According to the oral narrative, once upon a time a certain Rishi was performing Tapasya (religious austerity or penance) on the bank of the river Godavari in the Ramayana or Satya-Yuga. He had an attractive daughter named Malati. During this period, Ravana was the king of Lanka. On one occasion, Malati happened to be out when Ravana came to visit that place and saw her. He was smitten with the charm of Malati and could not resist his sexual urge. He ravished her and she became unconscious. Subsequently, Ravana threw Malati into the river Godavari. She was in danger of losing her life. However, Godavari protected her as if a mother naturally feels protective towards her child and brought her back safely to the bank.
When Malati regained her consciousnes, she was dumbfounded finding herself in a strange place. She did not find her father and started weeping helplessly. At that time, Musika (mouse), the Vahana (vehicle) of Lord Ganapati heard the moans of offended Malati. He came up to her and asked what she was moaning about. Malati narrated her misfortune. Musika consoled her with the thought that it might have been worse. He promised to help her also. Consequently, face of Malati radiated with joy and hope. She was now at the mercy of Musiaka. But the irony of her fate or circumstance was that Malati was deceived into believing that Musika would help her. Finally, Musika also enjoyed her. As a consequence, from Ravana and Musika was born of her a male child called Musika-datta.
When the child grew up, he became a threat to his own mother. He devoured his mother mercilessly. After that, he performed Tapasya rigorously and pleased Lord Siva. The deity conferred on him Bara (boon) that he would have cause for fear from none but Narasingha of the Satya-Yuga. This narrative informs us the occurrence of Saivism in this site. In other words, this indicates that the prevailing society believed in or required the synthesis between Saivism and Vaisnavism in this area. However, Musika-datta became most powerful and a source of trouble and discontentment to the deities of Swarga (heaven). The helpless deities surrendered to Ramachandra and threw themselves on his mercy. Assuming the appearance of Lord Narasingha, Ramachandra came to annihilate Musika-datta who fled in fear of his life. Narasingha also followed him. Musika-datta arrived at Gandhagiri in fear and trembling. He approached the Gandhagiri to give him protection. When the refuge was granted, Musika-datta assumed the form of Musika (mouse) and entered the mountain Gandhagiri. So, Lord Narasingha also assumed the form of a Marjara (cat) and pursued him. But Gandhagiri and other deities interceded and requested Lord Visnu to establish himself there in that feline form i.e. Marjara-Kesari so that he could devour Musika-datta when he came out. This narrative also informs us the existence of Ganapati cult in this site. Ganapati-Ghat and rock-cut sculpture available in Narsinghnath site establish this fact.
A significant feature of this Tirtha is Hari-Hara-Pangat, which undoubtedly confirms that Vaisnavism and Saivism headed towards a synthesis in this site. In reality, however, it was a synthesis between Buddhism, Vaisnavism (Hari) and Saivism (Hara) in the Narasingha Pitha. Both the low caste as well as high caste people sit on the floor together and eat Anna Prasad cooked in the house of this popular deity. Hari-Hara-Pangat stands for the casteless, classless and secular aspect of this Tirtha. People never dare to abstain from Hari-Hara- Pangat or Hari-Hara-Bhoga on caste point of view. They acknowledge Prasad without hesitation. In other words, while taking or sharing of cooked food among various castes and communities is stringently forbidden under traditional Hindu caste system, eating of Bhoga at Hari-Hara-Pangat is not at all forbidden. The eradication of caste rules in regard to the Hari-Hara-Bhoga i.e. the sacred food cooked in the temple reminds us one of the important protests of Buddhism against caste prejudices. Also, the typical catlike form of the deity with the head of a cat and body of a lion is a terrific idol, which recommends some influence of or connection with Tantra. It is a fact that this place was some time a seat of Tantrik Buddhism. Scholars strongly advocate that the Gandhagiri or Gandhamardana hill has to be explored for ancient Buddhist relics. This has led the world by founding Vajrayana Buddhism in the eighth century A.D. In view of the above, nonappearance of caste restriction in Hari-Hara-Pangat and the typical feline form of Marjara-Kesari may be attributed to the Buddhist Tantrik tradition, which some time ago flourished here.
Moreover, this also equates with the Mahaprasad Sevana at Ananda Bazar of the Lord Jagannath Temple, Puri, which for some scholars represents the coalition of Brahmin and Buddhist doctrines. It is believed that originally the image of Lord Jagannath was the image of Lord Buddha containing his relics and Buddhist mode of worship are traced in the rituals of Lord Jagannath (O’Malley, 1908:90). It may be understood here that Narsinghanath Pitha powerfully emerged as a Vaisnava Pitha during Chauhan rule. Vaisnavism triumphed over Buddhism as well as Saivism in this Pitha and Buddhism absolutely lost its identity. As it has been said earlier, from about fourteenth century Borasambar area came under the Chauhan reign of Patnagarh. The finish of the Buddhist and Saiva faiths in Narsinghnath site may tentatively be traced to this period.
It may be suggested to consider that the aboriginal people who were the original worshippers of this deity earlier richly inhabited this region. The catlike form of deity was probably a non-Hindu deity, which does not match with any of the form of Devi or Devata icon of the Hindu iconography. Further, the image does not resemble any other deity found in Orissa. The antiquity of Marjara-Kesari cannot be pushed back to the Vedic period. During the Vedic period, the four Vedas do not refer to the worship of Marjara-Kesari. What’s more, Marjara-Kesari does not find a place in the congregation of Vedic deities. Most probably, Marjara-Kesari was initiated into the Brahminical pantheon in Narsinghnath Tirtha at a later period during the Chauhan rule. The non-Hindu image of Marjara-Kesari is probably a Buddhist one, worshipped in the beginning by the ancient tribal people of this area. The original name of this deity was obscured by the Sanskritik / Hindu name of Marjara-Kesari conferred on him. This name was befitting to the image of the deity with the head of a cat and body of a lion. It was easier to recognize Marjara-Kesari with the Hindu deity Nara-Singha with the head of a lion and body of a male human being. This was established by manufacturing a narrative of Malati and Musika-datta involving Ravana, Musika, the vehicle of Lord Ganesa and Ramachandra. Subsequently, this story was accepted far and wide by both the Hindus and non-Hindus of this area. In addition, the myth helped to incorporate the deity as a form of incarnation of Lord Visnu into the Hindu fold.
In all probability, this process of Sanskritisation or Hinduisation of the aboriginal deity took place in the medieval period during the State formation in Patnagarh. It was essentially required to integrate the indigenous communities into one fold under the umbrella of Hinduism in the process of the building of a unified Patna Rajya. So, Marjara-Kesari was accepted and exalted as Lord Visnu in order to appease the local subjects so that the ruling class could consolidate their power over the natives and exercise their authority over this area. In this context, it would not be out of place to mention here that the Binjhals are a primitive race, which appears to have been among the earliest inhabitants of this area. The entire area was a part of the Borasambar zamindari belonging to the Binjhal family. As discussed elsewhere, they were a hunting and martial tribe. But they were converted into settled agriculturists during the Chauhan reigns. Even today, majority of them are cultivators and rests are farm servants or field labourers. Those who are settled in the plains have taken to improved methods of rice cultivation (Senapati and Sahu, 1968:103). From the military point of view i.e. security of the State and political point of view, the Binjhals / Bhinjawal zamindar of Borasambar held an important position. His lands were situated alone on the north side of the Gandhagiri, which form part of the northern frontier of Patna, and accordingly he could hold the approaches through these hills to Patna for or against any hostile force (5). The zamindar of Borasambar enjoyed the most privileged position like right of affixing the Ticca to the Rajas of Patnagarh on their accession. Conspicuously, the more advanced Binjhals boast of an alliance with Rajputs and call themselves Barihas, which is a title originally borne by small hill chiefs. But the common Binjhals do not claim such Rajput / Kshatriya status and descent. Nonetheless, it may be noted here that the management of the Narasinghanath temple has been directly or indirectly controlled by the Padampur / Borasambar zamindar family since time immemorial.
Chitrasen Pasayat is an OAS comments on culture