Devali: Revering Kuldevta in Nevah Style

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

Kuldevta means the ancestral tutelary god of Nepalis. It is a generic name; different clans have different gods for Kuldevta. Most of the Hindu Nepalis perform annual worship to Kuldevta. The annual worship is one of the many religious rituals Nepalis perform that becomes unwritten social laws for binding their community together. For Nevah, it is even more important, as a newborn child and a newly married woman cannot be the members of the extended family until they perform the religious ritual called ‘duti-ye-gu’ literally meaning ‘entering upon the lineage’ at the time of the annual worship to Kuldevta. Nevah call Kuldevta ‘Dugu Dyo’ and annual worship ‘Dugu Puja’.

Nevah of all castes are organized in groups or clans called devali. Each devali group is comprised several joint or nuclear families that have a common male ancestor. Members of the same devali refer to each other phuki; they must follow the group’s customs and religious practices.

In order to be the member of the clan, newly born children, young girls married to ‘bel’ fruit, and newly married women need to perform the ‘dutiyegu’ at the annual ‘Dugu Puja’. Then only, they get the status of phukii, and enjoy all duties and privileges of owning and using the common assets inherited from the ancestors. After marriage, women lose the status of phukii of the clan they were born and gain the status of the phukii of the clan they were married to after performing the ‘dutiyegu’ at the annual ‘Dugu Puja’.

Once you become the member of a clan or phukii you strictly need to follow all the customs and traditions of the clan. Different clans have slightly differing customs and traditions. Men or women cannot marry the members of the same clan. They need to perform the cleansing rites of the pollution caused by birth of children and to mourn the death of someone in the clan for several days performing various rites following the tradition of the clan. All phukii members participate in the significant social events such as adulthood ceremonies, marriages and death anniversaries called ‘sradha’.

Each Nevah clan has two manifestations of ‘Dugu Dyo’: one made of silver and gold kept at home of the caretaker and another of stone installed at the field shrine. ‘Dugu Dyo’ made of precious metals remains at home of the caretaker for a year except for the day of ‘Dugu Puja’.

The form of god is an equilateral triangle made at the center of a leaf-shaped silver plate for home, and about two-inch equilateral triangle cut in a flagstone of a rectangle with a triangle-shaped head for field; this is done for keeping the ancestral god unknown to others. You might see such flagstones with equilateral triangle holes standing in open or enclosed in multi-roofed temples. They would be active once a year during the time of worshipping Kuldevta.

Each clan might have different ancestral god; rarely some members of clans might disclose the identity of their ancestral god. However, one god is clearly known, as he receives milk while another deity enjoys the animal blood. We offer milk to God Narayan. Another deity might be one form or another of the most powerful goddess called Durga or Bhagavati.

Nevah hold devali puja once a year every year in early summer. Each clan holds its rituals on one of the days starting on the most auspicious day called Aksatritiya: the third day of the bright fortnight called ‘Vachala thava’ in the Nepal Samvat (lunar calendar) and in the month of Vaishaka in the Vikram calendar (solar), and ending on the sixth day called Sithinakha of the bright fortnight called ‘Tachala thava’ in the Nepal Samvat and in the month of Jyestha in the Vikram calendar. This period is of slightly more than a month.

Nevah strictly follow the body purification rituals for performing the devali puja. Four days before the devali puja, we stop eating chicken, eggs, garlic, onions and certain other food items believed to defile a human body if eaten, to purify our bodies. The day before the devali puja, we do the laundry; smear the floors with a purifying mixture of red clay and fresh cow dung. On the eve of the devali puja before going to bed, we eat flattened rice or bread with vegetables and yogurt or milk. On this night we do not eat cooked rice, as eating cooked rice means defiling our body.

Early in the morning on the day of the devali puja, we assemble the puja offerings at the house of the caretaker. Each household brings a brass plateful of offering items such as vermillion, raw and flattened rice, sweets, cotton wicks shocked in mustard-seed oil and incense put together, and a wicker basketful of various flowers. Two special fragrant flowers called ‘mu-svana’ and ‘dhanai svana’ are essential offerings to Kuldevta on this occasion.

We do care take Kuldevta in rotation. Starting from the household of the headman and ending at the household of the youngest member of the clan, each household keeps the god made of precious metals for a year and renders all services required by the god every day for a year. The headman transfers the responsibility of caretaking the god to the second senior most member of the clan in the protocol of seniority on the second and the last day of the devali puja. It goes on transferring the responsibility each year until it reaches the youngest member and then it goes back again to the headman. Thus, the responsibility for taking care of the god among the members of the clan goes on in rotation.

After all the households have brought together their offerings to Kuldevta to the caretaker’s house, one of the female members of the clan first goes to make offerings to God Kumar located at the entrance to each Nevah house and then to the community God Ganesh at the neighborhood, as none of the Hindu deities would accept any offerings made without first making offerings to these two gods. We make a half offering to God Kumar as he was entitled to only that portion but full offering to God Ganesh. So, you will see rice grains, flowers, and vermillion offered to God Kumar on the spot smeared with the mixture of red clay and fresh cow dung at the entrance of Nevah houses during such occasions.

Then, the procession of men carrying offerings and going to the countryside begins. The patriarch carrying two brass containers: one with the Kuldevta and God Narayan made of precious metals and their ornaments and another with puja offerings to them on a shoulder pole leads the procession to the field shrine. Other male members of each household following the protocol of seniority of the clan carrying a brass plateful of offerings or a wicker basketful of flowers follow the patriarch. Some children pulling a sacrificial goat decorated with a garland of flower around its neck and with vermillion on its horns go ahead of the procession.

After some time, women members of the clan dressed in their best go to the field shrine to the Kuldevta to join the men members. Not all Nevah clans have the tradition of taking the women to the field shrine. So, you will find some only male members of a clan performing the worship to Kuldevta.

Mother or other female family members dress the newly married young girls with the ‘bel’ fruit as on the wedding day, newly born children in their best, and newly married women also dressed as brides go to the shrine to Kuldevta at the field for performing the religious ritual called ‘dutiyegu’ literally meaning ‘entering on the lineage’ at the time of the annual worship to Kuldevta. Each of them or somebody for them carries an individual plateful of offerings to be made to the god at the field shrine.

A Buddhist Tantric priest called Vajracarya for the so-called Buddhist Nevah and a Hindu priest for other Nevah performs the puja at the filed shrine. He sets the home Kuldevta made of precious metals at the field stone Kuldevta. Anybody can see the home god only on this day; for the rest of the year, none except for the members of the clan can have access to the home god.

After completing the worship to the Kuldevta in the shrine, the priest comes out and performs the worship of admitting the new entrants into the clan. All of the new entrants sit facing the Kuldevta in the shrine following the protocol of seniority. Mothers or other women with the infants on their laps sit on the seats of the infants. Then, the priest draws one mandala at the seat of each entrant in rice flour on the floor. The male children take the first seats, then the female children, then the girls married to the ‘bel’ fruit and lastly the newly married brides from outside the clan take the seats.

The priest performs the ceremony of the entry of new members into the clan. The priest makes offerings to various gods and goddesses reciting mantras and ringing the bell held in his left hand. All the new entrants perform the ceremony strictly following the instructions of the priest, as he performs the ceremony of ‘dutiyegu’ literally meaning ‘entering on the lineage’. It takes more than a half hour to welcome the new members to the clan. Parents of the newly married woman send a porter-load of flowers, fruits, and sweets for making offerings to the Kuldevta and a new sari to the daughter as well.

After the completion of the ceremony of ‘dutiyegu’, all new faces become the part of the devali or clan. Then, they are entitled to enjoy all privileges and subject to follow the tradition and customs of the clan. They need to address all mothers and fathers, brothers and sisters, and in-law as theirs, too. Thus, the families of the Nevah are interwoven through this ceremony.

At the end of puja offerings, the priest performs a special ceremony of sacrificing goats and ducks to Kuldevta. The priest sprinkles water on the body and ears of goats uttering mantras to get their approval for the sacrifice. The mantras say, “you have got the animal life because of your previous deeds, now we want to free you from the animal life, do you agree?”  Previously, the priest used to say such mantras in the ears of the sacrificial goat. Once, the goat shake the water off its body means it has accepted the offer.

If a goat does not shake the water off its body then we do not sacrifice the goat to Kuldevta but leave it loose for free movement, as it did not accept the offer made to it to free from the animal life. Nobody harms it but everybody feeds it, as it belongs to Kuldevta.

In course of performing the worship to Kuldevta, the priest has prepared a knife to slit the throat of the sacrificial goat. The priest has invoked God Bhairava in it. It is done so to free the man slitting the throat of the goat from the sin of taking the life of the sacrificial goat. In fact, nobody has right to take the life of anybody except for the god, as only the god can give the life.

Then, one man holds the goat on his left thigh and then the mouth of the goat by his left hand pushing it back, takes the knife by his right hand and touches it on his head taking the approval of God Bhairava to slit the throat of the goat while another man squatting behind the first man holds the four feet of the goat together. The man slits the throat of the goat and let flow the blood to Kuldevta. Then, they take the bleeding goat round the shrine and separate the head from the body and bring it and set it at Kuldevta. The priest lights a bunch of cotton wicks soaked in oil and put them on the goat head to emancipate it from the animal life. The God accepts the sacrifices of only the male animals and birds.

Sitting on the right side of the tutelary god is Vedic God Narayan. The priest performs Tantric worship to the God Kuldevta and Vedic worship to God Narayan. Following the Tantric worship, when animals and birds are sacrificed to Kuldevta, someone covers God Narayan with linen or a wicker basket, as the god does not accept the blood of sacrificial animals or wish to see blood sacrifice. Someone pours milk to the god while sacrificing animals or birds to Kuldevta.

The priest collects lampblack in a small clay saucer. He smears the inner bottom of the clay saucer with oil and then utters some mantras in it. Then, he lights some cotton wicks places them in the oil held in a stone lamp with upturned tripod specially made for this purpose, then the priest places the clay saucer on the tripod in an upturned position covering the oil lamp to collect lampblack in it. While the priest is performing the puja, the clay saucer collects lampblack. It becomes a part of the blessing from the god.

After the completion of animal and bird sacrifices, the puja is almost completed; only a few finishing touches are left. The priest places ‘tika’: a spot of yellow and amber on everyone’s forehead. First, he places the yellow spot and then an amber spot on it by the fourth finger of his right hand from a small container called ‘sinha-mhu.’ It contains the yellow paste made of yellow power and water, and amber paste made of amber power mixed with water. His spouse guru-ma follows him and draws a line of lampblack on top of the ‘tika’. It symbolizes the empowerment. Both of them receive a token payment called ‘dachhina’: a small coin or a rupee banknote. ‘Tika’ is usually made of vermillion, yogurt and rice all mixed together and wear it on the forehead as the symbol of victory during the Dasain festival and on other occasions, too.

By this time, it is already mid-day; all are hungry and thirsty; none has eaten or drunk for keeping her/his body clean, as eating and drinking will defile the body. The god does not accept the offerings made by anybody defiling his/her body.

After the completion of making offerings to the god, we start off on eating the first god-blessed food called ‘samaye’ with homebrewed drink called ‘thon’. It consists of the meat taken from the neck of the sacrificed goat and roasted on a fire made burning rice straw. The rice straw fire gives special flavor to the meat. The meat is served with flattened rice, roasted soybeans and ginger cut into inch-long ginger pieces. Samaye together with homebrewed drink make five items representing the five life-supporting elements such as fire, air, earth, water and ether (mind) that support the human life on earth. Pancakes called ‘catamari’ made out of rice flour, other dishes such as cooked beans, potato salad called ‘achar’, and of course the home-distilled millet liquor called ‘ayala’ supplement ‘samaye’.

After finishing the eating of the god-blessed food called ‘samaye’ and drinking ‘thon’ and ayala to the satisfaction of all members of the devali, it is time for all to go home.

The priest and his spouse collect all coins and banknotes offered to the Kuldevta, then food items such as rice, flattened rice, fruits and various sorts of sweets offered to Kuldevta, as all the items offered to the god become the part of the remuneration for their efforts made to perform puja.

Then the patriarch carefully collects the leaf-shaped gods: Kuldevta and God Narayan and puts them in his right bronze container and then their ornaments, and then the leftover puja items called ‘prasad’ as the god-blessed items, and the head of the sacrificed goat in his left bronze container. He carries these things in containers balancing them on a shoulder post and leads the procession of the people carrying their respective bronze plates following the order of seniority to home. On the way home, the headman makes an offering called ‘li-sova puja’ means a looking-back offering on the eight lotus petals carved in a stone.

On reaching home, most of them take a rest while the members of the caretaker household get busy with preparing the goat meat for the feast. Somebody has already cooked all other dishes required for the feast and made ready for serving.

By the time, all the members of the devali have rested and recuperated and even digested the god-blessed food samaye, the goat meat becomes ready for serving. All the members of devali come to the caretaker’s house to enjoy the devali feast.

The devali members sit down in the order of the seniority to feast. The headman called ‘nayo’ sits next to the god’s place, and then the male head of each household belonging to the devali takes his seat following the protocol of seniority. ‘Nakin’: the wife of the ‘nayo’ takes the last seat. She is the only female member to sit at the feast. In case the headman has no wife, the wife of the second senior most man takes the seat of ‘nakin’ at the feast.

Once all are in their respective positions, someone sets plates made out of fresh green Sal-tree leaves by sewing eight leaves together with thin bamboo needles one at the god’s place and one at each person’ seat. Volunteers serve first flattened rice on the leaf-plates then in succession goat meat, beans, vegetables and so on. This feast may go on for some time, and a variety of dishes may be served.

After the completion of the feast, everybody has to wait for the ‘nayo’ to say ‘the feast is done’ and then everyone may leave his/her seat. The ‘nakin’ collects all the leaf-plates and leftovers in a brass container and takes it to the Goddess called ‘Chavasvo Ajima’: guardian goddess of a neighborhood residing at a crossroad, and tosses the leftover on a flagstone dedicated to her. Someone with a water jar waits at the entrance to the house of the caretaker where the feast is held to help the ‘nakin’ to clean the brass container and her hands.

Someone takes the portion of the feast set aside for the god to the field shrine. Next to the ‘nayo’, a portion of every item served to the members of the devali is set-aside for the god. We believe that the god participates in our feast.

After the devali feast, volunteers continue to prepare for yet another that night, the concluding feast called ‘sikaya bhu’. By this time, most of the devali members have already eaten and drunk to their satisfaction, this last feast is usually a formality.

In this feast, parts of the head of the sacrificed goat are allocated to the members of the devali following their seniority. The head of the sacrificed goat is meticulously cut into eight specific parts such as two eyes, two ears, two jawbones, the nose and the tongue called ‘si-u’. The right eye considered being the most important part goes to the ‘nayo’, the tail goes to the ‘nakin’; then each piece of ‘si-u’ goes to the members following the protocol of seniority. If the leading members of the devali exceed nine, those remaining receive some meat as a compensation for not having a ‘si-u’. After the first two feasts of the day, none has appetite or thirst for anything except for ‘thon’ and ‘ayala’. Thus, the first day of devali puja completes.

On the second day of devali puja we do not have many rituals; we simply go on feasting after making ritual offerings to the home Kuldevta in the morning. Every member of the devali comes to the home Kuldevta and have the vision of the god and then goes on eating freshly cooked pancakes made out of rice floor. One or more women cook rice pancakes depending on the number of the members of the devali and serve two pancakes called ‘catamari’ to each member of the clan. Some members may drink ‘ayala’ and eat ‘catamari’.

By late morning, various dishes of meat, beans and vegetables are ready for serving for the first feast on the second day of the devali puja. Leaf-plates are laid on the floor this time for all members of the devali including the newly admitted members and one clay saucer at each leaf-plate for serving ‘thon’ or ‘ayala’. Flattened rice is the first item served followed by the meat items, beans items and vegetables and so on. ‘Thon’ and ‘ayala’ are served continuously following the choice of everyone after clay saucers are emptied. We do not keep the saucers empty.

In the late afternoon, the devali puja is almost over except for the transfer of the Kuldevta to the next household. All the representatives of the devali assemble at the caretaker’s house and prepare for transferring the Kuldevta to the next household in line for taking care of the Kuldevta for a year. The caretaker household serves ‘thon’ and ‘ayala’ to the devali members as much as they wish for.

Then, a large leaf-plateful of different dishes is put together and then put in a brass container fitting to the size of the leaf-plate. It goes with the Kuldevta to the next caretaker.

Young volunteers carry the Kuldevta and the large leaf-plateful of different dishes on their arms covered with white linen so that nobody would see these things in public while taking these things to the new caretaker’s house. Other members of the devali with burning incense in their hands follow these two men carrying the Kuldevta and a large dish on the way to the new caretaker’s home.

A woman with a holy water jar waits at the entrance to the new caretakers house for welcoming the Kuldevta and the devali members. She offers holy water to the covered Kuldevta as a welcoming ceremony, and leads the carrier of Kuldevta and accompanying members of the devali to the room where Kuldevta will reside for a year. From that day on, the new caretaker renders all sorts of daily services to Kuldevta.

Then, all the members of the devali gather together in a sitting room. The women of the caretaking household serve ‘thon’ and ‘ayala’ with tidbits such as sweets and sweetmeats to the members of the devali. After the brief exchange of pleasantry, all the members of the devali disperse from the new caretaker’s home. Thus, ends the devali puja.

Devali puja is a ritual representation of the ties of the members to a clan. If a household does not join the devali puja means its members are no longer phukii. They might comeback to the devali puja next year with a fine of a sacrificial goat or they hold their own devali creating a parallel clan. Then they become non-phukii of the clan they have split from. However, none of the members of the parallel devalis have matrimonial relations until the seventh generation.

The worship of a common tutelary god, the inauguration of new members, and the gathering of the members of the clan for feasts are all the aspects of the devali puja that serves to define and strengthen the social bonds of the Nevah people.

April 25, 2009.

Note: (1) Nevah has the tradition of performing the ceremony of marrying their young girls of age starting at five ending at nine with a god called Svorna Kumar. This wedding is popularly known as ‘bel bibah’ in ‘Khas’ and ‘Ihi’ in Nevah. This mass wedding of young girls to Svorna Kumar or Lord Vishnu makes the Nevah women never widows. ‘Bel’ fruit represents Lord Shiva and acts as a witness in the marriage.

(2) Traditionally, a leaf-plate represents eight Mother Goddesses called Astramatrika. To make such a leaf plate, first two leaves are sewn together then one after another six leaves are sewn around it to make a leaf plate. Each leaf in a leaf-plate represents one Mother Goddess.

(3) ‘Dugu Dyo’ is a combination of two deities: Vedic God called Narayan and Tantric Goddess called Bhagavati. We get empowered from Goddess Bhagavati whereas peace from God Narayan.

(4) ‘Dugu puja’ starts on Aksatritiya (April 17, 2009) and ends on Sithinakha (May 29, 2009).