Jogi/Jugi
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Jogi/Jugi
Synonyms: Joginath, Jogiswain, Jugi, Juginath [Orissa] Nath, Yogi [West Bengal]
- Endogamous territorial divisions: Bead Sellers, Pa
mula, Pig Keepers, Siddaru [E. Thurston] Aghorpanthi, Baidik, Bangal, Madhab, Madhyaia, Nimai, Paginal, Raghu (Kulin) [H.H. Risley] Are, Balgar, Berak, Bhorpi, Davarji, Dombari, Gujar ati Jogi, Jogar, Ker, Kundri, Kurub, Maratha Jogi, Mondar, Murad in Bombay [R.E. Enthoven] Bharadi, Davre Jogi, Jogi, Mendi Jogi, Raval, Sali Mali [S.S.Hassan] Agam Nath, Ajaipal, Andarla (in Kangra) Aughars), B achhowalia, Bahrila, Bari, Chhoti Dargali, Dargali, Dhiru, Giri Nath, GwaliBasda, Ismail, Jalandhar Nath, Jangam, Jogi, Jogi Jangam Johal (Joiya), Kal, Langoch, Nim N ath, Pelia, Purinama, Rawal, Sail, Saniasis, Sapela [HA Rose, D. Ibbetson] Groups/subgroups: Bharati, Brahmachari, Darbesh, Giri, Goswami, Nanda, Nath, Puri, Sohara, Yange [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Gib Bansi, Kalandi, Malikota Vaishnava, Sib Bansi [ Orissa] Bhattacharya, Dalai, Koleman, Natun Paramanik [West Bengal] Aughar, Bhaddar Jogi (among Musalman), Bhartari Jogi (among Hindu), Gorakhpanthi, Kanphata, Nandiya Jo gi[W. Crooke]
- Subcastes: Barwa or Ganpagati, Manihari, Patbina,
Ritha Bikanath [Russell & Hiralal] Titles: Adhikari, Biswas, Dalai, Goswami, Jachandar, Mahanta, Majumdar, Nathji, Pandit, Rai, Sarkar [H.H. Risley] Bharat, Giri, Nandi, Nath, Puri [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Baghel, Kashyap [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh] Das, Nath, Swain [Orissa] Bhattacharya, Dalai, Debnath, Dev, Hazra, Mukherjee, Nath, Pandit, Paramanik, Sthanapati [West Bengal] Chauhan, Gahlot, Kachhevaha [W. Crooke]
- Endogamous septs: Bindhollu, Boda Dasari, Chappadi
(insipid), Cheruku (sugar cane), Gudi (temple), Gu ndra (round), Jalli, Kaverimatha, Pesala, Upuvala (horse gram), Vagiti (courtyard), Vavati (relationship), Vr ishabha [E. Thurston]
- Exogamous sections: Bhise, Bhopale, Bhot, Chaturbhuj, Chavan, Devgune, Dharde, Diwale, Gaikwad, Jadhav,
Jadhava, Jirekar, Kasar, Kavade, Keskar, Lakhe, Nar wade, Pawar, Petkar, Rajle, Shinde (Raval Jogi), Su kale, Unode, Wable, Wagha, Wamane, Yadav [S.S. Hassan] Exogamous units/clans: Yanga [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Adi, Alarishi, Anadi, Bangaja, Barendra, Batuk, Bhulua, Birbhairab, Goraksha, Kasyapa, Khelenda, Matse ndra (king offish), Min (fish), Rarhl, Satya (truth), Siva, Su ndipa [H.H. Risley] Binatavallu, Chirukurivallu, Dasaripurivallu, Golla rivallu, Gudilollu, Indukurivallu, Jallivallu, Mopu rivallu, Origantavallu, Pindiralollu, Samatavallu, Sappadiva llu, SirSrapuvallu Sivaralollu, Taravallu, Ulavalavallu, Vadapillavallu, Vagitavallu [Nanjundayya and Iyer] Bhaddari, Nandi [W. Crooke] Exogamous units/clans (gotra): Nagasa (snake), Niranjan [Orissa] Gotra: Atri, Bharadwaj, Dadhichi, Sandilya, Vasistha, Yanga [Bihar and/or Jharkhand] Kashyap [Madhya Pradesh and/or Chhattisgarh] Kashyapa, Siva [West Bengal] Exogamous units/lineages (khandan): [Bihar and/or J harkhand] Exogamous units/lineages (vans): [Madhya Pradesh an d/or Chhattisgarh]
Notes
This singular race, found all over Eastern Bengal, is more numerous in Tipperah and Noakhally than Dacca, being everywhere reviled by the Hindus, without any satisfactory reason. The only grounds given by natives for abusing and ill-treating Jogis are that the starch of boiled rice (Mar) is used by them in weaving, while the Tanti use parched rice starch (Kai), and that they bury their dead.
In Bengal three different varieties of Jogi are met with, namely�
Jogi, Bengali weavers,
Jat Jogi, Hindustani snake charmers,
Sannyasi Jogi, religious mendicants.
Jogi, or Yogi, literally means one who practices the Jog, i.e. religious abstraction, or in a lower sense a pretender to superhuman faculties, while the designation is popularly given to any naked Hindu devotee.
In the census returns, the Jogi and Patwa are classified as one and the same, but in Dacca, the latter is always the name of a Muhammadan trade. The weaver Jogi caste in Bengal is computed to include 426,543 individuals, 306,847, or 71 per cent. of the whole number, being distributed throughout the nine eastern districts. Like many outcast races, the Jogi has been driven into the outlying tracts of the province, and at the present day are massed in Silhet (82,038), Tipperah (66,812), Mymensingh (39,644), Noakhally (33,038), and Chittagong (32,314). In Dacca they only muster 16,410 persons.
Until the last few years the Bengali Jogis were all weavers, but now the cloth (Dhoti and Gamcha) manufactured by them is gradually being displaced by English piece goods, and the Jogi finds it difficult to earn a livelihood by weaving.
A few who took to agriculture being outcasted, formed a new subdivision, called Halwah Jogis. In Tipperah the burning of lime has been adopted as an occupation by some, but they, too, have been excommunicated. Others, again, take service under Government, as work as goldsmiths. Recently a shudder ran through the Hindu community when a Jogi was elevated to the bench, but many have already outlived this prejudice, and, except among the upper strata of society, no objections are now raised. The Jogi has peculiar difficulties in having his children educated, as no other boy will live with his son, who is consequently obliged to hire lodgings for himself, and engage servants of his own.
The race, however, is ambitious, and recognises the value of education, but being poor, the higher branches of learning are beyond their reach.
The Jogi uses a much more cumbrous loom than either the Tanti or Julaha, but employs the same comb, or "Shanah," while his shuttle, "Nail,"1 is peculiar to himself. The women are as expert weavers as the men, the preparation of the warp being exclusively done by them.
Jogis are a contented people, laughing at the prejudices of their neighbours. When they enter the house of any of the clean castes, a very rare occurrence, all cooked food, and any drinking water in the room, are regarded as polluted, and thrown away, but, strange to say, the Sudra barber and washerman work for them.
The Jogi, too, is intolerant, eating food cooked by a Srotriya Brahman, but not that prepared by any Patit, or caste, Brahman, or by a Sudra, however pure. The Sannyasi Jogi eats with the weaving Jogi, but a Bairagi will only touch food given by the Adhikari. Furthermore, the Ekadasi Jogi will eat with the Sannyasi if he is a Brahman observing the Sraddha on the eleventh day.
In the burial of their dead all Jogis observe the same ceremonies. The grave (Samadhi, or Ahsan), dug in any vacant spot, is circular, about eight feet deep, and at the bottom a niche is cut for the reception of the corpse. The body, after being washed with water from seven earthen jars, is wrapped in new cloth, the lips being touched with fire to distinguish the funeral from that of a Muhammadan. A necklace made of the Tulasi plant is placed around the neck, and in the right hand a rosary (Japa).
The right forearm, with the thumb inverted, is placed across the chest, while the left, with the thumb in a similar position, rests on the lap, the legs being crossed as in statues of Buddha. Over the left shoulder is hung a cloth bag with four strings, in which four cowries are put. The body being lowered into the grave, and placed in the niche with the face towards the north-east, the grave is filled in, and the relatives deposit on the top an earthen platter with balls of rice (Pinda), plantains, sugar, Ghi, and betel-nuts, as well as a "Huqqa" with its "Chilam" (bowl), a small quantity of tobacco, and a charcoal ball.
Finally, from three to seven cowries are scattered on the ground as compensation to "Visa-mati" for the piece of earth occupied by the corpse. Women are interred in the exact same way as men.
The bag with its four cowries, and the position of the body are noteworthy. With the cowries the spirit pays the Charon who ferries it across the Vaitarani river, the Hindu Styx; while the body is made to face the north-east because in that corner of the world lies Kailasa, the Paradise of Siv.
1 Sanskrit Nala, a tube, a shuttle. The one title common to all the Jogi tribe is Nath, or lord.
The majority worship Mahadeo, or Siv, but a few Vaishnavas are found among them.
Although all Jogis observe the funeral ceremonies just mentioned, they have separated into two great divisions, the Masya, the more numerous in Dacca, who perform the Sraddha thirty days (Masa) after death; and the Ekadasi, who celebrate it after eleven (Ekadasan) days. The former abound in the southern parts of Bikrampur, Tipperah, and Noakhally, the latter in the north of Bikrampur, and throughout the Dacca district generally. No intermarriages take place between them, and each refuses to taste food cooked by the other, although they drink from each other's water vesssels.
1.Masya Jogis
They are the more interesting of the two, having adhered more strictly to the customs of their ancestors than the Ekadasi The following account of their origin is given: In the Vrihad Yogini Tantra, their chief religious work, it is written that to Mahadeo were born eight passionless beings (Siddhas), who practised asceticisms, and passed their lives in religious abstraction. Their arrogance and pride, however, offended Mahadeo, who assuming his illusive power, created eight female energies, or Yoginis, and sent them to tempt the Siddhas. It was soon apparent that their virtue was not so impregnable as they boasted, and the issue of their amours were the ancestors of the modern Masya Jogis.
Another account is that a Sannyasi Avadhuta, or scholar, of Benares, who was an incarnation of Siv, had two sons, the elder by a Brahman woman, becoming the progenitor of the Ekadasi Jogis, the younger by a Vaisya woman of the Masya; but it is probable that this legend has been invented to account for the fact that the two divisions perform the obsequial rites at different dates.
The Masya Jogis have no Brahmans who minister to them, but a spiritual leader, Adhikari, elected by the Purohits, is invested with a cord, and styled Brahman. In Tipperah and Noakhally the cord is still worn, but in Dacca of late years it has been discarded. The Adhikari of the Masya Jogis in Dacca is Mathura Ramana, of Bidgaon, in Bikrampur, a very illiterate man, who can with difficulty read and write Bengali. The post has been hereditary in his family for eight generations, and nowadays it is only in default of heirs that an election is held.
It is a curious circumstance that the Adhikari bestows the Mantra on the Brahmans of the Ekadasi, and occasionally on Sannyasi Jogis, although neither acknowledge any subjection to him. The Adhikari has no religious duties to perform, as each household employs a Purohit to minister at its religious ceremonies. The Purohit is always a Jogi, inducted by the Adhikari, and subordinate to him. He is often a relative, or marries a daughter of his master. The Adhikari, again, has his Purohit, without whose ministration neither he nor any member of his family can marry or be buried.
The great festival of tthe Masya Jogis is the Sivaratri, held on the fourteenth of the waning moon in Magh (January-February); but they observe many of the other Hindu festivals, such as the Janmashtami, and offer sacrifices beneath the "Bat" tree to the village goddess, Siddhesvari.
In all religious services they use a twig of the Udumbara, or Jagya dumur (Ficus glomerata), and regard with special reverence the Tulasi, Bat, Pipal, and "Tamala" (Diospyrus cordifolia).
They have Sthans, or residencies, at Brindaban, Mathura, and Gokula, but their chief places of pilgrimage are Benares, Gaya, and Sitakhund in Chittagong.
2.Ekadasi Jogis
They possess a Sanskrit work called Vriddha Satatapiya, in which the Muni Satatapa relates how the divine Rishi Narada was informed by Brahma that near Kasi resided many Brahman and Vaisya widows, living by the manufacture of thread, who had given birth to sons and daughters the offspring of Avadhutas, or pupils of Nathas, or ascetics. The Rishi was further directed to proceed to Kasi, and, in consultation with the Avadhutas, to decide what the caste of these children should be.
After much deliberation it was determined that the offspring of the Avadhutas and Brahman widows should belong to the Siva gotra; while the issue of the Vaisya widows should form a class called Nath, the former like the Brahmans being impure for eleven days, the latter like the Vaisya for thirty days. Both classes were required to read six Vedas, to worship their Matris, or female ancestors, at weddings to perform, each household for itself, the Nandi Sraddha in the name of their forefathers, and to wear the sacred cord.
It was farther enacted that the dead should be buried, the lips of the corpse being touched with fire by the son or grandson. It is from these Brahman widows that the modern Ekadasi Jogis claim to be descended, and being of that lineage, mourn for only eleven days, although they have never assumed the Brahmanical cord.
The Ekadasi have Brahmans of their own, called "Varna-Sarman," and addressed as Mahatama, who trace their origin from the issue of a Srotriya Brahman and a Jogi woman. In Bikrampur alone it is estimated there are at least a hundred of these Jogi Brahmans.
The majority of this division of Jogis are worshippers of Krishna, but a few who follow the Sakta ritual are to be met with. The Gosains of Nityananda admit Jogis into their communion, but those of Advayananda will not.
All Jogis in Eastern Bengal regard the family of Dalal Bazar, in the Noakhally district, as the head of their race, and very proud they are of the distinction which was conferred on that house. In the middle of last century Brijo Ballabh Rai, a Jogi, was Dalal, or broker, his brother Radha Ballabh Rai being Jachandar, or appraiser, of the English factory of Char Pata, on the Meghna.
The son of the former developed the trade in Baftah cloth to so great an extent that the Company in 1765 bestowed on him the title and rank of a rajah, presenting him at the same time with a Lakhiraj, or rent free, estate. His grandson still enjoys the property, being respected not only by the Jogis throughout Eastern Bengal, but by all who know him and his family.
The mourning dress of the Jogis is a cotton garment called "Jala Kaccha," literally netted end, manufactured by them, and identical with that worn by other Hindus between the death of a relative and the Sraddha. In a corner of this raiment the Jogi ties a piece of iron, suspending it over his shoulder. On the eleventh day, when the funeral obsequies are about to be performed, the barber, cutting off the iron, gives it to the wearer, who throws it into water, then bathes, offers the Pinda to the manes of the deceased, and returns home.
The Jogi Brahmans are, with few exceptions, illiterate, but a few gain a livelihood as Pathaks, or readers of the epic poems. Jogis are the Mahants of the Kapila Muni shrine in the Sunderbuns, and officiate at the Varuni festival in Phalgun.1
All Jogis believe that good spirits are at death absorbed into the Deity, while the bad reappear on earth in the form of some unclean animal; but women, however exemplary they may have been in this world, are not cheered by any assurance of a future state, it being believed that death is for them annihilation.
Who, then, are the Jogis? Buchanan thought it probable that they were either the priesthood of the country during the reign of the dynasty to which Gopi-Chandra2 belonged, or Sudras dedicated to a religious life, but degraded by the great Saiva reformer Sankara Acharya,1 and that they came with the Pal Rajas from western India. In Rangpur he found the Jogis living by singing an interminable cyclic song in honour of Gopi-Chandra. This is all the information collected by that shrewd and trustworthy observer, and since the beginning of the century no fresh facts have been added.
After repeated interviews with the Adhikari and Jogi Brahmans their history is still uncertain. A tradition, however, survives in Bikrampur, that their ancestors were Brahmans, who, forgetting the Gayatri, or sacred verses, were degraded.
1 "J.A.S. of Bengal," vol. xxxis, 238.
2 Ibid., vol iii, 534.
