In India, local religious life has sometimes served as an antidote to the drabness and monopoly of the great traditions. The Anga Devs’ cult, prevalent mainly in Chhatisgarh’s Southern districts, is One such instance. Every clan stretching across a few villages also has a clan deity, referred to as Anga Dev. An Anga Dev (anga = limb, and dev = God), constructed from wood cut from a special tree, possesses the four rounded ends of two logs as limb and a plank connecting the two logs in the center at its body. Borne on the shoulders of four men, each with a limb. It is supposed to take on a life of its own, and direct worshippers whichever way it wills.
The god is taken care of by a pujari or a priest, and multiple gods are usually in the care of a senior gainta or priest. The main function of the god is that of inquest. Any serious question haunting the community -disease, theft, chances of rain, general bad luck- are taken to the god who, through an act, points the way that needs to be followed. At times the god speaks through a sirha or shaman.
Incidentally, on certain events such as madais (travelling fairs), the capabilities of Anga Devs are put to trial. If there is an Anga lacking sufficient power, he is replaced. Here, the gold or silver ornament that contains the soul of the current Anga is dislodged and placed in the newly-crafted substitute.
Anga Devs from various places from a family of deities, and are considered to be brothers. They each, in sharing certain basic characteristics with one another, have an individuality or a uniqueness that situate them within the pantheon. In addition, they occasionally traditionally gather in the temple of a higher non-anga god or goddess where stock is carried to a well-being and activities. In a typical gathering of this type, such as in the Bangaram temple in Keshkal, not only a pell-mell of Angas, pujaris,gaintas and sirhas but also ordinary village people viewing their ware and having their day out. The festival is like a fair with a lot of color and celebration.
With the rise of Hindu kingdoms in the Bastar area, the Anga devs’ tribal cult was reshaped by these kingdoms and their local clients to tie tribal individuals to their Rajput masters. In Kanker, the king was believed to be a dev himself, and the first of all the Anga Devs. were summoned to the location, to greet and pay respect to one another, and then, dispatched back to their regions to maintain the peace of the ruler.
Post -Independence the cult of the Anga devs has succeeded. yet, communitarian needs and yearning for tradition has preserved the cult in its essentials. Even today, most have faith in the powers of the deity. So a whole economy of people, goods, religion and culture continues to revolve around the Anga Devs. To many others, the cult is an anachronism and of museum value.
