Jōgi Purusha

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This article is an excerpt from Castes and Tribes of Southern India By Edgar Thurston, C.I.E., Superintendent, Madras Government Museum; Correspondant Étranger, Société d’Anthropologie de Paris; Socio Corrispondante, Societa,Romana di Anthropologia. Assisted by K. Rangachari, M.A., of the Madras Government Museum. Government Press, Madras 1909.

Jōgi Purusha

The Purushas or Jōgi Purushas seem to have come into existence in recent times, and to be divided into two distinct classes, one of which has crystallised into a caste, while the other merely follows a cult practiced by several other castes. Those in South Canara, who speak Marāthi and Tulu, say that they form a caste, which will not admit members of other castes into its ranks. There is a head mutt (religious institution) at Kadiri, with subordinate mutts at Halori and Bhuvarasu, all in South Canara. The Jōgi Purushas are disciples of one or other of these mutts. Their special deity is Bairava, but some regard Gorakshanāth as their god. They are initiated into the Bairava cult by their priest. They may lead either a celibate or married life. The celibates should have a hole bored in the middle of the ear, and wear therein a ring of rhinoceros horn or china-clay. Those who wish to lead a married life need not have a hole in the ear, but, at the time of their initiation, a piece of clay is pressed over the spot where the hole should be. All Jōgi Purushas who have become the disciples of a guru (spiritual instructor) of their cult ought to have a brass, copper, or silver pipe, called singanātha, tied on a thread round the neck. Before taking their meals, they are expected to pray to Bairava, and blow the pipe.

The Jōgi Purushas follow the Makkalakattu system of inheritance (in the male line), and, for their marriage ceremonies, engage a Karādi Brāhman. The dead are buried in a sitting posture. The bojja, or final death ceremony, is usually performed on the twelfth day, and a Brāhman priest officiates thereat. The ceremony consists in offering food to the crows, making presents to Brāhmans, and undergoing purificatory rites for the removal of death pollution. If the deceased has been initiated into the Bairava cult, pūja (worship) must be done at the grave every alternate day from the third day till the bojja day. Some Jōgi Purushas are professional mendicants, while others work as coolies, peons, etc. [501]