashchim kali, Uttar kali, Dakshin kali, Rakta kali, Rupai kali, Danta kali,
Bhashma kali, Chausathi kaliko Shakti jagau.
4.2 Role and relation of Pheri tradition in identity making of Jogi community
Religiously Pheriwala
Jogi people are animistic and the whole doctrine of Pheri culture is based on animism and shamanism. In other words, it
can be said that Pheri culture is
based on tantric religious conviction and values. Pheri ritual is being performed to pray or worship the nature, and
natural process of grains production system. Before the plantation season, in Chaitra month and before the harvesting
season in Kartik month, Pheri ritual is performed in every house
for the symbolic worship of nature. Pheri
culture has religious, spiritual and cultural importance in day to day life of Pheriwalas themselves and other people
in Nepalese society. Pheri culture is
the main cultural, social and religious basis of construction of distinct
ethnic identity and ethnicity of Pheriwala
Jogi people. This is the key ethnic maker of Pheriwalas that sets them apart from other ethnic groups and
cultures. A distinctive ethnicity and ethnic identity is being shaped, formulated
and recognized in the Nepalese society for Pheriwala
Jogi people based on the Pheri
culture. The understanding and consciousness of Pheriwala Jogi people is also being developed towards separate
ethnicity and ethnic identity group due to the Pheri culture and other cultural, religious practices, clan system,
social organization and ethnic origin history associated with the Pheri culture. Over the time, Pheriwala Jogi people felt socially and
culturally unrecognized by the state, despite their centuries old distinct
identity, ethnicity and cultural reputation and began to explore their ethnic
identity.
4.3 Linkage of Pheri tradition in naming of Jogi community as Pheriwala or Phree
“Phree” is one of the enlisted Indigenous Nationalities of Nepal, that
owes its origins to the traditional cultural practice of roaming from village
to village twice a year conducting the ‘Pheri'
ritual. The group might have come to be known as Phree due to this practice
(Pandeya, 2008). Pheriwala Jogi community
also has the traditional Pheri cultural practice. At present, the
people who write the family name “Jogi” in their formal official documents i.e.
citizenship certificate, passport etc, only follow the “Pheri” ritual as their original culture. Those people who were identified
as “Phree” ethnic group in few villages of Sindhupalchok, Kavrepalanchok,
Makawanpur, Ramechhap and Lalitpur districts, are nowadays known as Jogi and
use Jogi as their surname in formal documents. For that reason, no person can
be found with Phree as a family name because all of them, who were/are
identified as Phree, use the word Jogi as their family name. Informally, they
also call themselves “Kambar”. The Pheriwala Jogis were called Kambar to identify them as Karma Nachalne in the history. This proves
that currently called Jogi people are the same Phree people. Thapa (2000)
argues that the enlisted Indigenous Nationality “Phree” may have come to be
known as Phree by the traditional practice of “Pheri” ritual, a tradition/culture of Jogi/Kanwar (Kambar) people.
He has suspected that the Pheriwala
Jogi people could be Phree and the Phree people might have changed their
family/surnames. He has also recommended to recognizing the Pheriwala Jogi as Phree in connection
with Pheri culture or enlisting the
Jogi community as Janajati based on the state of exclusion, backwardness and
marginalization in the state services and opportunities. He further argues that
Jogi people have been treated as low rank people, just like all the other
Janajatis, by so called high caste people whereas the Janajatis, treat Jogi as
equal.
5. Traditional religion and religious belief
There is no certain temple of Pheriwalas
to worship and to perform religious rituals. In various occasions, they worship
the natures and their gods following their own process. Pheriwala Jogi people are religiously animist, shamanist and
tantric. They worship river, stream, tree, soil, air, so they are worshiper of
nature. Their traditional guru Gorakhnath
was also the originator of tantrism and Pheri
culture based on animism/shamanism and tantrism. During Pheri culture, Pheriwalas
pray to nature (river, air, soil, animal etc) and other super natural powers to
please them. Pheriwalas also play a
role of traditional ethno-spiritual faith healers based on shamanist values.
In socio-cultural practices of Pheriwala
Jogi community, there is no practice of age-ritual (bratabandha) and wearing of Janai
(sacred thread), traditionally they did not use Brahman priests to perform
their rites and rituals and there is no hierarchical varnashram system within Pheriwala
Jogi community. That is one of the reasons why the religion of Pheriwala is not Hindu. Jogi people are
close to animism and tantrism as they believe in tantra, mantra and ghosts (bhutpret)
and perform the widely and socially accepted Pheri culture to protect the whole human beings from evil spirits.
They worship the bhairung at least once a year in Chandipurnima. The Kul puja
is the main religious worship of Pheriwalas.
Bhairung/Kul puja is considered as
a household shrine of Pheriwala Jogi
which is worshipped within the household with participation of all family
members. Cocks and hens are sacrificed at the time of ritual. The number of
cock and hen to be sacrificed varies according to the various bhairungs. The Jand
made three and one night before the bhairung
puja with millet, a bottle of raksi, uncooked rice, two one side
cooked bread (rot) made of rice flour (cooked in fire and ash), a bread (Babar)
of rice flour cooked in mustard oil, fried soya-bean, some cow ghee and some
plants are required for the bhairung puja. This rite is mainly concerned with
household protection and prosperity. It is done to worship the ancestors so
that the ancestors may protect them from enemies, sufferings, accidents which
may occur during the year. The Pheriwala
Jogis consider bhairung puja is the main protector of the
household and source of aspiration and strength. They also worship the Pheri during the bhairung
puja to keep it effective and active
for defeating the evil spirits. Every time when new crop is harvested, first
the crop is to be offered to the bhairung
or ancestors and every new made Jand,
newly slaughtered meat and other food items are also to be offered in the time
of first use. No outsiders are allowed to go even nearby the bhairung puja.
When somebody becomes very sick, the elder member
in the family immediately worships bhairung/Kul and Pheri requesting them free the sick person from illness. They do so
by expressing regrets for known or unknown mistakes or ignorance in respect of bhairung and the Pheri. On the other hand, the traditional healers chant some Tantra/Mantra and give spelled water, Bibhuti (spelled ash) and Jantra to the sick person.
Nowadays, Pheriwalas Jogis pay
respect to Hindu gods and goddess. They worship in Hindu temples and celebrate
Hindu religious events and festivals. They depend upon Brahmin priests to
perform their life cycle and birth rites, wedding and death rites. Nonetheless,
their traditional culture and rituals are still based on animist and tantric
religious and spiritual values.
6. Jogi ethnicity and making of “Pheriwala” Jogi
identity
The culture, rituals, social organization/system,
myths and some other elements construct the ethnic identity of the Pheriwala Jogi. Ghai (2000) argues:
"Ethnicity is used here as a broad concept, covering a variety of factors
which distinguish one group of people from others. Important contemporary
distinctions are language, race, and religion and colour. When these markers
cease to be mere means of social distinctions, and become the basis of
political identity and claims to a specific role in the political process or
power, ethnic distinctions are transformed into ethnicity”. Guneratne (2002)
argues that the concept of ethnicity has been applied in a variety of ways in
the study of cultural differences and social interaction. On the one hand,
ethnicity is perceived as primordial and natural, on the other, ethnicity is
viewed as being historically contingent, relational, and shaped by the material
and social forces of the time, as cited by Guneratne (2002).
The two perspectives in the discussion of ethnic
identity and nationalism are:
primordialist on one hand and the instrumentalist or modernist, on the
other. According to the primordialist position, ethnic identity has always been
an aspect of social identity. On the other hand, the instrumentalism is opposed
to primordialism. Regarding ethnicity, the instrumentalist assumes that the
idea being that the point of emphasizing ethnic distinctiveness is to gain some
political or economic advantage. In discussion of nationalism, on the other
hand, it is modernism that is opposed to primordialism: the claim being made
here is that nationalism is essentially a modern phenomenon, not predating the
eighteenth century (Gellner 2008). Modernists do not deny that ethnic
categories, collections of people sharing a common language and/or culture,
existed and often persisted in the pre-modern era (Gellner 2008:13).
Smith (1986) provides six characteristics or
dimensions that make an ethnic category (cited by Gellner, 2008:14): a
collective name, a common myth of descent, a shared history, a distinctive
shared culture, an association with a specific territory and a sense of
solidarity. Gellner prefers to say that when a given population shares a common
language, a common culture, and a common attachment to a given territory, or at
least a historical link to these shared features, it thereby constitutes an
ethnic group. In his view, the six qualifications made by Smith, an ethnic
group does not need to share a myth of common origin. These criteria mentioned
above apply equally to the Pheriwala
Jogi people. Where a group is large enough to dominate a given political unit,
or may reasonably aspire to form its own, we have a nation. Where we are
dealing with a minority, it is invariably labelled an ethnic group or
community. The term "ethnicity" is generally confined to scholarly
discourse and is parasitic on the expression 'ethnic group' (Gellner 2008:8).
In this position, Pheriwala Jogi
being a minority group can be categorized as an ethnic group or ethnicity.
Ethnic identity is not measured by checking off
items in a list, it is relational and processual, and like any ethnic phenomenon,
it must be understood in its historical context. It is infinitely malleable and
changeable, unlike the concept of caste, which was built into it (despite
ethnographic evidence to the contrary) the connotation of rigidity or
inflexibility. Ethnicity, like nationalism, is about "the production of
ideologies of people hood" (Fox 1990:3). The emphasis in that phrase,
following on this understanding of ethnicity as processual, is clearly on
production (Guneratne 2002:10).
The Pheriwala Jogi ethnic
identity in Nepal is itself contingent upon the praxis of the state and upon
the client-patron relationships that Pheriwalas
have socially, religiously, culturally and spiritually established with other
ethnic/social groups in relation to performance of Pheri ritual. For the Pheriwala
Jogi, bhairungs (a social
system/organization), Pheri culture
and animist/shamanist religious traditions are such symbols in the construction
of ethnicity, ethnic group. The above-discussed ritual practices indicate that
they are an integral part of Pheriwala
Jogi peoples' culture and identity. It can be understood that performing
different rituals is a way for Pheriwala
Jogis to construct their ethnic identity and ethnic boundaries. By this, they
create a separate ethnicity for themselves and other people. According to the existing
definitions, features and criteria to define an ethnic identity, distinct
ethnicity, or Janajati, Pheriwala
Jogi is an ethnic group (Janajati) based on its culture, ritual, tradition,
socio-cultural relations, traditional practices and social organization.
7. Conclusion
Pheriwala Jogi people
are deprived from the access to positive initiatives taken by the government
because of non-recognition of their ethnic identity. If Pheriwala Jogi had been given separate identity by being enlisted
in the official schedule, they would be in a far better condition than the
present one, as they would get equal share like other excluded groups. As Pheriwala Jogi is not included in the
government list, though they fit the characteristics to be enlisted, it is
clear that they are automatically among the most excluded groups. It can be
concluded that Pheriwala Jogi and
other non-recognized groups have suffered from multi-layers of exclusion and
deprivation. Furthermore, they as an unrecognized community have no access to
benefits of the affirmative action and developmental
projects lunched by the government, international organizations, donor agencies
and NGOs, because all of them only refer to the official list of excluded
social groups.
The Pheriwala Jogis possess
variety of cultural attributes that differentiate them from other caste and
ethnic groups. The Pheri culture in
the context of this community is the essential part for the construction of an
ethnicity or ethnic identity. The recognition of Pheriwala Jogi community as a separate ethnic group will help for their
access to the resources and mainstream development. For that reason the
government must enlist Pheriwala Jogi
community as excluded, marginalized and minority ethnic group (Janajati) and
initiate the process of inclusion. Immediately a thorough survey on
socio-economic and demographic status of this community should be done. There
should be a special provision and reservation in the state mechanisms, services
and resources for this community to promote their inclusion and empowerment.
Further in-depth research on Pheriwala
Jogi community is suggested to conduct in order to document their age-old
traditional knowledge, culture, and social organization and oral tradition that
are disappearing in the courses of time.
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