News: At Chhattisgarh Foundation Day in Raipur, Prime Minister wore Ramnami tribe’s peacock-feather crown.
About Ramnami Tribe
- The Ramnami tribe is a Hindu sect that worships Lord Ram and tattoos “Ram” on their bodies while wearing peacock-feather headgear.
- Location: They live mainly in villages along the Mahanadi river in Chhattisgarh, some also live in border regions of Maharashtra and Odisha.
- Origin: The Ramnami Samaj emerged in the 19th century as a peaceful resistance movement against the prevailing caste system in India.
- Started by: It was started by Parsuram Bhardwaj, in the 1890s, the son of a low-caste sharecropper.
- Right to inscribe Ram’s name : In 1910, the Ramnami Samaj was taken to court by upper-caste Hindu groups over this unique practice, but they won the case and the right to inscribe Ram’s name on their bodies, clothing, and living spaces.
- Process of tattooing
- The process of tattooing is carried out manually by appointed senior Ramnamis.
- They utilize two wooden needles, making it an intensely painful endeavor.
- The ink used is created from the soot obtained by burning kerosene oil in an earthen pot.
- Key features
- Those with full body tattoos are knows as “purnanakshik“ and are mostly in their seventies.
- They believe in a formless divine entity, whom they worship as the ‘One True God’ identified as Ram.
- They prioritize gender equality.
- They wear shawls printed with “Ram,” adorn peacock-feather crowns, and use ghungroos in dances and Bhajan performances.
- They hold a three-day Bhajan Mela at the end of the harvest season in December–January in the village of Sarsiwa in Raipur district, Where they erect a jayostambh (a white pillar with the name of Ram inscribed on it), and chant from the Ramcharitmanas.
