Absent Lord: The Tale of the Bahi Bhats

There is another version of the story of Saciya Mata. This version Bhutoriya has drawn from the poetry of the Bahi Bhats of Rajasthan. The Bahi Bhats were so named because they recorded the genealogies of the Osvals in bahis (record books)^[1] Their entire lives were passed in the service of Osval patrons, and at one time there were whole villages filled with them. More recently, their traditional calling seems to have fallen into desuetude and they have taken up other occupations. In addition to keeping genealogies, they also composed poetry in praise of the families of their patrons, and before they recited their genealogies they would recite their version of the history of the Osval caste. Bhutoriya provides a Hindi translation of a Bahi Bhat account of the origin of the Osvals (1988: 109-12) that provides interesting variations on the theme of the goddess's transformation. It runs as follows:

From a sacrificial fire pit on Mt. Abu, the tale begins, there emerged four Ksatriya heroes, and from them came the Cauhan, Parmar, Parihar, and Solanki lines. A descendant in the Parmar line, Dhandhuji, was the ruler of Junagarh (near Barmer). He had two queens. The first was a daughter of Modha Singhji Solanki and the second was a daughter of Jogidasji, a Bhati (Rajput) feudal lord. The first queen bore two sons: Upaldev (Utpaldev) and Joga Kanvar. The second queen also bore two sons: Kandh Rav and Stint Rav. When Upaldev grew into young manhood he was married to a girl of the Kachvaha Ksatriya line.

One day Upaldev went out for an excursion with his friends. On the road he met a group of women water carriers who were bearing clay pots filled with water. The prince then played a thoughtless and unfortunate joke: He mocked and smashed their clay pots, spilling water over their clothing. The water carriers returned to their homes and bitterly complained about the incident. In accord with the saying, "Where the honor of daughters and sisters is not possible, in that kingdom one cannot stay," the elders of the community prepared to migrate elsewhere. Hearing of this, the king sent for them and gave his assurance that no such impropriety would occur again. Then, from the kingdom's treasury he gave them new metal pots. Unfortunately, Upaldev and his friends had learned nothing from the incident, and they played a similar trick on the daughter of the rajpurohit (state priest). The offended priest also decided to leave the kingdom, and when the king heard of this he banished Upaldev.

Upaldev then wandered for twelve years. He rode a black mare and was accompanied by his wife and other relatives. One day his caravan of 300 vehicles came to Osiya. That night Upaldev had a dream in which his lineage goddess gave "parca "(a word commonly used in these materials to refer to a demonstration of a deity's or mendicant's powers). She said, "Don't leave this place. Start a city here." She added that the water problem (an obvious concern in the Rajasthan desert) could be solved by digging under his bed; there he would find a well that had been sealed by a certain King Sagar, and sixty paces to the north he would find ninety-nine magical pots. In the morning he awoke to discover that a saffron mark had appeared on his forehead overnight and red marks on the foreheads of all the other members of his party. He dug under the bed and found the well. But the water was salty.

The next night the lineage goddess again appeared before him in a dream. She said, "You didn't make an offering (carhava) to the goddess (meaning herself), and that's why the water is salty. Now make the offering and the water will be sweet. And as many villages as you can encircle on your mare in a full day of riding, that will be the extent of your kingdom. First build a temple for the goddess, then your palace." He did exactly as she directed. First he built the temple, and because the goddess gave a sacca (true) parca, she was called "Saciya Mata. The temple's foundation was laid in 127 C.E., and its construction took twelve years to complete.

After twelve years of exile had passed, Upaldev went to see his mother and father. He had married a second time in Osiya, and both wives accompanied him. He halted at the border of his father's kingdom and sent a message ahead. His father's second queen, hearing the news, began to worry that Upaldev would acquire both Junagarh and Osiya, with nothing left for her sons, and so she devised a plan to take his life. She ordered the watchmen not to allow anyone into the palace with weapons. They made Upaldev leave his weapons outside, and when the defenseless prince entered the palace temple, assassins were able to sever his head.

When Upaldev's first wife heard the news, she ignored all modesty and got down from the carriage. She took burning coals in her hand as a test of truth, and cursed Dhandhuji's second queen and her line. Kandh Rav was later attacked by the Rathors and stripped of his kingdom (presumably as a result of the curse).

Upaldev's two wives then decided to become satis, but because the younger queen turned out to be pregnant, she could not fulfill her vow. She then went to Osiya and bore a son whose name was Bhagvan Singh. Some years later, the famed monk Ratnaprabhsuri came to Osiya. For the entire rainy season retreat he was immersed in month-long fasts. His single mendicant follower, who was not fasting, was unable to obtain alms (as in the story given above). Finally, however, he was able to obtain food from a carpenter. When he returned the next day, the carpenter put an ax in his hand with which to cut dry wood in the jungle. When Ratnaprabhsuri finished his fasting he asked why his disciple was so weak, and the disciple told the whole story. Ratnaprabhsuri grew very angry. He first decided to destroy Osiya by means of his tapobal (power of asceticism). However, at the entreaty of his disciple, and for the glorification (prabhavna) of Jainism, he decided on a different course. He made a roll of wool into a snake and sent it to the young king, Bhagvan Singh. The king was bitten, and when the people took him to the burning grounds they were stopped by the disciple, who took them to the venerable monk. Twelve feudatory lords pleaded with Ratnaprabhsuri to restore the king to life, which he did by means of his special powers. The king himself and these twelve lords then left the worship of Siva (siv-dharm) and became Jains. Thirteen main clans of the Osvals resulted.^[2]

Now these converts had given up violence. But Saciya Mata, who after all was the lineage goddess of the king, still had to have a blood offering of two goats. Ratnaprabhsuri himself took on the burden of this problem. For three days there was no puja, and the goddess became very angry. She came to the monk and demanded the sacrificial offerings (mahabhog, as she called it). The monk responded by decreeing that there would be no more animal sacrifice, and that she would receive only two kinds of sweets (khaji and lapsi) and coconut, and this is in fact what is offered to her at the Saciya Mata temple in Osiya today. The goddess, in response, uttered a curse. "Empty the village," she said, "in three days." Bhagvan Singh thereupon left Osiya and settled in a place called Sandva.^[3]

This story is very similar to the version of the Osiya legend of Osval origin related earlier, but there are interesting differences too, and by comparing the two we can separate variant and invariant themes. For example, we note that the line of Upaldev (or, as previously, Utpaldev) is crucial: This is the king who is the adipurus, the founding father, of the Osval line; whether it is he or his son who is converted seems not so important. We may surmise, moreover, that in the flux and flow of these stories as they were generated, told, retold, and modified by mendicants and genealogists over a period of centuries, the connection with the city of Bhinmal was, for some tellers anyway, not the essential thing. This connection was probably important for the then-extant Upkes Gacch mendicants because it puts two very important Jain castes, the Osvals and the Srimals, into a single package, which is then tied to the activities of leading ascetics of the Upkes Gacch. And it may also reflect the motives of those who, for whatever reason, wish to emphasize a special connection between Osvals and Srimals. But the essential thing is the focus on Ksatriyas or Rajputs. While it is sometimes said that those who converted to Jainism with Utpaldev came from all the varnas of Osiya (ibid.: 71), the emphasis is on Ksatriyas. As will be seen later, although some Osval clans trace their descent to non-Ksatriya converts to Jainism, the Rajput or Ksatriya convert is virtually archetypal in the tradition.

Another constant feature is the theme of miraculous intervention by a powerful ascetic. Someone is in trouble, either the minister's son or the king (or his son) himself, The theme of snakebite is a common thread, and turns out, as will be seen, to be very common in other stories belonging to the overall genre. Acarya Ratnaprabhsuri's own involvement in the creation of the problem (in some versions) seems to be a side issue. The moral issue of a Jain ascetic causing harm (or apparent harm) to a living being is, in any case, covered by the rationalization that a Jain mendicant can act in very unmendicant-like ways in the interest of the protection or propagation of Jainism. Such variations aside, the basic narrative is simple. Trouble arises. Nothing avails. Only the power of the ascetic can solve the problem, and the conversions follow.

There is one matter more, and this is of very great significance. The tale of the Bahi Bhats introduces us to the theme of the goddess's curse. As we shall soon see, this theme is important indeed to the concept of how Rajputs could become Jains. It comes to the fore in the story of the nearby Mahavir temple.