FAQ re Gavari
What are Gavari austerities and what is their significance?
From the first day of the Gavari cycle to the last, the bhopa (shamans) & players must all give up meat, alcohol, physical affection, even green vegetables (which might endanger insect life), and walk barefoot, sleep on the ground, and eat only a single meal each day.
Together these practices are felt to increase sensitivity and openness to the real Gavari - i.e., the creative spirit of Nature who nurtures and animates all life. Their common sense is that all things that heighten our awareness of Her energies both within our bodies and in the natural surround also increase their ability to channel Her authentically when they perform or heal or pray.
Like a Gavari troupe's spartan mindful near-vegan diet, their barefoot walking and on-the-ground sleeping also help intensify their sense of intimacy with the planet and similar practices are now re-surfacing as Earthing in the West.
Like a Gavari troupe's spartan mindful near-vegan diet, their barefoot walking and on-the-ground sleeping also help intensify their sense of intimacy with the planet and similar practices are now re-surfacing as Earthing in the West.
You did not say whether they also give up ganja and bhang...
No, we did not.
Who are the Bhil shamans and how do they invoke the Goddess and if She shows up what does She say?
Indigenous shamans are called bhopa and their role is non-hereditary. They are chosen for training as children if they display special gifts and sensitivities. Older bhopa identify them and take them on as full-time apprentices. Most are male, but respected female bhopas do exist though they are said to only number 10~15%.
A average sized village may have half a dozen bhopa each dedicated to a different divinity. Some will represent fertility - both of the womb & fields; some the interlinked health of forests & waters; some the musical/artistic creative spirit: and some Gavari Herself, the mother deity of all creation. The Gavari bhopas lead Her ritual invocations during the Gavari season and begin with an invocation ceremony to ask Her if their village may perform the ceremony this year.
Bhil invocations resemble many other religious services that try to please their deities with things we humans find pleasing - beauty, fragrance, flowers, music, poetic prayer, etc..
Some old-school bhopas take this pleasure-provending logic one step further and offer symbolic sexual union. They kindle a phallic shaped fire in Her dhuni, an iconic cleft in earth or stone that represents Her vulva or the yoni of Mother Earth.
Hindus later concretized the metaphor in stone as the ubiquitous lingam/yoni, but the Bhils seem to feel that when you're trying to attract & gratify a goddess a shaft of flame may be more inviting than a cold lump of rock.
If She is successfully attracted Her bhopa (and others) will begin to tremble within Her intensifying energy field. The first question the shaman circle will usually ask (after welcoming Her effusively) is whether She will permit the village to perform Gavari this year and She Herself will agree to participate. Her bhopa will channel Her response and the first invocation will come to an end.
A positive response is usually brief and triggers a flood of grateful energy that is applied to all the efforts that must begin immediately - the assignment of roles, the creation of costumes, the consecration of players, the inception of austerities, the women's assumption of key village roles & responsibilities, etc.
A negative response is usually more lengthy and explains Her reasoning. The most commonly cited grounds for refusal are local vicissitudes.
Who are the Bhil shamans and how do they invoke the Goddess and if She shows up what does She say?
Indigenous shamans are called bhopa and their role is non-hereditary. They are chosen for training as children if they display special gifts and sensitivities. Older bhopa identify them and take them on as full-time apprentices. Most are male, but respected female bhopas do exist though they are said to only number 10~15%.
A average sized village may have half a dozen bhopa each dedicated to a different divinity. Some will represent fertility - both of the womb & fields; some the interlinked health of forests & waters; some the musical/artistic creative spirit: and some Gavari Herself, the mother deity of all creation. The Gavari bhopas lead Her ritual invocations during the Gavari season and begin with an invocation ceremony to ask Her if their village may perform the ceremony this year.
Bhil invocations resemble many other religious services that try to please their deities with things we humans find pleasing - beauty, fragrance, flowers, music, poetic prayer, etc..
Some old-school bhopas take this pleasure-provending logic one step further and offer symbolic sexual union. They kindle a phallic shaped fire in Her dhuni, an iconic cleft in earth or stone that represents Her vulva or the yoni of Mother Earth.
Hindus later concretized the metaphor in stone as the ubiquitous lingam/yoni, but the Bhils seem to feel that when you're trying to attract & gratify a goddess a shaft of flame may be more inviting than a cold lump of rock.
If She is successfully attracted Her bhopa (and others) will begin to tremble within Her intensifying energy field. The first question the shaman circle will usually ask (after welcoming Her effusively) is whether She will permit the village to perform Gavari this year and She Herself will agree to participate. Her bhopa will channel Her response and the first invocation will come to an end.
A positive response is usually brief and triggers a flood of grateful energy that is applied to all the efforts that must begin immediately - the assignment of roles, the creation of costumes, the consecration of players, the inception of austerities, the women's assumption of key village roles & responsibilities, etc.
A negative response is usually more lengthy and explains Her reasoning. The most commonly cited grounds for refusal are local vicissitudes.
A negative response is usually lengthier and explanatory. The most commonly cited grounds for refusal reflect local vicissitudes: There is discord in the village that must first be resolved; a poor monsoon or blight threaten local fields which need urgent collective care; the aquifer's declining so village wells must be deepened; Her shrine roof needs repair so monsoon visitors have dry lodgings; etc.
The major message appears to be “get your lands and lives in order first and ask again next year.”
Why is trance so important?
Bhava trance is critically important in 3 respects.
- It helps unlettered farmer/labourer players expressively perform long complex unscripted dramas with confidence, prowess and flair;
- It allows certain players to perform extraordinary feats, like the Amba Devi character who picks up red hot coals with her teeth; and
- It facilitates physical & emotional healings in the village and the audience.
(Villagers welcome Gavari troupes not just for entertainment, but to avail of the healing power they've seen it can evoke.)
More broadly, bhava trance is felt as a direct connection with divine energy, similar to the born-again experience in Christianity, shaktipat in Hinduism, satori in Buddhism, Ḥāl in Sufism, cosmic or mystical consciousness, etc.
Being a direct connection, bhava frees you from traditional religious hierarchies where you need "more elevated" religious professionals – priests, mullahs, roshis, pandits, et al. – to represent and intercede on your behalf.
Once you yourself are personally in touch with our miraculous improbability at a psychic and cellular level, the whole idea of concretized social/political/religious hierarchies seems pretty damn absurd.
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