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In between the cultivated fields were patches
of untamed growth in which wild flowers blossomed. The names of these plants
were known to the primal settlers of this land like the Adiyars, Paniyars,
Vedas, and Jaina Kurubas. This last tribe who are closest in many ways to the
forest, having in the past made their livelihood from collecting honey, are
generally landless. It was set in a village of this tribe that Baby had written
a play around the Guda hut which is constructed when a girl comes of age, and
where she is confined until the village is able to organize a celebration to
welcome her into the tribal community.
The wild flowers of the pasture land remind us
of a biodiversity that extends back into the forest itself where we find a rich
profusion of many different types of plant life. In fact one could say that the
forest as a habitat for wild creatures, is characterized by this kind of
biodiversity which is different from the mono crops of the plantations that
were created after the forest had been cleared.
In the borderline area between cultivated land
and the forest wilderness we find sacred sites which mark the transition from
culture to nature. Here by the stream that flows between the paddy fields and
the forest, there is a small spirit house, similar to the spirit dwelling
places that are to be found elsewhere in the Western Ghats, dedicated to the
wild presences like serpents, which inhabit the forest or sacred grove.
Beside the simple conical structure of the
spirit house we can see also the ant mound which is also a kind of proto
temple, coming up from the ground itself, and representing the energies of
nature that are also essential for the fertility of the land. In fact these
spirit homes are like the Kshetra pala structures that we find in the villages
of Karnataka, that are also often connected with anthills, and represent the
presence of primal energies of the wild.
Looking across the terraced fields which are
held in a sort of bowl between the coffee and arrack nut plantations on the one
side, and the forest on the other, the conical roof of the spirit dwelling, and
the spreading branches of the ancient tree, a left over of the forest under
whose protection the spirits of the wild still remain, the landscape has a
focus in the sacred place of the shrine.
Crossing over the little stream (a tributary of
the Kabanni river), we enter into the forest. Here in ancient times the Vani
tribe ruled, being the traditional lords of the forest, who were hunters. We
went through the forest to the site of an ancient fort where the Vani tribe had
their seat. The legend goes that one day a prince coming from the plains near
Calicut ventured into this part of the Wyanad on a hunt, and met a princess of
the Vani tribe, who was very bold. In fact the Vani tribe was matriarchal, and
the women of the tribe had an initiative which was not to be found among the
plains folk. She fell in love with the handsome prince of the plains, and
proposed to marry him. He agreed, and messages were sent to his Father that a
marriage would be celebrated here in the forest, to which he and his courtiers
were invited. The king of the plains was furious, and got together with two
other neighbouring kings, and came to the Wyanad ostensibly to attend the
wedding. They were met by Vani leaders, and the welcoming small drums used for
feasts were played. However, hidden in the forest was the army that the three
kings of the plains had mustered, and soon the great war drums were heard, as
they came out to attack the Vanis, who were unprepared, and quickly fled from
the invading army. The princess who had offered her hand in marriage to the
prince from the plains felt deeply insulted, and decided to become a Jaina nun.
She used one of her diamond ear rings to commission a small Jaina temple to be
built on the site of the Vani fort, while throwing the other diamond ring into
a well in the forest. The little Jaina temple that was constructed, probably
around the 12th century, resembles the chaitya model of shrine as we
see carved out of a solid lump of stone in Mahaballipuram on the Tamilnad
coast. One might suggest that this model of a barrel roofed structure goes back
to tribal dwelling places, like the Toda houses in the Nilgiri hills, which were also functioning as holy dairies
for buffalo herdsmen. The detailing of these stone structures, made in this
case out of soap stone which must have been brought here from Karnataka, show
that the original model for these forms was a wooden building, probably with a
thatched roof.
The forest path is like a track that
circumambulates the sacred grove which
was the primordial site of the temple, often dedicated to the Feminine deity of
the forest—Vana devi, or the Paniyar and Adiyar goddess Mali. This goddess
figures very much in the myths of this region, whose fearful aspect is supposed
to have terrified the first human couple, made out of clay, so that they became
alive, animated through their fear to
run away from the awesome presence of the dark wilderness. Here life is itself
related to the spirit of fear, or holy dread, which transforms inanimate nature
into self-conscious life.
