Jango, the First Priestess
Raitad Jango is one of the two great female figures of the Gondi Punem, distinct from the mother-goddess Kali Kankali. Remembered as the sister of the culture-hero Pari Kupar Lingo, she is the first priestess of the Gonds and, in her own right, the chief goddess (Sadar Pen) of eight clan-groups. The founding narrative of Kachargarh turns on her: it is Jango who, seeing the divine children shut inside the cave, goes to the meditating Lingo and sets in motion their rescue, after which the clan and saga organisation of Gond society is fixed. Modern Gond tradition also credits her with a reform winning widows the right to maintenance and remarriage. She is worshipped at cave shrines, most prominently the Jangu Bai temples of the Adilabad region.
Domains
- priesthood
- clan organization
Powers
- to summon the deliverer of the imprisoned gods
- to establish the saga and clan divisions of Gond society
- to win rights of maintenance and remarriage for widows
Epithets
- Raitad JangoMayuri Patankar, 'Memory and the Visual Politics of Gond Religion,' Seminar, no. 740 (2021). (secondary)
- Sadar PenMotiravan Kangali, Pari Kupar Lingo Gondi Punem Darshan (Nagpur: Ushakiran Prakashan, 1986). (secondary)
Relations
- ally: Hira Suka Patalir, the Bard of KachargarhIn the deliverance of the divine children she works together with the bard Hira Suka Patalir, whose music does what her plea to Lingo set in motion.Motiravan Kangali, Pari Kupar Lingo Gondi Punem Darshan (Nagpur: Ushakiran Prakashan, 1986). (secondary)
Sources
- Raitad Jango is the sister of Pari Kupar Lingo and the first priestess and chief goddess of the Gonds, who instigated the freeing of the divine children imprisoned in the Kachargarh cave.: Motiravan Kangali, Pari Kupar Lingo Gondi Punem Darshan (Nagpur: Ushakiran Prakashan, 1986). (secondary); Mayuri Patankar, 'Memory and the Visual Politics of Gond Religion,' Seminar, no. 740 (2021). (secondary); Verrier Elwin, Myths of Middle India (Madras: Oxford University Press, 1949). (secondary)