Nemophilist (noun): a person fond of forests or one who haunts them
According to Wiki, ‘nemophilist’ comes from an ancient Greek word, némos. Oxford English Dictionary (online) says the word was first used in the 1860s. Turns out, it is not a popular term. I came across it in a book called Divining the Leaves by Shveta Thakrar, and as you can guess, it was love at first sight!
Those who know me are no strangers to my love for forests/woods. For someone who lived in a city all her life, forests are prominent settings in many of my stories. Even my first solo anthology is called Forests and Faeries (this is not a promo post, I swear).
So, when I learned about the Panchama in ancient Bharat and their role as the guardians of the forests, I knew I had to write about them. Hinduism is a nature-worshipping religion. Everything we do is supposed to be aligned with nature (while this is no longer the case, it was a long time ago).
The Nemophilist Learns About the Panchama
The Panchama are forest dwellers; the Vanavasi (people living in a vana) whose traditions, procedures, and lifestyle are different from others. Interestingly, unlike the colonizer’s language, we didn’t call them tribes or apply the modern-day context of ‘uncivilized’.
They were simply Vanavasi, while those who lived in a village were Gramavasi, and those from towns and cities were Nagaravasi. In fact, the term used to describe the forest dwellers was ‘pure’. They lived as one with nature in a forest. Why wouldn’t they be pure? After all, there is nothing divine than being such an integral part of nature!
The Vanavasi were cautious about what they brought into their sacred homes (the forests). Whenever they went to the outskirts to trade with the villagers, they spent time in quarantine before returning inside. This prevented germs, diseases, and other parasitic elements from entering the forest. What happened otherwise?
As people who lived through the COVID-19 pandemic, we know all about sanitizers, washing hands, and wearing masks, right? We tried our best not to bring the virus into our homes, lest it spread and make us ill. The Vanavasi followed a similar concept. In their view, the villagers and city dwellers were exposed to elements that could harm the forest and didn’t want to bring any of it inside their homes. Moreover, if villagers went deep into the forests, the Vanavasi poured water mixed with cow dung on the intruders to cleanse them of the germs before allowing them inside.
As you can imagine, learning all this made me more proud of my culture. While I cannot claim the Vanavasi among my ancestors, I like to think we’d have bonded over our mutual love and reverence for the forests if we met across time. Maybe I would have met some winged creatures too (my website is Wings in the Woods)!
Wings in the Ancient Woods
Did our ancient forests have magical beings? Yes!
We have the yakshas! A yaksha is a forest/ tree spirit that lives in the woods. Others include Guhyakas (the hidden ones), Kinnaras, Kimpurushas, and many more! Also, we have rakshasas who live in the forests with others.
While the yakshas didn’t go out of their way to target the rishis or vanavasi, the rakshasas didn’t have such restrictions. Rather, troubling others was their pastime! That’s why we have stories of Rama and Bhima fighting the Raskhasas in the forests. And no, the Rakshasas are not Dravidians (I say this as a Dravidian). This concept came from a very flawed logic of the colonizers who said the Vanavasi were the Adivasi (first people on the land), while the villagers, townsfolk, etc., were termed as settlers, Aryans, who supposedly invaded/ migrated/ whatever. Every new piece of archeological evidence found, especially in the last few years, has debunked AIT/ AMT.
Want to know more about the Panchama and how the British used the Terra Nullius Law to steal their land and identity?
Check out this blog: The Panchama and the Beauty of Being a Vanavasi.
Back to my favorite forests/ woods/ jungles –
See what I did there? Yeah, even in our Indian languages, there are multiple words for a land filled with trees.
- A Vana is not actually a forest but something that is afar! Since forests are far from human habitats (not in my stories, though), they are called vana. Cool, right?
- An Aranya is a peaceful place filled with clusters of trees, plants, shrubs, bushes, etc.
- A Jungla or a jungle is a rough, arid, and wild place with tangled vegetation. Essentially, something that has not been cultivated but left to nature to do as she deemed fit.
- A Shola is a thick forest, like a tropical woodland with stunted trees, loads of evergreens, and rolling vegetation.
- A Kauvu is a sacred grove, a place in a forest where spirits linger. Think of it as a part of the Yaksha kingdom where the wood nymphs (or the hulders) live. It could also belong to the Grama Devata.
- A Kadu is a thick forest and home to different living beings. While kadu is the Kannada word for forest, it is much more than the average forest.
The third Parva of the Mahabharata is called Vana Parva or Aranyaka Parva. I prefer the latter because of how poetic it sounds. There’s something melodious about the word Aranya, don’t you think?
I hope you enjoyed this nemophilist’s journey to trace ancient roots and found it worthwhile. Who knows, one day, I might find an ancestor who was a Vanavasi! Here’s to hoping!
