History and Myth of the Origination of Badi

19 2014

3.1 History and Myth of the Origination of Badi

Badis are also considered the ofsprings of Upadhyaya Brahmins. In Indralok, the realm of Indra, there was always entertainment and feasts. Only Upadhyaya Brahmins could be cooks in heaven. Once Indra organized a feast for the gods. An Upadhyaya Brahmin was charged with preparing the feast. Angels were entertaining the gods by dancing and singing. he Brahmin cook intently watched the performance through a hole in the kitchen. He was obsessed with the dance. When Indra invited his guests for the meal, the Brahmin realized that overheating had spoiled the food. He sank at the feet of Indra and confessed that he had been so focused on the performance that he did not know the food was spoilt. Indra asked him whether he liked watching dances. he Brahmin replied that he enjoyed watching the angels’ sing, play music, and dance from childhood. Indra cursed him than and said: “from now on, you go to Earth. May your head not get any dirt, and may your feet not get any mud. May your hands never reap pepper, and may you get whatever you beg for. You will live by entertaining humans by playing music and dancing. You will also make your women, such as daughter, wife, and daughter-in-law, sing and dance.” Cursing thus, he sent the Brahmin to earth. from that time onwards, he and his family began to earn their living by singing and dancing and begging, as Badis do now. So, this proves that they are the descendents of the Upadhyaya Brahmin. CHAPTER III History, Society and Culture 21 2014 20 2014 here is another story about the origin of Badis and the word “Badi.” According to the story, Badis are descendents of a isherman. In Satya Yuga, when all animals and plants could speak, a man would ish in the Ganges every day. One day a ish complained to God that a man had been catching and killing the ish for no reason. God summoned the man and the ish, along with some other humans and asked the man his reasons for killing the ish. he man responded that there had been a abundance of ish, due to which the river was becoming polluted. Because he depended on the river for drinking water, he was merely trying to decrease the number of ish, he was not trying to eradicate them. He added that if the ish would urinate and defecate somewhere else outside the water, then the water would not be dirty, humans would be healthy, and there would be no need for him to catch them. God considered the man to be a killer badhak of ish and cursed him that from now on he would live by ishing. All the people started calling the man a badhak killer. hus, the word Badi originated from this word badhak. here is yet another legend about the origin of Badis. It suggests that division of labor based on caste was ordained by God.. One day, God decided to divide the work and invited humans from all the nine villages that inhabited the planet. he king asked each human to choose a piece of work. A woman said that she would like to worship and serve the gods by staying near the temple or shrine, and she became a Brahmin. Similarly, another woman wished that she would serve humans by digging the earth, and she became a Chhetrini. People of each village chose a particular work, but no one chose to entertain in the god’s palace. So, the gods were worried. Next day, God went hunting. He saw his daughter Sita dancing in the jungle while another daughter, Parvati was singing. He assigned dancing to Sita and singing to Parvati. From that day on, God set Sita inside and Parvati outside. he two daughters accepted the order of their father, and he blessed them thus: they would never be hungry but never have enough to store, they would never be bewitched, that no one could accuse them even if they stole others’ vegetables and fruits, they could not eat inside another’s house, that they would turn a non-giver to a giver, and that they would accept things even with spit on it and wipe it. After many generations, the word Parvati was corrupted and became Patar prostitute. After Parvati had become an entertainer, her father searched for a man to marry her. He wanted the man to have some special skills: he should not only be able to make a maadal a kind of drum but also be able to make sounds with the maadal so that Parvati could sing and dance in tune with it. In order to marry Parvati, many men began to make maadal of diferent kinds of wood but did not succeed. Finally, a man made a maadal of khira wood, but it did not produce any sound even after many attempts at striking it. Frustrated, he threw the drum of the clif. When the drum was rolling, he heard it make a sound like chaamal-challi. He brought the drum back. After he worshipped it with rice chamal and chicken challa, the drum began to beat. he man married Parvati, and their ofspring became Badi and Patar.

3.2 Society