南アジア研究第18号 001岩谷彩子「Dreaming and Magic ： On Recent Devotion to Magical Beings among the Vaghri, ……」

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・Article・

Dreaming

and Magic:

On Recent Devotion to Magical Beings among the

Vaghri, a Semi-Nomadic

Community

in Tamil Nadu

Ayako Iwatani

1. Introduction

Nomadic people are often regarded as possessing magical power, which causes them to be feared and avoided by sedentary people. The Vaghri, a semi-nomadic community in South India, are not an exception. People fear that they might be hypnotized by the Vaghri or cheated by the sales of magical products such as amulets and medicines.

Despite the reputation of the Vaghri among the local people as possessing magical techniques, their actual avoidance of magic and sorcery can be contrasted sharply to the established discourse and practice of magic among the local Tamil. This article considers the meaning of this avoidance and the change in their attitude beginning from the 1980's by examining various discourses and practices about magic.

Before examining the circumstances regarding magic among the Vaghri, we should have some consensus about what is meant by magic or sorcery. Magic is an art of controlling the environment by help of the transcendental. It often uses spells, medicines, or some materials to extract power from the transcendental. There are white and black magic, depending on the purpose of the action; the former is used to bring about benefits to people and societies, while the latter is employed to harm others intentionally. Sorcery is another term for the latter. It is a technique to be learned 1.

岩谷彩子Ayako Iwatani

Author: JSPS Research Fellow (the University of Kyoto) Subject: Cultural Anthropology

Articles: "Strategic 'Otherness' in the Economic Activities of Commercial Nomads: A Case of the Vaghri in South India", Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies No.14, 2002, pp.92-120. "Minami Indo no Syogyo Idomin Vaghri no Seikatsu Jissen to Shinko Henyo: Mimesis no Jinruigaku ni Mukete" ("Life Practice and Religious Change among the Vaghri, the South Indian Commercial Nomad: Toward Anthropology of Mimesis"), 2005, Ph.D. thesis submitted to the University of Kyoto.

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2 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 18, 2006

Instead of regarding magical practices as irrational, primitive or weapons of the marginal people against authority, many recent studies aim to prove the continuity and revival of magic in the process of modernization [Taussig 1980; Geschiere 1997; Comaroff and Comaroff 1999]. It is necessary to understand the political and economic aspects behind the modern expansion of magic and sorcery. However, the pitfall of this perspective is that it can reduce a practice called magic to social factors and fall into instrumentalism. As Kapferer stresses the phantasmagoric (virtual) space of magic and sorcery [Kapferer 2002:23], it is important to question why and how magic attracts people. Then what does it mean that some people avoid magical practices and thinking?

In order to consider these problems, this article focuses on the process by which technique and discourse about magic come to gain an independent status apart from other "magical" practices. This article contrasts dreaming with magic. Dreaming has been reported as a possible trigger for people to become magicians or sorcerers in South Asia [Obeyesekere 1981; Nabokov 2000]. However, there are few studies to argue whether dreaming can be understood in the same way as practicing magic and sorcery.2 The case of the Vaghri can contribute to this argument. The Vaghri value dreams as constituting reality, while they have kept a distance from magic and sorcery.

Both dreams and magic can provide moments to restructure things by transforming the meaning attached to them in everyday life. In both practices, people often go through the moment to alienate themselves by falling into an altered state of consciousness or by watching someone in such a state. Such an experience allows one to be free from suffering and worries in everyday life.

However, there is difference between the two in the capabilities to control the contents. Dreams are influential because one cannot have control over the content, whereas the power of magic lies in the fact that one can control the outcome. In other words, dreams presuppose uncontrollable but thus creative autonomy for those who live in a social institution. Magic is oriented more to a technique to interfere in such autonomous space, so as to open up a route for individuals to restart the once alienated social life. Therefore looking at the interaction between magic, dreams, and their agents reveals the seams of a social institution.

Regarding this point, Stephen's study on the Mekeo in New Guinea gives some hints regarding this point [Stephen 1995]. The Mekeo conceive of multiple layers of the self including a dream-self (lalauga). The dream-self is considered to be vulnerable to attacks by spirits or sorcery. The dream-self can only be controlled by a sorcerer, who, however, must live in isolation from society. In this example, sorcery can interfere in dreaming, but the sorcerer must live in a state of social death in order to keep the dream space productive. While Stephen's example stresses limited access to magical technique, in the case of the Umeda in New Guinea, magic is open to everybody. Among the Umeda, a magical perfume (oketesap) is used both for attracting pigs in hunting and having a dream of lovemaking, which is indicative of successful hunting [Gell 1977] . These studies illuminate two things:

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is shared and distributed depending on social institutions.

The second perspective is pointed out by Barnard and Woodburn [1988:20-21]. They suggested that an egalitarian principle is applied to the possession of knowledge of magic among hunters and gatherers. What is important here is not to see magic and sorcery as something built into a particular society (see Douglas [1970]). Rather, we should regard magic as a mode of knowledge which is to be possessed or exchanged. Magic is rejected or permeated in a society according to the mode of knowledge that people choose. Then what becomes important is how one mode is chosen instead of another under certain

circumstances.

Sugawara's discourse analysis regarding sorcery among the Gui, hunter and gatherers in Africa, opens up a way for further research in order to regard magic as a mode of knowledge

and discourse [Sugawara 2006]. The Gui show fear and disbelief towards sorcery, but at the same time depend on outsiders or marginal men who are capable of sorcery and fortune-telling. Depicting the minute discourses of the people, Sugawara elaborately argues how a story of sorcery is interwoven with emotional lives of the people.

This article attempts to investigate the process of how discourses and practices about magic and sorcery are absorbed among the Vaghri. In the following section, we look at the local context of magic and the social environment of the Vaghri. In Section 3, we depict how the Vaghri deal with dreams as continuation of events that happen during daytime. There their belief in the lineage deities is contrasted with the local religious practices. Then in Sections 4 and 5, we focus on recent inclination to magical beings among the Vaghri through various dream narratives. In Section 4, we consider the political aspect behind the change of attitude toward magic in their dream narratives. Then Section 5 argues how the present business environment of the Vaghri brings about a new kind of conflicts among them, and how it is related to change in dream interpretation. Lastly, in Section 6, we analyze an example of a discourse about a Tamil god relating to magic that gave rise to a practitioner of magic among the Vaghri. This newly emerging relationship between the Vaghri and local deities can be contrasted with the examples in Section 3.

2. Magical Belief and the Vaghri in Tamil Nadu

In Tamil Nadu, misfortunes are often associated with the evil eye (kan tirusti: T•`Skt.3), evil spirits (pey) and demonic beings (caitan). Evil eye derives from emotions such as anger and jealousy between people. Evil spirits as well as demonic beings originate in malice of the dead against the living. All these can be a source of sorcery (ceivinai, pilicfiniyam). There are deities and religious specialists dealing with such beings.

Gods (cdmi) and goddesses (amman) which control and manipulate peoples' malice and evil spirits are usually non-vegetarian and placed in the lower strata of the Hindu pantheon. The people are afraid of these deities because they are powerful enough to cause problems for humans as well as subjugate evil spirits. However, such deities are thus prompt

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to answer individual worries and hardships. In local contexts, those deities are considered to be brothers and sister of each other.

Those who practices sorcery and serve for such deities are called cfiniyakaran. However, nobody can really point out who is a sorcerer, since sorcerers cannot be distinguished clearly from local priests who set the people free from sorcery. Thus sorcerers are also seen as white magicians. Those who remove sorcery are called cdmi or parikaran. They are usually fortune-tellers (kurikarar) who reveal oracles (kuri) and tell fortunes (kotanki) according to the request of their clients. In this respect, although they are priests, they can take on magicians. Their becoming priests are different from the case of Brahmins; many of them do not inherit their positions. They come to serve deities by being called in dreams and visions or being possessed. In Tamil Nadu, these four kinds of belief are closely related to each other. Therefore, in this article we refer to these as belief in magical beings.

The research was conducted for about two years in total between 2000 and 2005. I lived mainly in D colony, the largest Vaghri settlement in Tiruchchirappalli district in Tamil Nadu, where about 1,000 Vaghri people live.' This settlement was granted by the state government in the 1960's as a part of the Backward Class Housing Scheme. Before that, they moved from one place to another in small tents or huts, with families and relatives, or individually. Both men and women engaged in hunting animals and selling all sorts of commodities. One man in his 30's remembers that they moved the camp site on hearing that someone found a good place to hunt or died at the site. They also moved when they felt that they sold enough in one town or when they had problems with the local people. It is important for them to share these kinds of information in order to sustain their small community of high mobility.

Even after settlements are given, moving is crucial for the Vaghri business. They know that high mobility brings them wealth, although it accompanies the risk of being in debt. According to my research, the larger the areas they move in, the more money they earn [Iwatani 2005:79]. For many Vahgri, settlements are one of the staying spots on their move.

From the 1990's, they even began to do business with the overseas Tamil. Those who live abroad or in Tamil city areas find the commodities the Vaghri sell, such as amulets and medicines, attractive. Vaghri products have special value derived from their image as authentic hunter and gatherers.5 In India, forests are where evil spirits and dangerous beings reside. The Vaghri are regarded as brave hunters who are not afraid of such beings. But at the same time, they are put in the lowest social status due to their occupation and for living far from "civilized" lives.

The Vaghri live in an environment which is easily influenced by the dominant society. Not only their living space but also business space is dependent on the policy of the host society. Hunting is prohibited by the Wild Life Protection Act of 1972. In D colony, today, only about 23% of the families engage in hunting and gathering.6 Now that the prohibition has become stronger under the state government's surveillance, the Vaghri

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cannot help but hunt animals in secret. They engage in their business as if they still hunt and gather daily. Thus it can be said that their products are from imaginary forests, added special meanings by them.

Their magical products are a mixture of some materials at hand and others from forests, flavored with mystified image toward the Vaghri. For example, an amulet called tayattu is a tin container of mongoose hair and tree barks, which serves to ward off evil spirits and bad dreams. A lucky charm called nari compu is supposedly a horn of the golden jackal, although it is really made from dogs' teeth. Puli nehan or a Bengal tiger's nail is made from a cow's hoof When these items are sold on streets or in pilgrimage sites, the Vaghri sometimes chant mantras in front of a picture of Kali7 in order to instill magical power into the item.

The Vaghri also sell special medicines, resorting to the beliefs and practices among the Tamil. Various roots and barks from plants and animal parts are used to make folk medicines, which are sold as citta medicines.' Sometimes they also deal with magical ointment called mai. Mai is made from a skull and brain of a male child and various animal parts. These ingredients are mixed by a sorcerer in a graveyard at midnight. Once you put a mai on someone, he or she is said to listen to whatever you say.

While the materials they sell often have magical ambiance, the Vaghri take an ambivalent position towards such magical belief They are afraid of evil spirits and sorcery, but such fear does not lead them to fortune-tellers or religious specialists. Since it is they themselves who sell amulets or medicines, they do not believe in those materials for casting offevil spirits. When they fall sick, they choose to go to hospitals. In fact, they have a strong aversion to practicing sorcery (jadu:V) and making or selling mai. It is said that if you put black magic on somebody, your sin will be passed on for seven generations. Although it is a highly lucrative business9, selling mai is said to cause them problems. For example, one man aged 58 told me that his health was put in danger by mai that he bought from a Tamil sorcerer to sell. One man aged 32 stopped dealing in mai business due to opposition from his family.

Since sorcery is avoided in their society, the Vaghri must ask non-Vaghri for knowledge about magic. In Tamil Nadu, there is a jati called Nayakar who are known to be fortune-tellers. They tell fortunes and lead semi-nomadic lives. The Vaghri would hardly ask a Nayakar to tell their fortune, but they may buy mai from them to sell. Answering to my question, "What do you think of sorcery and fortune telling?" one man in his 50's said, "Fortune-tellers are no good. They do business getting money from wealthy people". Then he did not forget to add, "Our sales of tayattu or nari compu are all for making our living". Such a worldly attitude is common among the Vaghri.

Religious specialists had not existed among the Vaghri and they rarely consulted Tamil religious specialists. Their nomadic life style also made it difficult for them to join local religious scenes, and Tamil deities have been distant from their lives. Rather than approaching gods and goddesses in temples through high caste Tamils or local priests,

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they have depended on their lineage goddesses (Devi) who are supposed to be with them at any time and any place.

Devi is accessible individually but shared with other Vaghri in rituals. She is supposed to sleep in a sacred bag they carry and demand sacrifice by appearing in their dreams. When Devi appears in their dreams, or when they have worries, something to appreciate or apologize to Devi, they perform a ritual (puja: V) for Her. Other caste members do not join their rituals. It is a characteristic of the Vaghri ritual that the ritual priest (pujari: V) who is possessed by Devi is not a particular individual, but each householder is equally entitled to play the role. The unit ofperformingptija is basically the individual households, but it is expected to invite close relatives, especially their lineage elders. It is up to each householder and his lineage members who decide the time ofpfija.

The lineage goddesses are crucial for the Vaghri, because they are the basis of their marriage system and social order. The patrilineal Vaghri lineages are divided into exogamous groups according to the goddesses they worship. Each lineage deities of the Vaghri have a genealogy. When they performpfija, the genealogy of lineage deity is chanted from the old to young in order. The oldest is the God of creation called Dadaji, which is unique to the Vaghri, then comes Devi and her satellite goddesses, and the name of the ancestor of each lineage comes lastly. The Tamil have lineage deities, but today they do not appreciate the ritual as much as the Vaghri10. In addition, women play various roles in Tamil rituals, while women play little in Vaghri rituals. Thus puja is the time for the Vaghri to confirm the patrilineal social order. Although genealogy of Devi is unique to the Vaghri, their lineage goddesses have both Vaghri and Tamil names. Their characters and myths also have similarities with local goddesses. There is no space to mention the detail, but this fact shows that the belief of the Vaghri cannot exist independently from the host society. Now let us see the importance of the lineage goddesses and its change through various examples of dreams of the Vaghri.

3. Dreaming in the Vaghri society

Dreams are called hdnyu in the Vaghri language. It is not as difficult to hear about their dreams, for they are casually narrated in daily lives. Dreams are considered to reflect or foretell the state of awakened reality; sometimes contrary to what really happens. The Tamil have the idea that people can communicate with the transcendental through dreams or that dreams reflect the state of awakened realities.' However, the Tamil do not talk about dreams as casually as the Vaghri do in daily lives. Rather than posing existential riddles to an individual, a dream provides an opportunity for every Vaghri to have access to the transcendental and share the experience with others. About seventy percent of people I interviewed answered that they have seen the lineage goddesses in their dreams. I have found nearly the same percentage in three different settlements of the Vaghri. While only men are allowed to have access to their lineage goddesses through possession, both men and

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women can meet the lineage goddesses in dreams. When they have a dream, they speak about it to family members or elder people so that they can understand its meaning.

Dreams do not constitute a homogeneous and stable experience for the Vaghri. Various people and things they meet in their daily lives appear in dreams and are associated with the lineage goddesses once they are interpreted in public. However, there is a shared discourse about divine figures appearing in their dreams.

Table 1 shows that animals, women, in-laws, and the Tamil in particular are considered

as manifestations of their deity. These beings have certain things in common: first they have no specific divine images, and second they are "others" who come from outside of their patrilineal lineage. They can both regenerate and destroy their society. Yet by the Vaghri people's unique way of interpreting dreams, heterogeneous and threatening beings for their social order are turned into benevolent goddesses who support their society. Just as the local sedentary people consider the Vaghri as "others" and associate them as a source of magic from which they can withdraw mystical power, the Vaghri convert the threatening power of local people and women from exogamous groups into a constructive force by the dream interpretations. However, they sometimes dream "others" whose power they cannot convert. It is illustrated in the following example.

Table 1 Divine Figures in Dreams

Research Place: Vaghri Colonies (Tiruchchirappalli and Palani) Research Object: Male 43, Female 22 (plural answers possible)

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8 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 18, 2006 <Example 1> Patel (75 year-old Vaghri)'s puja (7th June, 2000)

People are waiting for Patel to get possessed, but Devi does not come to him in the ritual.

Patel: (crying) I wish my children will stay healthy, and pray for success in business. I prepared hawali (V. pancake made from flour to offer the lineade gooddess in puja as

alternative for sacrificial animals), cdmi12 , please come. A: Let's pray to cdmi.

B: We will give you sacrificial buffalo in a week.13

C: Won't you like this hawali? Would you like to have a different one? D: Bring a match to offer camphor.

Patel: My two sons passed away. I was left alone in this house. Nobody is here. C: If you don't want this hawali, we will prepare a new one.

Patel: We have series of troubles in this house. We would like to purify everything. Patel's wife: I dreamt of four squirrels before my sons' death. Because I took them (in

the dream), my sons really passed away. Patel's son-in-law: We will have a biggerpuja.

E: Nobody should touch this hawali (someone who has committed sin may ruin the puja by touching the offering).

Patel: Nokod (his lineage goddess), please watch us. Patel's wife: Please come, jey, jey, jey.14

E: Where have you gone? Will you come in the morning? Cdmi, please come and tell the truth.

Patel became possessed after waiting for a long time like this. After the puja, they argued that it might be better for them to move to a different colony because their family members die in D colony. Moving is a usual way for the Vaghri to solve a problem; once someone dies in a camp, they move the campsite. On the night of this puja, Patel's daughter had a dream that she found a dead squirrel in water. Then in the dream, someone took away four squirrels from many squirrels in her house somewhere. According to her, it was a good dream, because someone, probably their goddess took four squirrels, which caused her brothers' death in her mother's dream narrative, away from her house.

In this example, Patel's wife's dream is narrated as an omen of a series of troubles during puja. We can sympathize with her sorrow and regret, for we too tend to do things which should have been done otherwise. Patel's wife should have done otherwise in the dream and probably in the state of awakened reality as well; she was not aware of what she could do to save her sons. However, recounting the dream in a ritual scene brought about another dream to her daughter. This time, it was not her mother who took the squirrels away from her house. It was their goddess who took the cause of the trouble away from her family. There is no doubt that this interpretation was influenced by the fact that she had this dream after the puja. This kind of transmission of dreams is common among the Vaghri

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especially when they perform puja [Iwatani 2005]. A dream is transmitted among people and the detail changes the process. If it is a bad dream, performing puja can be effective for averting on-going bad circumstances.15 By sharing and repeating dreams, they bring

about changes in the uncontrollable reality.

Patel also had a dream before his son's death. He told me one dream that three Tamil gods including Madurai Viran16 were looking for his son. Next morning, when he woke up from the dream, his son who was not in good health asked for something to eat. While Patel and his wife went out to get food, he passed away. His regret had a common ground with his wife's: he was not aware of what was happening in the dream as well as in reality. The existence of life-taking gods was clearly acknowledged in reminiscences of Patel's dream. They asked their lineage goddesses for help by performing puja to prevent such gods coming from outside their society.

<Example 2> Fortune-Teller and Bad Dream

On 25th May 2001, a Nayakar fortune-teller man came to D colony. That night, Rani (pseudonym, in her 50's, no education) had a bad dream. Next morning when she recounted the dream to the Nayakar, he said, "This house receives a lot of evil eyes". So as it was told by the Nayakar, Rani tied a white cloth in which she put a lime and some salt onto the door of her house. After that, she shared her dream with her family.

Rani: In the dream, I was at home. There was a hole on the floor and I could see the head of an insect (puchi) a little. Looking at the shiny black eyes, I felt I must kill it because it would bite us. So I was waiting for it to come out. Then you (HeB : her Husband's elder Brother) came to call me. When I saw you for a moment, the insect ran out from the hole. I felt so frustrated. But the next moment I saw a bigger insect in the hole. When I was waiting to kill that, a strong wind blew out of the hole. I was afraid, but didn't flinch this time. As soon as I saw the insect come out, I hit

and killed it. But actually there was another one and it ran away.

After listening to this dream, people began to interpret it. (Rani's husband: H, his elder brother: HeB, her son: S, her daughter: D).

HeB: We can't get rid of this and that. Our grandsons are under evil eyes. But now the poisonous wind blew the evil eye away. The poisonous wind told us that we receive evil eyes at home. The poisonous wind blows at home. You received the certificate of the title to the land, didn't you? When the poisonous wind blew, where did it go? Tell us again.

H: I can't go abroad (for business). Devi doesn't help me. B: No. She tells you that she would give you a bigger chance. The later you go, the more you will gain.

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10 Journal of the Japanese Association for South Asian Studies, 18, 2006 S: If Devi really existed, she would give us good dreams.

Rani: (As I hit the insect to cast out the evil spirit) Let's cut her hair and hit it by a nail17

HeB: Since we did odano (asking their lineage goddess for oracles), you would never have a bad dream. Vekhli (their lineage goddess) asks for bara batti (V. twelve bottles of alcohol, meaningpfija). If we do it, we won't have to worry.

Four days later, they performedpfija for their lineage goddess. Rani has not had a bad dream since then and she thought it was because they performedpiija.

In this example, it is apparent that they do not really depend on fortune-tellers to overcome bad dreams and possession of evil spirits. Rani consulted a Nayakar but her commitment was only at a surface level (to tie the amulet on the door). Rani sought more direct solution by sharing her dream with her family and subsequently by performing puja. Discourses of evil spirit or evil eye are widespread among the Vaghri. Doubt about the power of their lineage goddess is expressed by Rani's husband and her son. However, it is important that such doubt is corrected by Rani's husband's elder brother and _Mid is performed.

4. Appearance of Magical Beings

Despite their talking distance from Tamil beliefs in magical beings and dependence on the lineage deities, discourse about magic is permeating gradually among the Vaghri today. There are several changes in the living conditions of the Vaghri, which influence this religious transformation. The first one is change in mobility of their life and the second is economic change. Let us consider the first change in this section. The Vaghri come to live spatially closer to the Tamil in settlements, which makes them to encounter representations and practices of local deities more steadily.

For example, we can find the names of local deities at the end of the genealogy of their lineage goddesses (see Section 2). Just before the ancestor who started their lineage, male gods such as Madurai Viran and Balkna Deo18 are mentioned in the genealogy. The Vaghri god called Bim is said to be equivalent to a Tamil folk god, Karuppucami19, and Bihaha is said to be Muni.2° Those male gods which have power to subjugate evil spirits are considered to be guardians of goddesses such as Kali, Minak§121, and Mari22 in Tamil Nadu. These goddesses are the names the Vaghri use to explain their lineage goddesses to the Tamil. Such translation allows Tamil guardian gods of those goddesses to be included in the genealogy as well, though the concept of a guardian god of a goddess is new to the Vaghri.

We can see representations of such local deities beginning to appear in their dreams, as is shown in Table 1. Among various divine figures appearing in their dreams, there are

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two kinds of figures, in short. One (A) is above 10 in reported number, which includes non-specific figures such as women and animals.23 The other (B) is below 5 in number, which includes specific figures such as Madurai Viran or Jesus24, that is, newly introduced deities from the Tamil society. The latter representations are so specific and obvious that they do not have to ask the meaning to other Vaghri. We can see a slight increase of such new representations among men in their 40's and women in their 30's. This corresponds to the time they began living in the settlement.

As they spend more time in one place due to the governmental housing and educational schemes25, human relationships become relatively fixed. In each colony, the sense of solidarity as well as internal conflicts is arising. When they led nomadic lives, they could avoid internal conflicts in everyday life and solve problems by simply moving, as suggested in Example 1. In the nomadic life style, they were not in need of political leaders or religious specialists who solved internal problems. Now they have to face various conflicts somehow while staying in the colony. During my stay, they began to build fences between houses, which was one way to prevent possible conflicts with the neighboring Vaghri.

Conflicts with neighbors can bring about rumors of practicing magic in their everyday speech. In 2003, one rumor was spread over an incident in D colony. A man in his 30's died when arguing with a neighboring Vaghri. A few months later, a relative of the neighbor died all of a sudden in his 20's. These series of deaths led to a rumor that the death of the neighboring man's relative in his 20's was a result of sorcery by the wife and daughter of the man who died in his 30's. It was said that they performed sorcery at the Viramma Kali temple near the colony.

Three deities are worshipped in the Viramma Kali temple, located in Thanjavur: a vegetarian god called Aiyanar and non-vegetarian deities called Viramma Muni and Viramma Kali. Viramma Muni and Viramma Kali are considered to have the power of practicing and removing sorcery. In the temple, in front of the symbolic stone of Viramma Kali, we can see many pieces of paper on which peoples' curses and wishes are written tied to tiricfilams, sacred pikes symbolizing the god Shiva.

Originally, Viramma Kali temple was simply a village temple of the Vellalar caste. However, its magical efficacy rapidly became famous beyond caste and regional distinctions in the 1990s. In 2001, it became a state temple under government rule. Today many stalls and fortune-tellers wait for visitors of the temple. The Vaghri used to go to the temple to sell their goods to the visitors, but these days they come to visit the temple only for praying.

Selvam, who is 38 years old (pseudonym, eight years of education), is one of the Vaghri who depend on Viramma Kali and local deities related to magic.

<Example 3> From Dreams to Magic (narrated on 6th and 17th August 2005) In 2002, Selvam was sleeping at the bus stop in Teni. At two o'clock in the night, one Vaghri man and his two wives appeared in his dream. The man said to Selvam, "If you do fortune-telling, you can live like a king. All gods will be with you. You will have no

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problems". After this dream, he came to have shakti (divine power). According to Selvam, the Vaghri man in the dream was Madurai Viran and the women were the two wives of Madurai Viran. This dream led Selvam to begin fortune-telling for both the Vaghri and the Tamil.

Selvam remembers another dream of Viramma Kali. "It was 2002 in Goa. I was sleeping with 13,000 Rs. in a bag after drinking...too careless, wasn't it? But I could go back home without anything being stolen. You know why? At that time I had a dream of Viramma Kali. After that I began going to the Viramma Kali temple more often than before. Now I go there three times a week...if She didn't appear in my dream, I wouldn't have gone".

On 9th October 2003, Selvam's wife passed away. (At that time, a rumor spread that Selvam began black magic in great depression). Selvam told me that it was around April in 2004 that his understanding of Viramma Kali became deeper. He feels at ease at the Viramma Kali temple. On 24th July 2005, he had a dream of Viramma Kali again. She appeared in the form of Durga26 and said to Selvam, "Don't be afraid. I am with you. Come to my house".

In this example, we can see the process by which a Vaghri man resituates himself by borrowing the discourse and practice derived from outside. It is notable that in his dream, a Tamil God called Madurai Viran is no longer a threatening "other" (cf. Patel's dream in Section 3). There are two kinds of "others" in dream interpretations of the Vaghri: one is convertible to their lineage goddesses by narrating dreams and performing puja, and the other is non-converted Tamil deities. In this example, instead of converting the power of the former "others" to "us" represented by a lineage goddess, the power of the latter is converted to "me" as an individual.

Here we can point out two changes in Vaghri dreaming. The first is change in the way of interpreting those who appear in dreams. Such interpretation is likely to owe much to permeation of Tamil discourse and practice about magical beings. It was not the figure of Madurai Viran, but religious discourses about Madurai Viran that made him interpret the Vaghri man in the dream as Madurai Viran. Madurai Viran has two wives. He is the brother of Karuppucami, a god of black magic (Selvam had the dream in Teni, where the famous Karuppucami temple is located). Then in association with Karuppucami, the practice of fortune-telling can be deduced in the dream. In addition, being a guardian of Minaksi, the translated goddess for Selvam's lineage deity, Nokod, Madurai Viran did not deviate very much from Selvam's religious world.

The second is change in sharing dreams. It is doubtful that Selvam shared his dreams with his family, because any elder Vaghri would have interpreted Durga as their lineage goddess and suggested him to perform puja. Instead, series of dreams culminated in a well-made story to support his engaging in fortune-telling. Not sharing dreams can make individuals take up a new self and religious practice.

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There is another important factor behind this example. Selvam had virtually no one to share his dreams or difficulties because of his situation at that time. His parents were already dead. Due to serious trouble that Selvam previously had with a neighboring Vaghri woman in the colony, he is isolated in the Vaghri society even today. This trouble had caused him to marry a woman who did not have relatives. Then her death made his isolation decisive. It can be considered that such environmental constraints made him choose magical discourse and practice as alternative ways of acquiring power from outside.

Selvam also admits his inclination to Tamil deities for practical reasons. He says, "No-kod only comes for puja She is with me wherever I am, but She fulfills my wish only when I perform puja. Viramma Kali grants my request more promptly. Besides, she demands little money (20 Rs. is enough for the bus fare to go to the temple)". In the next section, let us consider this economic aspect that Selvam mentions in the context of a new magical practice coming to surface in the lives of the Vaghri.

5. Business and Magic

Business among the Vaghri has involved the possibility of gaining great fortunes as well as the risk of being taken over by outside forces. Today as the Vaghri undertake business on a larger scale, the gap between benefit and risk is also increasing.

<Example 4> Risky Business and Dreams (narrated by Valli, pseudonym, aged 30, two years of education, on 8th August 2005)

It was 1995 when Valli's husband, Sendil (pseudonym, aged 27 at that time, nine years of education) went to Malaysia for business using a tourist visa for one week.27 It was the first time the Vaghri went abroad for business and the chance was given to only ten Vaghri members. Sendil was greatly envied and even his mother had a quarrel with him. Valli cheered him up by saying, "If your business goes well, you will be in good terms with your mother", and sent him to Malaysia.

In Malaysia, in order to extend his stay, Sendil took a duplicate visa for one month on the advice of a Tamil man who sent him there. It was just before their return to India when Sendil heard about the dream of an accompanied Vaghri woman. It was a dream that Karuppucami appeared and went away at the airport. The time came for them to leave Malaysia. When they were going through immigration, five of them including Sendil were

caught because of the duplicate visa and sent to jail for 15 days.

Receiving the phone call from Malaysia, Valli cried worrying about her husband. About the same time, in the colony, she had been through another grief over death of Sendil's uncle. When she was sleeping at her parents' house, she got up screaming due to a bad dream. Hearing her scream, a neighboring Vaghri man, Pitio in his 60's asked Valli, "What happened?" She said

, "I had a bad dream". In order to cast out evil spirits which seemed to be causing all her troubles, Pitio beat Valli with a plant (Akda:V , Errukku:T ,

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Calotropis gigantia) and threw the white sap away on the road. Then he suggested that she should go to the Karuppucami temple in Teni district. The priest (cdmi) who served at the temple was then famous among the Tamil for the miraculous power to foresee everything.' Ten people whose family members were in Malaysia decided to go to the temple by renting a van. The van was purified by Pitio, as they were afraid of a car accident.

They arrived at the temple safely. After taking a bath, they went into the temple with offerings to the deity. There were many people who came to hear oracles. First Valli's name was called by the cami. The narni began without asking her anything, "I know your problem. Your husband is in jail. When your husband comes back, what will you give me?" Valli answered in surprise, "I will give life (meaning sacrifice)". The cdmi said, "Go. Your husband will be at home".

The cdmi did not give oracles to all the Vaghri, but everything he said was correct. For instance, he said to a Vaghri woman, "You keep gold at home, but came here as if you had nothing at home". According to Valli, it meant that the gold could have helped their people to return from Malaysia. Receiving oracles from the cdmi, another woman, who had not talked with her relative for a long time because of the problem over money to go abroad, reconciled with the relative.

After going back home, Valli heard the news that her husband would come back. She reflects, "You cannot imagine how sad and impressive the seance was. Before I didn't believe in Karuppucami, but this event changed my view".

In this example, Karuppucami's dream narrated by a Vaghri woman in Malaysia was repeated to Valli by Sendil, which was understood later in association with the miraculous thing that happened to her during her husband's absence. Here too we can see the moment when a new belief in the local god Karuppucami spread in the process of transmitting a dream. For Valli, two dreams in this example were connected with her husband's trouble abroad. It seems natural that the two are remembered in the series of events, because Karuppucami has ambiguous power derived from the power to control the evil. A foreign business chance is of the same nature; while it can bring about great wealth, it also involves the risk of danger and loss abroad and envy back home.

All information about business opportunities is expected to be shared among the Vaghri. Using shared information, they do business on individual basis on a small scale.

Sharing information is also to avoid possible envy and suspect against monopoly of business opportunities. This is illustrated by a tacit rule that a Vaghri does not dare to ask a fellow Vaghri where he/she is going for business. This proves the hidden tension and competition among the Vaghri. In fact, we can compare this individuality and collectivity in business with their dreaming and its interpretation. They dream individually and share the dreams in which individual mental conflicts take shape. Dreams lead to puja by being interpreted as their Devi's dreams, where they invite relatives and friends to reconnect once alienated individuals with the collective.

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However, the present economic circumstances of the Vaghri demand a change in the way of overcoming individual mental conflicts. Foreign business requires them to collect about 35,000 Rs. (in the case of Malaysia) before going abroad. This is an enormous amount of money considering the average income of the Vaghri.29 They go abroad after getting large loans from different sources, mostly from Tamil people. If the business is successful, they can earn about 100,000 Rs. in three months in Malaysia. But there are many cases where the entire loan is left unpaid because they are unable to earn enough in the business. Now there is increasing political control over illegal business and many Vaghri people are caught abroad. Besides, foreign business is influenced by political situations such as terrorism or riots abroad. There are also many travel agents who try to deceive the Vaghri.

The worst thing brought about by the recent economic change is the increasing conflicts relating to business among families and relatives. Most conflicts are caused by troubles over money or unhelpfulness of the fellow Vaghri in business. As their business becomes bigger in scale, they require more money and stronger group network. Yet their group network remains weak. Rather than asking for help from fellow Vaghris, they are becoming financially dependent on wealthy Tamils. Furthermore, individual economic differences are clearly revealed in everyday life of the colony. Instead of spending money on pup, they have began to think of investing it for their business. Thus, the tension expressed in dreams or tacit disregard for other Vaghris is now visible in reality. Fellow Vaghris are turning into economically competing "others". In order to solve the problems arising inside the community, they find it realistic to consult deities from outside which serve individual purposes.

6. The Rise of Magician

We have seen so far that dreams are where the old and the new life styles and religious discourses intersect. The Vaghri regard dreams as a space where powerful "others", who can bring about benefits or troubles to the society, appear. However, the way in which they allocate "others" in dreams is changing. Such a change signifies the change of dreaming subjects.

<Example 5> Entrepreneur as a Magician (narrated in September 2003 and August 2005)

When Ramacami (pseudonym, in his 60's, no education) was in D colony at the age of 27, he was trying to eat seeds of a palm tree around noon30 in the colony. This tree was surrounded by plants with thorns. He could not climb up the tree without going through the thorns. He made a great effort to climb, but met up with a snake which had just come out of an anthill.' He could not go back because he was tangled by thorns. He prayed to Karuppucami in his mind, "I won't do such a thing again. Please help me". Then the snake went back to the anthill.

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At 12 o'clock at night, Ramacami went to the palm tree again in his dream. Five gods were eating seeds of the tree. The gods said to him, "Why are you watching this way? Come here!" Ramacami said, "I came here to eat seeds of the palm tree". Gods gave him lessons, teaching him such things as not to fight, not to swear, not to beat even though he was beaten, and to help everybody. Then they took out Ramacami's teeth and wrote down

a mantra on the back of them.

When Ramacami woke up, he thought it was a dream of Karuppucami and his brothers. In those days, the Vaghri did not believe in Karuppucami. But after having this dream, Ramacami learned magic from a guru whom he came to know through business in Kerala. Ramacami says, "Sorcery and fortune-telling are the ways to serve Karuppucami". He became a priest at the Karuppucami temple in D colony. Sometimes he performs puja and fortune-telling for the Vaghri as well as the Tamil. His power was recognized by the Karuppucami priest in Teni and he received sacred ash from the priest.

People first made fun of him, but gradually came to believe in Karuppucami, for they began dreaming of Karuppucami in the figures of Ramacami, a young man or a man in a cloak.32

Ramacami went to Malaysia for business by the help of a Tamil person whom he became acquainted with through sales of mai, magical medicine. He has recently opened a retail shop of bead materials of the necklaces that the Vaghri sell. He runs this shop in cooperation with the Tamil whom he came to know through Karuppucami puja and oracles.

Ramacami also narrates a dream which served as a trigger for him to accept a new god. In his dreams, too, it is not the figure of Karuppucami but the discourse relating to this god that plays a decisive role in designating the being in the dream. As Karuppucami worship became widespread among the Vaghri, Ramacami became so influential that he came to be associated with Karuppucami when he appeared in the dreams of people.

This example shows a significant change in the Vaghris' relationship with the divine and the Tamil. When worshipping lineage deities, no individuals maintained exclusive relationships with deities. Every Vaghri man can play the role of pujari for his lineage goddess. Religious knowledge and practice are inherited by every man of patrilineal line. However, Ramacami went a step ahead by creating a new exclusive exchange relationship with the local god as well as with the local Tamil people by acquiring a new kind of religious knowledge. Such an exclusive relationship with the divine and the people brought him exclusive business opportunities. In a way, he can be called an entrepreneur who overcame the Vaghris' aversion to magic.

The Vaghri fear and mistrust Ramacami for his knowledge of magic and relationship with the Tamil. When people saw me talking with Ramacami, they asked curiously what I heard from him. They spoke behind his back: "He cannot gain weight because he

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man in his 50's said, "These days people sacrifice goats and chickens to Karuppucami, this god and that god, but everything is a lie!... We did not believe in pey and picacu33 ten generations ago. We only believed in our family goddesses. It is after their children's genera-tion that the blind faith began....Ramacami went to other deities such as Kaliamman and Mariamman, leaving our family goddess behind". Here Karuppucami, pey and picacu, and other goddesses are put in the same category of "a lie" and "blind faith" in comparison with their lineage goddess. Likewise, their ancestors are compared with Ramacdmi. However, the closer the Vaghri live with the Tamil in the settlement, the more dreams and actual incidents relating to Karuppucami are reported among the people. This strengthens the religious status of Rdmacami.

7. Discussion

While the Vaghri have kept distance from magical practices and belief, when they have an unexpected misfortune or a bad dream, they tend to associate them with some outer evil force. We have seen the change in attitude that the Vaghri take in such cases.

In order to deal with bad dreams, they have tried to move to another place (Example 1) or perform puja (Example 2). Example 1 and 2 are contrastive regarding who brought about bad dreams and misfortune and who interpreted the dream. In Example 1, the Vaghri interpreted that the misfortune was brought about by the local god, Madurai Viran. Then in puja and his daughter's dream, the lineage goddess was expected to ameliorate the situation.

In Example 2, non-Vaghri, Nayakar interpreted that it was the evil eye (envy) of someone in their society who brought about a bad dream to Rani. Although they followed Nayakar's suggestion, they actually searched for a solution by performing puja.

Although the cause of misfortune is connected with different sources, these examples are similar in the way in which they try to solve the problem. They do so by performing puja to their lineage deities. Puja is valued as a means of converting the on-going reality. From this point of view, dream interpretation comes close to magic as both are involved in changing reality. Yet, comparing it with Nayakar's magical discourse, dream interpretation works to avoid acknowledging differences among the Vaghri.

As they stay in one place longer and engage in business on a larger scale, the differences among themselves become prominent. To face the conflicts arising among them, they find it more reasonable to resort to alternative discourses and practices individually.

Examples 3 and 4 illustrate such circumstances. In Example 3, Selvam dreamt of Tamil deities in solitude. Madurai Viran who appeared and told him to do fortune-telling did not take a specific figure, and the figure of the goddess did not accord with the name. This signifies that Selvam's dreams were not different from the dreams of other Vaghris. However, when interpreting the dreams by himself, Selvam applied the discourse of local deities, and as a result a new practice called fortune-telling came to have a special meaning to him. Here the new kind of human relationship in the settlement played a significant

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role in that Selvam came to adopt the new style of worship for expensive puja to his lineage goddess. In Example 4, it seems a specific figure of Karuppucami in a dream was considered to be a bad omen by the Vaghri woman in Malaysia. However, the same dream resulted in strengthening Valli's experience at the Karuppucami temple. Both Selvam and Valli were drawn to magical power which clarified the differences among the Vaghri and resituated individuals under the deity of a new order.

In Example 5, Ramacarni went a step further in relation to a newly introduced order. He succeeded in having exclusive and constant relationship with Karuppucami, which brought him exclusive business partnership with the Tamil. He interpreted the dream he had in the 1970s according to the discourse of Karuppucami. As discourses were put in practice by learning magic or being authenticated by the Tamil Karuppucami pujari, Ramacami became a subject who relocated not only his social position but that of others'. Such a role is similar to that of a Vaghri pujari who connects individual dreams with collective puja and value. However, the major difference is that in a newly introduced magical practice, hierarchical status of a pujari stands out for having exclusive relationship with the deity.

8. Conclusion

Magic presupposes partially distributed power. It attempts to reveal and topple such power difference in a society. Power difference has been acknowledged to exist between the Tamil and the Vaghri. Therefore the Tamil and the Vaghri have assigned the source of magic to each other. For the Vaghri, who do not actually have knowledge of magical practice, changing environment by moving, dreaming, and performing puja are the ways of making the most of the power differences they encounter daily. Magical image and belief attached to them which derive from differences between them and the Tamil consist of a part of their business. In business, they have been cautious not let the knowledge be privatized exclusively, for it becomes the threshold of bringing in differences between them.

Now that the Vaghri come to live on accumulated capital like the Tamil, they cannot ignore the differences arising between them. Material change is taking place hand in hand with ideological change; the Vaghri who have exclusive relationship with the Tamil are drawn to Tamil religious practices, particularly magical ones to topple differences between them.

Yet dreaming plays an important role in newly introduced magical discourse and practices, too. In the Vaghri dreams, the old and new symbols merge, and open up the scope for new religious forms in less resistant ways. More importantly, dreaming shares the same characteristics with magic in that it is also a practice to upset and adjust various unbalanced powers in society. Yet dreams always have the potential to diffuse concentration of knowledge. In fact, that is why dreams often act as a trigger for ordinary people to

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become practitioners of magic. Here dream functions as a device to condition as well as baffle accumulation of exclusive knowledge. Dreams can invite magical discourses, but can be also resist monopoly of discourses. As long as they transmit dreams, the Vaghri will always be open to various differences.

Acknowledgements

I would like to dedicate this article to Professor Sudarsen, who accepted me as a research stu-dent at the University of Madras and helped my fieldwork between 2000 and 2001. Just after giving me a chance to make a presentation on the topic of this article, he passed away in 2005. Dr. Thamizoli has given me continuous support since I began meeting people in Tamil Nadu in 1996.1 would like to express my gratitude to all the Vaghri people who kindly shared a part of their lives with me. I am grateful to the valuable comments I received at the 18th annual meeting of the JASAS at Ryukoku University and at the Second International Conference on Religions and Cultures in the Indic Civilization at India Habitat Centre in Delhi in 2005. This study was made possible by a grant from the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Notes

1) Sorcery is sometimes distinguished from witchcraft in this respect. The accused of witch-craft is sometimes unaware of his or her exercising harmful power [Evans-Pritchard 1976 (1937)]. However, the distinction is actually vague because it cannot be applied to many examples other than the Azande studied by Evans-Pritchard (see Turner [1964]). 2) Evans-Pritchard [1976 (1937)] mentions that the Azande consider a bad dream as an

ex-perience of witchcraft. In this study dreams seem to be rarely reported among the Azande. Yet dreaming is sometimes equated with actual experience of witchcraft. In other words, dreaming constitutes magic.

3) Words inside parenthesis are Tamil (T) unless otherwise indicated. Skt. indicates a San-skrit word and V, a Vaghri word.

4) The name Vaghri is not known in Tamil Nadu. They are called Nari Kuravar (jackal-hunt-ing Kuravar) or Kuruvikkaran (sparrow hunter). Such names connote the local notion toward them as hunters. They speak Vaghri-boli which has no scripts and contains many vocabularies of north west Indian language.

5) For details of their business, see Iwatani [2002].

6) According to my research, 15 out of 65 families answered that they engage in hunting today.

7) Kali is considered to save humans from evil spirits and wild animals in forests [Whitehead 1976(1921): 32]. Being strong enough to control evil spirits, Kali is often invoked in magi-cal practice.

8) Citta (siddha: Skt.) is an ancient Tamil medical system equivalent to Ayurveda. In Tamil Nadu, cittarkal or medicine-man dealing with citta medicines has been not only admired

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as an excellent yogi and medicine-man, but also feared as a dubious magician (see Trawick [1993]).

9) One case of mai, which contains an amount that can be used three to four times, costs

10,000 Rs. 10,000 Rs. which was equal to 25,000 yen in the currency rate during my pe-riod of research.

10) Kjaerholm points out that worship of lineage deities in his field was taken over by trans-regional religious practice such as pilgrimage in the 1970s [Kjaerholm: 1990]. Strong regional influences are pointed out in the worship of lineage deities in Tamil Nadu (see Dumont [1986 (1957)], Beck [1972] and Sekine [1995]).

11) See Dumont [1986 (1957)], Kjaerholm [1990], Trawick [1991], Shulman [1999], and Nabokov [2000].

12) Here the Tamil word for god is used to refer to their deity in an everyday context. 13) Their lineages are separated into two exogamous groups according to the sacrificial

ani-mals (buffaloes or goats) they offer to the lineage goddesses. 14) An expression to call out to their lineage deities.

15) Tedlock also points out such a performative aspect of telling dreams from the example of the Zuni [Tedlock 1987].

16) Madurai Viran is a legendary hero in the seventeenth century in Madurai. He was born in a royal family but was brought up by Harijans. He has an ambiguous character both as a thief and a guardian of the country (see Shulman [1985]).

11) See Dumont [1986 (1957)], Kjaerholm [1990], Trawick [1991], Shulman [1999], and Nabokov [2000].

12) Here the Tamil word for god is used to refer to their deity in an everyday context. 13) Their lineages are separated into two exogamous groups according to the sacrificial

ani-mals (buffaloes or goats) they offer to the lineage goddesses. 14) An expression to call out to their lineage deities.

15) Tedlock also points out such a performative aspect of telling dreams from the example of the Zuni [Tedlock 1987].

16) Madurai Viran is a legendary hero in the seventeenth century in Madurai. He was born in a royal family but was brought up by Harijans. He has an ambiguous character both as a thief and a guardian of the country (see Shulman [1985]).

17) Before Rani told her dream, they were talking about Uma, a daughter of Rani's husband's

younger brother. They were worried that her menstrual blood did not stop and associated it with an evil spirit possessing her.

18) Madurai Viran and Balkna Deo are said to be younger brothers of Kar_uppucami (see note 19).

19) Karuppucarni is a popular Tamil deity who is considered to have a black(karuppu, a sym-bolic color of demon) form and to subjugate demons and evil spirits.

20) Muni derives from muni, saint or ascetic in Sanskrit. Muni is a dreadful-looking brother

god of Karuppucami and closest to evil spirits.

21) Minaksi is a Tamil goddess who has fish eyes. Her main temple is in Madurai.

22) Mari is a Tamil goddess who brings about small pox as well as cures people from it. She

is also popular as a goddess granting children. She has Brahmin woman's head and

Hari-jan woman's body.

23) Whether Kali or Minaksl really appeared in their forms is not certain because they may

have meant their lineage goddess using such local deities' name.

24) Regarding dream interpretation of Jesus and other Christian representations, see Iwatani[2005].

25) There is an elementary school and a hostel near the colony supported by the state

govern-ment and the South India Scheduled Tribes Welfare Association, and a public nursery home in the colony. The elementary school was founded in 1977.

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26) Durga is a martial goddess of death and destruction. She is wife of the god Shiva. The avatar of her anger is Kali.

27) The foreign business has its roots in 1993 when one Malaysian businessman who visited Murukan temple in Tamil Nadu took notice of the necklace that the Vaghri sold near the temple. He suggested them to do business in Malaysia and it began to spread among the Vaghri around 1996. Then their business areas were extended to other countries like Singapore, Sri Lanka and Dubai, where there is a significant Tamil population. Today it is said that the half of the households of D colony have been abroad for business.

28) This Karuppucami temple is located in Varucanatu of Teni district. In spite of its location in the midst of mountains, the temple is always busy with people who are eager to listen to oracles given by the possessed cami-priest. This temple was constructed in the 1950s by the present cami's grand father, who was also a cami. Valli consulted the cami of the second generation, who was the most influential but passed away in 2003. When the annual festi-val was held on 7th August 2005, 500,000 people visited the temple during the three days of the festival.

29) The average income of the Vaghri in D colony is estimated as 3,000 Rs. per month [Iwatani 2005].

30) Karuppucami is said to wander around the village at 12 o'clock both midday and mid-night.

31) An anthill(purru)is considered to be a sacred place, where a divine animal snake lives. 32) Karuppucami is considered to wear a cloak and anklets.

33) Pey signifies particular spirits of the dead and evil spirits and picacu is unspecified spirits (see Caplan [1985]). However the distinction between the two is vague.

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南アジア研究 第18号 001岩谷 彩子「Dreaming and Magic ： On Recent Devotion to Magical Beings among the Vaghri, ……」