A Hindu jati was a
person who was born into a family of goldsmiths and jewelers in traditional
northern Indian culture.
Traditional Indian society was based around a series of
endogamous, or intermarried, groupings known as jatis ("birth").
The group's hereditary occupation, over which each group had
a monopoly, was how these jatis were structured (and how their social rank was
decided).
Manik Chandra's song.
The mythological king Manik Chandra, his wife Mayana, and
their son Gopi Chand are the main protagonists in this traditional Bengali
song; Manik Chandra dies early in the narrative, therefore Gopi Chand is the
main character.
The work is a romance, but it also incorporates many of the
Nathpanthi ascetics' teachings.
Queen Mayana, in particular, has authority over Yama (death
personified), which was one of the Nathpanthi ascetics' main goals.
She also gained this capacity under the spiritual guidance
of her teacher Gorakhnath, the founder of the Nathpanthi.
Her control over death is shown in a variety of ways.
Mayana descends to Yama's realm when her husband dies and
brutally assaults both Yama and his followers.
Yama disguises himself in numerous shapes in order to avoid
Mayana's fury, but she is never fooled and continues to annoy him.
She also demonstrates her mastery over death by her
inability to be slain on numerous occasions.
She builds her husband's funeral pyre, and despite the fact
that it flames for seven days and nine nights, none of her clothes are burnt.
Mayana survives seven terrifying ordeals, including boiling
in oil, many years afterwards.
When questioned where she learned these magical skills, she
says Gorakhnath taught her.
The fact that such concepts occur in an essentially popular
story demonstrates how deeply these ideas had penetrated the general psyche.
