The place name Pirak, where several early Indian tribes, including Vedic and Tulu tribes, lived, formed the words pirak in Tulu, prak in Prakrit, and Sanskrit that mean ‘ancient.’ The words were most likely formed after these tribes migrated from the pirak area into present-day Indian lands.
All of these tribes may have worshipped Brahma or the Brahman (referred to in Vedas and Upanishads). Bermer (the respectful word for Brahma, pronounced berm’er) was the name given to the Tulu people’s first God. In Tulu, the suffix –er is a plural indicative or respect indicative suffix. The Bermer concept was later carried by migrating Tulu tribes to their Tulunad homeland. For centuries, the Bermer was the most important God to the Tulu people. Bermere gunda or Brahmasthana (=Brahmas shrine) existed in many Tulunad villages until the 1970s or 1980s. They may still exist as relics in remote villages. Pad-dhana, Tulu folk literature, depicts Tulu heroes Koti and Chennaya worshipping the God Bermer. The Garodis (traditional Tulunad gymnasiums) housed idols of the God Bermer.Surprisingly, the idols of Bermer, in the majority of cases I’m aware of, were represented by a human male figure mounted on a horse. Della Valle, an Italian tourist who visited Queen Abbakka Devi at Ullal, a small coastal town south of Mangalore, Karnataka, in AD 1623, also described a similar Bermer idol within a small shrine in the area.
With the rise of Shiva and Durga worship in Tulunad, the Bermer concept is gradually fading. However, the word bermer was expanded as a suffix denoting God to Naga bermer (=Naga /serpent God), who was also devotedly worshipped by Tulu people.
Pushkar, Rajasthan, has a Brahma temple that has been described as the only Brahma temple in India. However, the preceding discussions make it clear that Brahma or Bermer was a significant God for several early Indian tribes.
The concept of Brahma or Bermer worship appears to have evolved with the passage of time. Archeological excavation teams discovered relics of early clay horse statues in the Pirak region (ca.1700 BC), which may represent the Bermer as worshipped by Tulu people until recently. Early Indian (Tulu and Vedic) tribes may have worshipped the original Brahma, a human male figure straddled on a horse, as the Creator or Almighty. As a result of the dominance of Shiva and Vishnu cults, the original horse-seated Brahma may have evolved into a four-faced, Chaturmukha Brahma over time. Thus, the early horse-riding Bermer and the subsequent four-faced neo-Brahma stages in Brahma worship in the Indian subcontinent can be distinguished.
The Pushkar region is an ancient civilization site where early Brahma/ Bermer gods were worshipped. In Pushkar, the appearance of Brahma has changed over time. Pushkar’s Brahma temple now has a four-faced Brahma idol.
Even as his appearance has evolved, the Brahma has retained his position as the creator of the world in Indian mythology. However, with the dominance of Shaiva, Shaktha, and Vaishnava philosophies, the concept of Brahma as the original creator and supreme God has taken a back seat.
Before Shaivism made a significant impact in southern India, migrant Tulu tribes brought Bermer concepts with them to Tulunad. Shiva worship in Tulunad, as evidenced by the dating of linga/shiva idols, began in the early Christian era.
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