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SONG-KRAN
IN ASSAM

We stopped right in front of the Vihar which in itself was surprisingly almost empty in spite of it being a day of a major festival. A number of women sat in the prayer hall of the monastery wearing their traditional black Meklas(long skirts) and white Chadars(stoles). 

All the activity was concentrated in one corner of the compound where a group of men of different years crowded around a  small pavilion housing a weird bamboo mechanism. All decked out in checked blue sarongs i.e. lungi in deshi speak, the few elders authoritatively yelled out directions, while the indifferent youngsters continued their efforts in calibrating the apparatus with constant cries of "Pour, no,no Stop, stop !! Ok Pour !!" ringing in the air. 

"This is where the Buddha idols will be bathed", explained Bipul Shyam Gohain my host in Solapathar, a village surrounded by oil derricks near Sibsagar. A senior geologist with the ONGC, belonging to the tiny Theravada or Hinayana Buddhist community of Tai Khamjangs, in Assam, better known as the "Shyams Gohains."  It was his invitation to celebrate  "Pani Bihu" in his ancestral village that brought me to this eastern corner of the state. 
The festival, which is actually called "Poi Sanken" in their native tongue is again derived from the Hindu "Sankranti" and held on the same day in mid April, a day before the commencement of the Assamese Rongali Bihu. Also marking the new year, it is equally celebrated by all the indigenous Theravada Buddhist communities of the north-east like the Singphos, Fakials and Khamtis, as well as in Burma and Thailand where it is called Song-Kran.
Being one time émigrés from these far-eastern countries, it is apparent that the festival too was imported by these tribes. The nomenclature "Pani Bihu" is derived from its association with water Pani, and because most traditional festivals in Assam are invariably branded as one Bihu or another. 

The ceremony of the occasion involves bringing out all the statues of a Buddha Vihar to a specially prepared enclosure where they are all given a "shower" to purify them for the coming year. Here the Bamboo contraption comes into the picture. A complex layout resembling a fan with a skeletal frame in place of blades, it comprises of a vertical rotor with thin hollow bamboo segments branching out. Water fed from an elevated point via another hollowed out bamboo pole sets it spinning and finally  comes out of tiny holes in the the projecting members. The result of is a spinning shower. 

The ritual of removing the statues for long had all the villagers waiting in anticipation glancing alternatively at the large wall clock and at their own wrist watches for the auspicious time to begin the ceremony, set in accordance to the Sakret a Buddhist calendar sent from Thailand. At last the auspicious moment arrived and after a short prayer the head Bhikhu of the Vihar picked up a small statue of Buddha  and started the procession to the bathing enclosure under the shade of a distinctively oriental bamboo umbrella which I later found out to be of Burmese origins. Considered a ceremonial requisite, these are appropriately known as Mann Sati or Burmese umbrellas. With all the movable statues positioned within the ceremonial bathroom and its walls which were also made of bamboo thatch were draped with sheets of cloth; to give privacy to the idols as they were bathed. Water is then poured into the troughs and the rotating shower set into a spin. 
The huge brass statue of inside the Vihar was however left in its place due to its bulk and its purification was achieved by tying it to a length of rope, the other end of which was tied to the bathing enclosure. The same technique was applied for the scripture cupboard. 
The images  remained in the enclosure, to be reinstated after a day in a ritual called Fra Khan. 

Later, when invited for tea by the Bhante (a honorific for the head monk), a young Khamti monk with a marked missionary zeal for preserving the Buddhist heritage and the "Tai" sub culture, I got the opportunity to discussed the origins and the significance of the occasion. Joining us were a few older citizens of the village, who I realised wanted to make sure that the young friar got nothing wrong. A retired village schoolmaster occasionally put in his word, while an aged master woodworking craftsman, a recipient of the Presidential medal, was the most vocal of them all, at times forcing the polite Bhante to withdraw from the conversation into a very Buddhist-like state of tolerant speechlessness. The others present preferred to be spectators. 

"The roots of this festival lie in the Shan area and our Tai people have spread it all across from Thailand to here" began the monk. Here the craftsman went into an elaborate tirade about the migration of the Tai communities from the better known Ahoms to the Shyams, drawing parallels in languages and traditions and even singing out prayers. To his credit he seemed to know what he was talking about. 
Asking about the folklore behind the Poi Sanken festival, it was again he who promptly replied " It all started between a fight between Lord Indra and Brahma !!" 

Knowing that the Theravadins shouldn't' have any Gods, at least in theory, I turned to the monk for his endorsement, who strangely nodded in affirmative. "Yes, we Tai people believe that we are the descendants of Landon, who is known as Indra by the Hindus" he stated, analogising with the Ahom myth of origins and completely ignoring the atheistic dogma of Hinayana Buddhism. 
"We have many things common with Hindu dharma, we even have our own "Shan Tai Ramayan". It is the same one which is used in Thailand and it is called Tso Ramang." 
"Only here Ram, Lakshman and Sita are brothers and sisters. And Ram is known as the "Along Mankong" put in the craftsman and turning to the monk he demanded "Why don't you show our guest our own copy". 
Thus mannaged to see the Vihar's 300 year old manuscript of the Thai Ramayan, hand-written written in the old Tai script  on a handmade paper known as Tula Patta. The book which is kept wrapped in a piece of cloth sans any other preservation measures was surprisingly in a very good condition. 

Coming back to the story of Poi Sanken, apparently Indra and Brahma once had an argument about an astrological formula for calculating the advent of rain. The former arguing that the calculation has to be made with the variable of seven, the latter insisting that the number was six. 
Neither side yielding they agreed to come down to earth in search of a knowledgeable astrologer with the agreement that the whoever is proven wrong would lose his head. Hence, a seer who was tilling his fields suddenly discovers himself in the company of Gods who then test his astrological competence. Having passed their trials he affirms Indra's stand. 
 As per the agreement Brahma had to die, however all of Indra's efforts in this regard failed as only a secret technique could kill the creator god, i.e., with a strand of his own hair. 
Indra therefore seduces one of Brahma's daughters with the promise of marriage and gets her to tell  the secret way to kill her father and even supplies a strand of his hair. (Amazing what promises of marriage could achieve in India even in those days). 
Well, Indra manages to kill Brahma but faces a problem of storing his severed head which begins to radiate so much heat that neither the heavens, nor the earth or the sea can stand the temperature. At last Buddha had to be summoned for help, who in turn agrees to keep the head in his Vihar. As a day in heaven equals one earth year, Buddha is brought out annually and given a shower to cool him off. 

A remarkable synthesis of mythologies from diverse sources. The element of Buddha coming to the rescue in the last resort has a remarkable likeness to the Chinese myth of Sun Wukong, where the mischievous monkey king is  brought under control by the Buddha of the western universe (Amitabha Buddha) after he spawned havoc in the court of the Zade Emperor. Similarly, the instance of Brahma's head being severed is present in both Hindu and the Mahayana Buddhist tradition. The Bhairav form of Shiva also cuts of Brahma's head, while the twelve armed form of the Tibetan Vajrayana deity Sambhara clutches it in one of his hands. Incidentally, this iconography is not meant to deride Hinduism, because Brahma is also a part of the Mahayana pantheon. 

That evening while talking to Sasen Bansa Bkihu Mahathera in a neighbouring Buddha Vihar and Pali school, the aged Buddhist scholar confessed with a giggle that he himself could never understand the presence of Hindu and Mahayan elements in the Theravada system. 
"The sectaran differences seem to be only in theory. When in practise, I have seen that people just need rituals and gods" he conceded with a casual shrug that would shock the younger monks and had been doing so for years. 

Outside children horsed around playing with little pails of water, their mother's preparing various delicacies at home. Meanwhile I couldn't help agreeing to a phrase which I read somewhere, "the only Buddhists who are true to Buddha's words are found in the west"