Devdutt Pattanaik: Momaji & other horse-riders

IllustrationDevdutt PattanaikMy friend told me of a ritual practice in some parts of rural Rajasthan When the marriage party is passing a shrine of Momaji people offer lamps usually in a dry coconut food wheat and other indulgences beedi is common Mamoji is represented as horseriding heroes The shrine usually open air under a tree mostly comprises of many images of majestic warriors on horses Not much is known about them Stories are about heroes accompanying sisters or brides to their husbandrsquos house fighting demons and dacoits It is clearly part of the folk religion of RajasthanSuch horseriding deities are a common part of local culture in India In Gujarat in Kutch is the shrine of the Jakh Botera or the 72 horseriding lsquoyaksharsquo warriors Again not much is known about them accept that they have helped those who worship them with fertility and protection The temple is crowded with images of horseriding warriors The Jakh Botera have one sister Sayari a mirroring of yogini and matrika shrines where the female collective has one male the Bhairava Fairs are held in the honour of this divine cavalaryHorseriding deities who get terracotta horses as votive offerings are part of Tamil Nadu folk religion too As one travels the countryside one sees gigantic images of horseriding warriors In Odisha in Jagannath Puri temple one of the famous images is of a fairskinned warrior on a black horse and a darkskinned warrior on a white horse representing Shiva and Vishnu or Balarama and Krishna In Maharashtra and Deccan region the most popular regional god is Khandoba or Mallana who rides a white horse and battles demons accompanied by his wife who rides with him on the same horseKhandoba is considered a form of Shiva In the Puranas Vishnursquos horseriding avatar is called Kalki We donrsquot hear anything about Ram or Krishna riding horses The other horseriding deities include the Ashwin twins who father Nakula and Sahadeva also associated with horses The god of riders is Revanta the son of IndraThe horse is not native to India The monsoon weather seems to not suit them It was constantly imported to India from the North West The one horse that is a local breed is the Marwari horse bred by Rajputs In Vedic times there is greater reference to gods who travel on carts and chariots pulled by horses Horseriding as a concept is more associated with warriors who invaded India mdash the Greeks the Huns the Gujars the Scythians or Sakas and finally the Central Asian warlords like Turks and Mughals all grouped together in local literature as lsquoYavanarsquo mdash fair skinned men in their horsesPerhaps over time they were revered for their strength They were seen as mercenaries who on payment of a fee protected the village from others like them They became part of folk memory and folklore to be enshrined in temples on wayside They became guardian gods such as Mamoji and Jakh Botera popular enough to appear in temple lore and even in Puranas as the final avatar Kalki of Vishnu who will destroy the old order and force change the creation of a new orderThe author writes and lectures on the relevance of mythology in modern times Reach him at devduttdevduttcom