Tattooing seems to have been originally a magical means of protecting
the body against real and spiritual dangers, much in the same manner
as the wearing of ornaments. It is also supposed that people were
tattooed with images of their totem in order the better to identify
themselves with it. The following account is stated to have been taken
from the Baiga priest of a popular shrine of Devi in Mandla. His wife
was a tattooer of both Baigas and Gonds, and considered it the correct
method for the full tattooing of a woman, though very few women can
nowadays be found with it. The magical intent of tattooing is here
clearly brought out:--
On the sole of the right foot is the annexed device:
It represents the earth, and will have the effect of preventing the
woman's foot from being bruised and cut when she walks about barefoot.
On the sole of the left foot is this pattern:
It is meant to be in the shape of a foot, and is called Padam Sen Deo
or the Foot-god. This deity is represented by stones marked with two
footprints under a tree outside the village. When they have a pain in
the foot they go to him, rub his two stones together and sprinkle the
dust from them on their feet as a means of cure. The device tattooed
on the foot no doubt performs a similar protective function.
On the upper part of the foot five dots are made, one on each toe, and
a line is drawn round the foot from the big toe to the little toe. This
sign is said to represent Gajkaran Deo, the elephant god, who resides
in cemeteries. He is a strong god, and it is probably thought that
his symbol on the feet will enable them to bear weight. On the legs
behind they have the images of the Baiga priest and priestess. These
are also supposed to give strength for labour, and when they cannot
go into the forest from fever or weakness they say that Bura Deo, as
the deified priest is called, is angry with them. On the upper legs
in front they tattoo the image of a horse, and at the back a saddle
between the knee and the thigh. This is Koda Deo the horse-god, whose
image will make their thighs as strong as those of a horse. If they
have a pain or weakness in the thigh they go and worship Koda Deo,
offering him a piece of saddle-cloth. On the outer side of each upper
arm they tattoo the image of Hanuman, the deified monkey and the
god of strength, in the form of a man. Both men and women do this,
and men apply burning cowdung to the tattoo-mark in order to burn
it effectually into the arm. This god makes the arms strong to carry
weights. Down the back is tattooed an oblong figure, which is the house
of the god Bhimsen, with an opening at the lower end just above the
buttocks to represent the gate. Inside this on the back is the image
of Bhimsen's club, consisting of a pattern of dots more or less in
the shape of an Indian club. Bhimsen is the god of the cooking-place,
and the image of his club, in white clay stained green with the
leaves of the semar tree, is made on the wall of the kitchen. If
they have no food, or the food is bad, they say that Bhimsen is angry
with them. The pattern tattooed on the back appears therefore to be
meant to facilitate the digestion of food, which the Gonds apparently
once supposed to pass down the body along the back. On the breast in
front women tattoo the image of Bura Deo, as shown, the head on her
neck and the body finishing at her breast-bone. The marks round the
body represent stones, because the symbol of Bura Deo is sometimes
a basket plastered with mud and filled with stones. On each side of
the body women have the image of Jhulan Devi, the cradle goddess, as
shown by the small figures attached to Bura Deo. But a woman cannot
have the image of Jhulan Devi tattooed on her till she has borne a
child. The place where the image is tattooed is that where a child
rests against its mother's body when she carries it suspended in her
cloth, and it is supposed that the image of the goddess supports and
protects the child, while the mother's arms are left free for work.
Round the neck they have Kanteshwar Mata, the goddess of the
necklace. She consists of three to six lines of dots round the neck
representing bead necklaces.
On the face below the mouth there is sometimes the image of a cobra,
and it is supposed that this will protect them from the effects of
eating any poisonous thing.
On the forehead women have the image of Chandi Mata. This consists of
a dot at the forehead at the parting of the hair, from which two lines
of dots run down to the ears on each side, and are continued along
the sides of the face to the neck. This image can only be tattooed
after the hair of a woman has been parted on her marriage, and they
say that Chandi Mata will preserve and guard the parting of the hair,
that is the life of the woman's husband, because the parting can
only be worn so long as her husband is alive. Chandi means the moon,
and it seems likely that the parting of the hair may be considered
to represent the bow of the moon.
The elaborate system of tattooing here described is rarely found,
and it is perhaps comparatively recent, having been devised by the
Baiga and Pardhan priests as their intelligence developed and their
theogony became more complex.