An Essay on "A Zuni View of Nature"

Pandey, Tirloki Nath. "The Zuni View of Nature." Man in Nature. Ed. Baidyanath Saraswati. New Delhi: Indira Gandhi National Centre for the Arts, 1995. 21 Sep. 2006 .

Tirloki Nath Pandey, author of "The Zuni View of Nature," is a social anthropologist who spent five years living among the Zuni, Hopi, and Navajo tribes of the American southwest. After immersing himself in the life and culture of the Zuni people, Pandey considered the literature that was previously written on Zuni culture, both reevaluating old beliefs and bringing to life new perspectives concerning the lives of the Zuni people. In "The Zuni View of Nature," Pandey argues that the Zuni people believe in predestination, a belief that results in a "strict social order", a "sense of man's oneness with the universe", and a "special sense of time" (1-4)[1].

Zuni religious beliefs and rituals are largely based on the worship of their ancestors. Zuni priests are believed to derive their power from the ancestors present in "Talk Concerning the First Beginning." The Sun Priest, the "most revered and holy man" (Pandey 3) of the Zuni, derives his power directly from the Sun God. Below him, there are the priests of the four principal directions who are regarded as the Sun Priest's "younger brothers and spokesmen" (3). Then, there are the Bow Priests, "the earthly representatives of the mythical twin War Gods," (3) who are responsible for protecting the Zuni from their enemies. Finally, there are the Kachina Priests who rule the Kachina Village. Zuni priests are at the top of the social hierarchy because of their connections to their respective ancestors, and, therefore, they have the responsibility of praying to those specific ancestors while ordinary people pray to "ancestors in general" (2).

This ancestral worship is best understood when it is compared to the Zuni belief that they are one with nature. By praying to their ancestors, Zuni priests ensure not only the welfare of the Zuni people, but also the stability and generosity of nature. It is only by the growth of crops that the Zunis are able to sustain their hunger. Crops require both sunshine and rain, and these elements of nature are prayed for by the Sun and Rain Priests. Corn is planted, harvested, and eaten by the Zuni; however, the corn seed remains and is replanted. Zunis view themselves in the same way. When one person dies, they leave their "seed" (Pandey 2) behind and pass on to "fill another role in the cosmic scheme" (2). The growth of corn from year to year is a result of both the first harvest and each subsequent harvest. Likewise, the welfare of the Zuni people is secured by both their original ancestors and each person born of them who died and passed on their "seed" (2).

Prayer, in the Zuni culture, is performed through ceremony and ritual. Every year, each Zuni "dances his ritual dances, he fasts, he retreats,
Though I felt I had a pretty good understanding of the basic ideas behind "Talk Concerning the First Beginning" after reading it the first time, I was still left with three questions. The first was concerning the death of the girl who was sacrificed in order for the first crop of corn to grow, the second was concerning the passage of time, and the third was concerning the assertion made by members of the Zuni throughout the beginning of the story -- "Because it is thus you have passed us on our roads" (Zuni 17-8). Now, after reading "The Zuni View of Nature," I feel I have a better understanding of the underlying beliefs of the Zuni that led to these three seemingly ambiguous parts of the story.

According to Pandey, when one person of the Zuni tribe dies, they leave their "seed" (Pandey 2) behind and pass on to "fill another role in the cosmic scheme" (2). This is an interesting perspective when considering the death and rebirth of the baby who was sacrificed to the coyote for his corn seeds. In "Talk Concerning the First Beginning," the Zuni meet the coyote who has corn seeds. Prior to their emergence from the underworld, the Zuni had lived on grasses. However, they needed some form of sustenance to keep their people from being weak and hungry. The coyote offers them the seeds of corn in exchange for one of their people. They offer it a baby girl -- she became sick and died, and they buried her. However, the next day, the coyote took the two brothers to the spot where she had been buried, and she was there "playing in the dirt" (Zuni 23). After finding the girl alive, the brothers go back to tell their people, telling them "She has not really died. She is still alive" (23).

After reading this section, I did not understand whether the child had actually come back to life or whether her life was simply a representation of the life that the corn would give to all of the Zuni people. However, if the Zuni really do view themselves as one with nature, as suggested by Pandey, then it seems much more reasonable that the girl did not actually come back to life. Instead, the sacrifice of her death allowed her seed to pass on, therefore bringing years and years of corn crops for the Zuni to harvest and eat. If their people are one with nature, then it seems completely reasonable that the "life" of the girl was simply a crop of corn that grew in the place she was buried.

The section part of "Talk Concerning the First Beginning" that I found ambiguous was the constant reference to the passing of time: "Four days -- four days they say, but it was four years" (Zuni 22). According to Pandey, the rituals performed by the Zuni people are unchanging, and therefore create a special sense of time. The dedication to ritual is apparent in "Talk Concerning the First Beginning" when, after arriving in at each new destination, the Zuni people "[set] down their sacred things in a row...,
The final part of "Talk Concerning the First Beginning" that I found ambiguous was the statement frequently made by the Zuni priests in the beginning of the story: "Because it is thus you have passed us on our roads" (Zuni 17-8). If the Zuni people believe in predestination, as asserted by Pandey, then this statement is an example of those beliefs. If everything is predestined prior to the occurrence of any act, then the Zuni could only believe that, if the two brothers had crossed their paths in the underworld, it was meant to be so.

Tirloki Nath Pandey is a Professor of anthropology at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In addition to living among the Zuni tribes of southwestern America for five years, he has written many articles concerning the culture and beliefs of the Zuni people. While I found this article very interesting and informative, I do not believe that it is a piece that stands on its own without any prior knowledge of Zuni history and mythology. The essay seems to assume that the reader is educated on the history and beliefs of the Zuni people, and, even knowing what I do, I often found myself lost in some of his arguments and assertions. However, the parts of the essay that did make sense to me were very beneficial to my understanding of the primary test, and I feel as though I would have left the text with many unanswered questions had I not discovered this article. I believe that Pandey is completely qualified to write on the lives and culture of the Zuni, but, at the same time, I wish the article could have been expanded and better explained in parts.

[1] Because the pages of this article were not numbered on the website it was retrieved from, I simply refer to the numbers corresponding to printed pages.