Again, the Earth Goddess, being the primary source of that Mana which fertilizes men and animals, and brings the fruits of the earth to harvest, naturally becomes periodically exhausted, and needs repose to recruit her energies. In Malabar in January–February the field work is over, and Mother Earth rests during the hot weather until the first shower of rain, when she revives and undergoes the natural function of women just described.[1] This periodical rest of the goddess, to which further reference will be made later on, is observed throughout the country in various ways. In the Panjāb she sleeps on seven or eight days in each month, and on these days ploughing and sowing are tabu, with this concession that if inadvertently work has started on these days, it may be finished.[2] In the Deccan, after the Naurātrī, or Nine Nights’ feast of the goddess in September–October, her temple is closed from the sacred 11th day of the month until the full-moon day, while the goddess rests and refreshes herself after the liberal distribution of Mana to her worshippers during her festival.[3] In the Deccan many people make a vow to live during the rest of the goddess in the country north of the river Godāvarī, this being regarded as the southern boundary, marking off Hindostan from the non-Aryan tribes of the south.[4]
Naturally after her periodical rest the Earth Mother needs to be aroused. This rite goes back to Vedic times, when, at the Mahāvrata festival, maidens carrying water pitchers used to dance round a fire and sing: “The cows smell pleasantly: here is sweet drink! the cows are
- ↑ L. K. Anantha Krishna Iyer, The Cochin Tribes and Castes, ii. 78.
- ↑ North Indian Notes and Queries, ii. 172; Panjāb Notes and Queries, ii. 205.
- ↑ Bombay Gazetteer, xx. 444.
- ↑ M. M. Underhill, The Indian Year, 14. “The Phrygians, according to Plutarch, believed that their god slept in winter and waked in summer, and accordingly they celebrated with Bacchic rites the beginning and end of this period of rest” (Sir J. G. Frazer, The Golden Bough, 3rd ed. Adonis, Attis, Osiris, ii. 41).
