Ethics

While religion is about man’s relationship to a transcendent Supreme Power or Supreme Powers, ethics is about the moral norms to be followed when a man interacts with another man or society at large.

Pratibha Ray time and again makes a statement that the Bondas’ life contexts and living conditions determine their code of conduct. She comments, “For the Bonda, adherence to a moral code is a matter of necessity” (Ray 2001:47). She registers this in the different aspects of the Bonda life she portrays.

17.6.1 Women’s Attire

Traditionally, Bonda women are to have clean shaven heads and bare bodies except for a foot or two of colourful ringa to cover their private parts. This can be traced to an ancient legend. Long ago, when Sita Takrani was bathing naked in the Kingubodak stream, a group of Bondunis who happened to come there laughed at her nudity. The goddess, in anger, cursed them. “Naked you shall be to every eye! And not a hair shall cover your heads; you shall walk with your heads shaven, bare from head to foot”! She also warned them, if they break the rule, “not a blade of grass will grow on these mountains! The Bonda people will be destroyed!” When the selanis cried and pleaded, the goddess took mercy on them.

The Bondunis comforted themselves thinking that in fact it was thoughtful of the god­dess to have given this curse, as otherwise with a long sari tied around them, they would find it very difficult to toil in the land, and also, shaven heads save them the time from oiling the long hair. But the clever selanis found a partial way out to evade the shame of nudity. Except for their bare backs, buttocks, and calves, no one can see their nakedness as they adorn themselves with brass or bronze rings and bracelets that cover their neck and arms; wear on their chest strings of colourful beads that hang down to the navel; and tie the thu- mia (the holder) to which their ringas are attached. The article ‘Myths and Ornamentation of the Bonda Women: A Continuity and Change’ provides different versions of this myth from different places of Bonda region. In the one that includes the character of Sita, it is Lakshman who curses the selanis, and Sita who pities them (Vardhan 2020:118).

17.6.2 Position of Women

In the Bonda society, it is the women who take care of the family, land, and economic activi­ties. But still, a Bonduni is not allowed to perform any religious ritual and sit on or close to the sindbore (stone platform on which the village council assembles) as it is considered pol­luting. Ray says, “At tribal festivals, she [Bonduni] may not offer sacrifice to gods and spirits or participate in the rituals. She may approach the sindbore in the centre of the village but she may not touch it. Her touch is polluting” (Ray 2001:79). That is why though Budei Toki performs sapung-sunung-bok-gigey, “the ritual worship celebrating the first yield from the salap tree” (Ray 2001:102), after that, the function of hanging the pot from the branches of the salap tree to get the first pot of sapung (sap of salap tree) and offering it to the dumas of the ancestors and later sharing it with the kinsmen is performed by a male elder cousin as Bagha Bindu is in jail (Ray 2001:102-103).

17.6.3 Violence and Killing

Bonda men are quick of temperament, and at the slightest excuse, shoot the arrow and kill the opponent. They are also wary of outsiders. This is attributed to their long association with Bundi Mahadei, the queen of Chitrakot, who was betrayed by her own minister who killed the king, her husband. Their logic behind this is that if a minister could betray the king, the ordinary soldiers who accompanied the queen could do the same. The author also feels that the blood of treachery could have passed into the Bondas through the four sol­diers who in due course merged with the Bonda tribe, and the treachery may raise its head any time and hence they have to be cautious. It is also believed that it was Bundi Mahadei with a few of her soldiers who trained Bonda men in the art of war (Ray 2001:5).

One other reason for their violence can be attributed to their addiction to drinking sapung (fermented juice of the palm tree). It is said, once upon a time, a father and then the mother left their babies in the shade of a palm tree to eat the flesh of a deer the man had hunted. In the meanwhile, the babies cried of hunger. The palm tree took pity on the infants and spread its roots deep below the ground to the ocean, served it well, took some of its water and turned it into sapung, fed the babies with it and satisfied their hunger (Ray 2001:11-12). Thus, the salap juice becomes “the Bonda’s lifeblood as well as Death” (Ray 2001:11). Ray observes,

The salap has been the cause of murder, rioting, incarceration, and hanging. Still, the Bonda’s relationship to the salap is that of the flower to the stalk. An eternal link. The Earth Mother, he believes, has given him the salap to nurture him.

(Ray 2001:11)

So, from the birth the Bondas’ life is entwined with liquor and drinking.

Religion of the tribes of Orissa is based on their belief that their life and work are con­trolled by supernatural beings having their abode around them in the hills, sky, rivers, forests, habitation, and home. Thus, man, nature and supernatural powers, according to them are intimately related.

(Ota et al. 2010:33)

Being volatile, Bonda men do not think twice before killing someone. “To the Bonda, the killing of a human being is neither crime nor sin. He who causes another to anger dies: he who is angered kills: thus it has been for countless generations” (Ray 2001:72-73). But the author presents a dual perception of the Bondas with regard to killing someone. This is because the Bondas also follow what is called “the cleaning of the water ceremony” to end the feud between the killer and the murdered one’s family. Bagha Bindu who undergoes this after his return from the jail is made to repeat three times the following words: “I have done wrong; I have killed your kinsman. I ask your forgiveness. If I should do such a thing again, may I be forced to eat your excrement, to drink your urine” (Ray 2001:119). He offers landha (an alcoholic drink made from rice) to each and drinks the polluted remains from the cup of each. This shows the divergence between traditions and the practice in real life.

17.6.4 Communal Living

The Bondas live as a close community sharing each other’s joy and sorrow.

When a Bonda finds another remo in need, it becomes his duty to give, to share. Since the dumas observe everything, every selfish act is witnessed by them and punished. If a remo has failed to help a neighbour in his need, the dumas will seize him and cause him harm: he will be struck with disease, or his crops will wither.

(Ray 2001:157)

Thus, if there is a man-eating tiger prowling, it is the duty of the dhangras from all 32 vil­lages to join the hunt to trace and kill it. Similarly, bound by the age-old injunction of gods, whenever there is a celebration the whole village feasts. During weddings, as already exem­plified, everyone brings rice and liquor to the house celebrating the wedding. “In the Bonda community... for one to feast while another watches is an offence” (Ray 2001:256). That is one of the reasons why Bagha Bindu rages and refuses to eat when the leader babu sends a peon to invite only him, Soma Muduli, and Katu to eat the meat and rice (Ray 2001:256).

17.6.5 Fight over Gods

The Bondas believe in different gods and spirits, but the supreme deity is Patkhanda Mahapru. There are no infightings among the Bondas due to their religious beliefs. In fact, the Bondas justifiably take a dig at the mainstream society when Bagha Bindu brings the picture of the Ishwar, bought from the warder in the jail in the city. The people grow cau­tious, and Sukra Madra, a returnee from Assam, says in earnest: “The towns-people are always fighting over different gods - killing each other. Now the same thing will happen to us” (Ray 2001:120)!

17.6.6 Straightforward Nature

There is no deceit or falsehood in the Bondas’ blood. They take their words seriously. The author says that “the Bonda’s promise, once given, can no more be retrieved than an arrow shot from his bow” (Ray 2001:35). Generally, swearing ceremonies and oath taking are done over objects considered sacred, especially the Mother Earth. Thus, Soma Muduli makes Sania’s wife take the oath, over earth, cow dung, salt, and a tiger’s tail, that she will wait for Sania’s return from the jail. So too does Budei Toki vow to wait for Bagha Bindu though the details of the ceremony have not been provided in this case. When Buda Muduli approaches Budei Toki to set up the dia with him, after Bagha Bindu goes to jail, she says that she cannot do it as she cannot break the oath that Bindu made her to take.

The disari made them stand, then stood up himself. Bowing in all four directions to the gods of the earth and the sky, he chanted mantras: “... patkhanda mahapru... these two here, why Thou knowest, have become maitarbais. Let their love grow; let it last forever. Let there be no quarrel among them. If it comes to pass otherwise, let my eyes be blind. Be Thou my witness!”

(Ray 2001:84)

Then after a few more steps, “Liquor was sprinkled on the ground to placate Dhartini Ma, the Earth Mother, and the spirits of ancestors” (Ray 2001:84). Elsewhere the novelist says that a Bonda will never harm anyone whom he calls his friend (see also Mohanty 2009:42).

The Bondas are connected by a sacramental brotherhood and soru bai fellowship, as already discussed, resulting from living in the same village protected by gods, sharing the same food offered to Mahapru and being attached to the same sindbore. So, as one big fam­ily, they are true to one another. The maitarbais too “stand behind each other firmly and provide moral and physical support at the time of need” (Mohanty 2009:42). The Bondas are also afraid that the dumas of their ancestors are watching over them and will punish them for their misdeeds. And also as Ray says, “They [Bondas] were nature’s children - as open, as clear, as harsh and as exposed as nature. They did not know what falsehood was: they were as straight as the trees that grew on the mountains. As uncomplicated” (Ray 2001:5). Hence, lying is considered a disgrace to the tribe and a breaking of their traditions. That is why, when Bagha Bindu is counselled by his advocate to lie in the court, he shouts at him saying that one who is supposed to protect truth is working against it. Unflinchingly he announces in the witness stand that he killed Mangla Madra. When asked to take oath in the witness stand, he sharply reacts, “We remos never lie. Why should I swear to tell the truth” (Ray 2001:104)? Bagha Bindu feels ashamed and hangs his head in remorse when he mistakenly gathers the dhangras from 32 villages on an expedition to hunt the man­eating tiger which, under a false lead, he wrongly suspects has killed his son Sukra. The accompanying party accuses him “No Bonda tells a lie! Bagha Bindu has disgraced us” (Ray 2001:155)! He meekly accepts the punishment of giving a feast to the whole village. The Bondas consider their traditions sacred. The promises they make are also sacred to them. Budei Toki waits for 14 long years for Bagha Bindu’s return from jail as she is under oath. Soma Muduli, even when provoked, does not attempt to kill another person though it is Bonda nature, because of his promise to Lachhma Toki. Buda Muduli is murdered by his friend when he cannot keep his promise of going with him to Assam. No Bonda doubts another’s words. When Soma Muduli’s father pays only half the bride’s price and assures that he will pay the rest at the time of marriage, Sombari’s father accepts it without ever thinking that he may be cheated. Even when the Bondas mortgage the land to get a loan from the sahukar (money-lender) and at times become his goti (bonded labourer), there is no written contract; everything goes by word of mouth as we see when Budei Toki mort­gages the land to meet the expenses of the cleaning of the water ceremony and the ritual of getting readmitted into the tribe.

But their love for their fellow beings and straightforward nature are cast under doubt when we see that their law allows a person who lends money to attach the cattle and land of the debtor if there is a default in the repayment, without giving him any leeway. Strangely, the Bondas do not hold any grudge against the sahukar under whom they become gotis and get exploited more and more. He is just a man to turn to for help in times of need. That is all. Again, no one raises any voice when a fellow man snatches the land and even the wife of another Bonda who goes to jail. Bagha Bindu too lies after he along with his friends kills and eats the old and weak ox that Tanko Khemundi tricked him into buying. He tells Sitanath that a tiger has eaten the ox. Sitanath who seems to know the Bonda tradition of being truthful placates him to bring out the truth by way of saying, “I know you will always tell me the truth because we are brothers” (Ray 2001:186).

17.6.7 Relationship with the Environment

With respect to the Bonda’s relationship with the environment, we see two different treat­ments. The Bondas revere earth as mother and worship her. She is Tubu Yang or Dhartini Ma to them. They believe that the Earth will be displeased if they use artificial fertilisers. Hence, they refuse to use them even when they grow non-native plants like orange or pine­apple. But they, due to necessity, cut down the trees and clear the forests in patches to grow rice in the mountain slopes. This is what is called as podu (shifting cultivation). This has its dire consequence. “As podu cultivation had denuded the mountains, there were no trees now to reach out and milk the clouds of their moisture” (Ray 2001:221). Hence, a severe drought hits the place and people eat up even the seed grain set apart for sowing.

Animal sacrifice is a part of almost all rituals, and the Bondas eat the flesh of animals, be it of cattle, rooster, or pig; they also eat small living creatures like crabs and termites. They use ox for ploughing the land. While animal flesh is food for them, they do not drink the milk of cattle. They believe that the milk belongs to the calf or the young one. They are different from the Hindus in that beef is not forbidden in their religion. They see gods in a tree, tiger, stone, and other elements of nature, and unlike the modern man who exploits nature to more than maximum as an economic resource, majorly their relationship with the environment is for subsistence, livelihood, and utility.

Taking into account the legends behind the Bonda women’s dress code and communal feasting, and also their beliefs and rituals, it can be safely deduced that the Bondas also have “A theological system of ethics [that] involves certain pre-suppositions concerning a superhuman order and man's relation to it [and] in such a system the accepted ethical principles appear as commands, or laws, of the deity or deities” (Everett 1900:486). Their relationship with god is one of fear, and they obey those commands. At the same time, we also observe how sometimes they circumvent the immutable laws, based on the demands of situation. Still, they live as one community under the umbrella of common beliefs, tradi­tions, and practices.

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