DHARMA-THAKUR

also called Dharma-ray, folk deity of eastern India of complex characteristics and obscure origins. Dharma-Thakur is worshiped as the high god of a large number of villages of Rarh, a region that comprises the greater part of modern West Bengal state. Dharma-Thakur has no prescribed form; he is worshiped in the form of stones, as a wooden votive slab, or through a pair of wooden sandals. Among other attributes he is a fertility god and a healer of disease. Worship of Dharma-Thakur is correlated with sun worship, and Dharma-Thakur's annual worship, known as Dharma-puja, has been described as a kind of sympathetic magic to make the monsoon rains begin to fall. Scholars are not agreed on the origins of worship of Dharma-Thakur. Some find in the deity and his worship a degenerate form of the Buddha and Buddhism; others trace the cult and deity to either pre-Aryan or tribal sources. Among the neighbouring literate tribal peoples there are a number of cult practices and deities that share some of the characteristics of Dharma-Thakur and his cult. The majesty and exploits of Dharma-Thakur are presented in a major class of works in Bengali literature known as Dharma-mangal.