Role of Religious Functionaries
Currently, Hindu gods and goddesses have assimilated in the religious system of most of the tribal communities in Kerala and the flexible nature of Hindu religion facilitated tribal societies with different combinations of deities, beliefs, and practices to coexist and claim to follow Hinduism.
In this particular context of religious institutionalisation, it is significant to note the changing role of religious functionaries among the tribal communities. Tribal religion generally centred on religious functionaries who may also function as political heads and medicine men in most of the tribal societies.Among the Kurichiyan, pittan is the senior most male member of a clan. Traditionally, pittan acquired certain roles and responsibilities such as he should not sit in the same line along with others in a feast. He should not himself perform any religious rites and rituals, but should take the help of his juniors and get it done. He should not leave his household or settlement for negotiating marriage proposals, but he can give directions to others for coordinating the function. He is not entitled to give money to the shaman for his religious interventions. In the past, a Kurichiyan Karanavan was an honoured person in the society. Religious matters related to the clan and their settlements are reported to him and his consent is formally taken for action. But today the situation has changed and with the disintegration of joint families, the central authority of the pittan has shifted to head of the nuclear families. The functional role of pittan is also limited to some of the rituals where all the family members are required to participate.
In addition to pittan, each settlement or mittom, has a local head belonging to the clan of that settlement. There was a third category of functionaries called moonnaman who is generally an elderly affinal relative (elder in age) or a person who is not related to them, but from the same community. Traditionally, in every settlement there were one or two families from outside the clan of that settlement and the selection of moonnaman was made from these families.
Moonnaman generally acts as a mediator in making resolutions during conflicts and other situations where it is difficult for the pittan to take a decision. Now-a-days, these cultural traits have almost disappeared and in the place of pittan and moonnaman mainstream political workers with party affiliations started to intervene in making decisions which has resulted in social stratification. Intervention of political parties in family affairs has also resulted in the decentralisation of power and wealth from the hands of matrilineal authority to the head of nuclear families. Regarding the origins of institutionalised grading, involving the inequality in material assets and power inherited through generations, Smith and Codding (2021) wrote, “Although large-scale, highly stratified state systems arose only in the context of intensive agriculture, evidence shows that reliance on domesticated crops is neither necessary nor sufficient to generate institutionalised inequality at smaller scales” (https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.2016134118). However, these inequalities and power articu-Issues of Institutionalisation among the Kurichiyan lations depend on the way members of a social system approach modifications and changes in their respective social systems. Youngsters in the Kurichiyan community welcome the new interventions of mainstream politics as they have said that such changes can only help the community to come forward in the competitive world. However, they are not much against the role of religious functionaries and most of the religious performances. They believe that ‘religion is a symbol of identity’ and that should be protected.
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