previous sub-section
Chapter Ten Priests
next sub-section

Josi

There are presently in Bhaktapur two thar s whose name indicates that their members' traditional professions were astrology. The thar s and thus their members' surnames are "Josi" (often written in Newari as "Josi"), a name derived from "astrology," jyotisa[*] in Sanskrit. One of these thar s is in the highest segment of the Chathariya group. The other is at the Pa(n)cthariya level. As is true of most upper-level thar s, with the exception of the Brahmans, most members no longer follow traditional occupations. There are, however, a few families at each level, some of whose members perform astrological work for individuals, and who transmit professional knowledge about jyotisa[*] to new generations within their family. Some families in the Chathariya group have members who traditionally serve the Taleju temple, working there not specifically as astrologers, but for the most part as assistant priests.[11] As astrologers, the Josis serve middle-status and upper-status people.[12] They prepare a written record (jata :) of the time of the birth of children, an indication of their relation to the Nine graha , or "Planets," at their birth. The jata : in later life will be used by Josis in the determination of the proper sait , or astrologically proper time span, within which important activities should be initiated or avoided. The Josi's advice based on his interpretation of an individual's jata : is of particular importance in the determination of saits for rites of passage and also contributes to judgments regarding proper marriage partners. The Josi can also advise


355

on procedures for mitigating the ill effects of astrological conditions, and can help supervise the proper ameliorative worship. Finally, Josis help in determining the proper positioning and timing in propitiating the disturbed local forces when a home, temple, or other building is to be constructed.

Bhaktapur's Josis make their predictions and decisions for individual clients by comparing the information on an individual's jata : with a patra , an annually published astrological calendar. This generalized calendar, used throughout Nepal, is a reminder, in fact, that the Josi is concerned with worlds that are beyond Bhaktapur's civic mesocosmic system. He is concerned with the macrocosm represented by the graha s and with the individual microcosm. His function is to adjust those two realms so that the individual starting from his idiosyncratic position is able to periodically realign himself with the macrocosmic forces. In so doing he can then successfully fit into the ongoing moral, social, and religious patterns of Bhaktapur, the middle world properly presided over by the Brahman. The Brahman explains unfortunate events in terms of improper relations to the city's deities, or to bad karma caused by some moral error in this life or a previous one. The Josi ascribes unfortunate events most characteristically to a dasa , an astrological condition that can produce good or bad "luck," usually the latter.[13] This luck, being astrologically produced, does not derive immediately from moral sources as bad karma usually does,[14] nor does it derive from relations to the civic deities.

In his function as an astrologer the Josi is not, properly speaking, a priest. He puts individuals into a proper relation with a macrocosmic world whose divine representatives, the "astral deities" (chap. 8), have the most minimal meaning as "gods," being rather impersonal forces, and he characteristically does this through advice on timing and choices, which is not "worship" in any sense, not an attempt to influence the divine. He advises corrections and adjustments that allow people to get on with their ordinary lives, one aspect of which is the timing of puja s and ceremonies, the realm of the true priests. In his rectifying and enabling activities, he is like another "para-priest," the barber, who "mechanically" purifies people in a nonsacred procedure and prepares them for worship. As astrologers, the Josis do have second ary priestly functions. When bad fortune, or the possibility of bad fortune, is produced by a violation of order of certain types—those having to do with some reference to an astral deity, or, in the construction of a house, with the preexisting order of the space around and


356

under the house (symbolized as a disturbance of the supernatural serpents, naga s), the Josis advise on and often lead special restituting worship. They also act as auxiliary priests in some elaborate Brahman-led ceremonies, such as ceremonies for the cure of illness of high-status clients, and they participate as auxiliary priests to the Brahmans in the major Taleju ceremonies. In such helping roles they are not astrologers, but simply assistant priests.

Rajopadhyaya Brahmans claim that Brahmans could do astrological work (as they do in many parts of South Asia), but that they "have given this right to the Josis." Josis are considered by Rajopadhyaya Brahmans to have been derived by some sort of downfall from the Rajopadhyaya Brahmans.[15] It is pointed out that they belong to the same gotra as the Rajopadhyayas[*] , the Bharadvaja gotra . This puts them into a more intimate relation with the Brahmans than some of the other priests who are distinguished as "a kind of Brahman" in terms of their function but not in terms of their descent. The theme of fall in status, for the Josis from Brahmanical status, recurs in a variety of ways, as we will see, in regard to other auxiliary priests.


previous sub-section
Chapter Ten Priests
next sub-section