An
Ethanographicalanalysis of Tribal Festivals of central India
Shiv
Kumar[1]
Festivals
form an important place in the life of every tribal society. Every tribal community has its own set of
festivals, though some of the festivals are common to most of the tribal
communities. It is also a fact that
while a tribe may have large number of festivals, two or three of them may be
very important and likely to be observed by all.
Important religious
activities of any festival:
There are three
religious activities that form the core of any tribal festival. They are-
·
Worship of nature and natural objects
·
Worship of ancestors
·
Worship of gods and deities.
Therefore
during the festivals offerings and sacrifices are made to appease them.
Ancestor worship is a very common feature of tribal festivals. They invoke the
blessings of the ancestors at every social ceremony. It is believed that the
dead ancestors are benefactors and saviors of the families or the tribe they
belong to. Therefore they are worshipped at the time of calamities and in fact
they are remembered from ones birth to death. Most of the tribes offer the
first fruit of the field to the ancestor spirit. They worship some gods and
deities too.In the tribal festivals, the actual worship and offerings given to
gods and deities is helped by an individual who has the fact and insight necessary
for controlling the supernatural powers. Such persons are known by different
names in different tribal communities. The popular name for such a person is
pahan.
The
tribes belong to Kole-Mundari and Dravidian groups but the major population is
of Mundari group. Among the Mundari groups
are Santhal, Munda, Ho, Kharwar, Kole, Kharia, Bhumij, SouraPaharia, Mal
Paharia, chero, Karmali, Korwa, Asur, Savar, Baiga are the main tribes. Oraons
speak a language of Dravidian family. Sarat Chandra Roy’s Anthropological
Studies of Oraon, Munda, Birhora and Kharia tribes are very significant works in
the field of tribal study. Sarat Chandra Roys book ‘Oraon Religion and Customs
was first published in the year 1928 with an introduction by T.C. Hodson,
Reader in Ethnology in the University of Cambridge. Although ‘they speak a language which belongs
to the Dravidian family, they are settled among speakers of the Munda (Austro-Asiatic
family) group of languages. Oraoni religion and their festivals have become
very complex because of other faiths which have invaded the tribe. There are
tribal Oraons, there are Hindu Oraons and then there are Christian Oraons. All
these religions have greatly influenced the Oraon tribe. The tribe is basically a Dravidian tribe but
it lives in such habitat which is dominated by Kole - Munda tribes which are of
Austro – Asiatic family. Large scale
conversion of the tribe into Christianity and Hindu religions has taken place
among the Oraons. Many of the Christian
Oraons first marry in the church and again they perform the marriage ceremony
at their homes in the tribal manner. The
Christian Oraons are still using their totemic surnames.
“The
Oraon recognizes a supreme Deity whom they call Mahapurub. This deity is
symbolosed the Sun, superior and inferior nature spirits and potentially
beneficent ancestor-spirits and maleficent spirits of certain dead human
beings, besides beneficent and maleficent impersonal powers and forces.
Totemism has almost lost its religious aspect among the Oraons, and Shamamism
is involved in the Oraon’s Magic rather than in his religion proper”. The
tribal Oraons believe in spirits of everything such as the spirit of hills,
trees, streams and rivers, forest, earth and so on. The Oraon’s (tribal) religion may be
described as a system of animism, which is in contrast to Hindu and Christian
religious belief. All these factors have
created a lot of confusion in Oraon religious life and made it very complex.
Oraons
celebrate all their own tribal festivals as well as Hindu festivals. Christian
Oraons also celebrate their festivals in addition to the Christian
festivals. These festivals are observed
under the guidace of village priest who is called ‘pahan’. In some Oraon areas they are also known as maiga
and baiga. The term baiga is also prevalent among the Asur, Chero, Kharwar,
BirjiaKorwa and pahariya tribes. Among
the Hill Kharia, they are known as ‘deuri’ or ‘deora’ and the DudhKharia call
them Kalo and his assistant as pujar.
Baiga is also a tribe, perhaps due to their traditional expertise, the
persons who perform as village priests are given this name.
The
main sowing festivals of Jharkhand are ‘ErokeSim’ and ‘DhanBuni’. ‘Hariari is
celebrated when the paddy seeds pushed out into new shoots, the Oraon celebrate
it with some rites’. Sacrifice is offered to the god Dharmes. A white fowl is
sacrificed. Asari Puja is celebrated for good crop. Santhal tribe celebrates Hariarsim at the
time of paddy transplantation. The
village priest sacrifices, on behalf of the whole village, the fowls to the
Bongas of the village, namely, MaranBaru, Jaher Era, Gosae Era, Moreko-Turuko,
parganaBonga, Manjhi Haram Bonga and to the SimaBongas. He also offers handia (rice beer) to all
those persons who visit his house.
Oraons celebrate Bangri festival at the ocassion of paddy
transplantation which is usually observed at individual family level with the
help of village pahan. He offers handia
rice beer to Dhartimai to give the family a bumper crop and plenty of rain. Munda tribes celebrate paddy transplantation
on ‘batauli’ festival. The pahan
sacrifices fowls at the ‘jahersarna’ of the village by offering handia with
some green vegetables. Asur celebrate
hariari festival in an open tanar land annually. Birjia call the paddy
transplantation ‘ropa-puja’ in a paddy field.
Phagur:
‘Holi
which is known as ‘Fagurparab’ among the Asur is regarded as the greatest
festival so far as its festivities are concerned. It is held in the month of Phagun each year.’
The Asur tribe who deals in iron smithy worships their tools on this festival
and offer cock and hen. Asur youth play by sprinclingcolour and gulal on each
other like Hindus.
Karam Festival:
Karam or Karma is the most important festival of Central
Indian tribes. Most of the tribes such as Gonds, Baiga, Binjhia, Binjhwar,
OraonKanwar all the tribes except the BastarGonds- Murias and Marias celebrate
the festival with great fanfare. All
these tribes have hundreds of Karma songs.
The Gonds and Baigas have fourteen types of Karma dances. The mythology of Karma is most firmly
established in the tribes that observe it.
According to the myth of Karma there were two brothers, Dharma and Karma. Dharma went with the Brahmins and left Karma
with the tribes. He taught them, ‘to
clear the forest and cultivate such fields and grow all sorts of grains,
pulses, and roots. He also taught them
to collect roots and shoots and do physical work and told them this is the way
by which you can live. Hard work is the
only way for you to survive’.
The
Oraon of Chotanagpur celebrate karam festival on the eleventh day of the moon
in the month of Bhadrapad. According to a legend karma was born in the family
of a Ghasi which is a Hinduised low caste.
The Oraon maidens observe this festival. They pray to Karam Raja that
they wish to have brother like Dharm and son like pumpkin. “After taking bath
the maidens and the young boys go dancing and singing together to cut the
branches of Karam tree (nauclesparvifolia). The village pahan or pujar also go
with the dancing and singing girls and boys with a little oil and sindur for
anointing the Karam branches. The pujar
takes with him an axe which he hands over to the boys to cut the Karam
branches. One boy then climbs Karam tree
and selects to cut three straight branches which have not been damaged by
worms. The branches of the tree are planted in the centre of the akhra (dancing
yard).
The
pahan recites the soty of Karam Raja.
After listening the story of Karam, the maidens offer the flowers, rice
and sindur. ‘The hill Kharias sacrifice
fowl or goats to the Karam Raja, but Oraons or DudhKharias do not make animal
sacrifice’. All the young men and women sing, dance and play music for the
whole night. The music, singing, dancing
and drinking go for the whole night. In
the morning the Karam Branches are then taken in a procession with music songs
and dance. The procession comes to
pahan’s house first then to village Mahto’s house and later to the pujar’s
house. This procession is taken to every
house and at each house; the mistress of the house anoints the karam branches
with oil and vermilion and offers rice bread.
At the end the Karam branches are drowned in the tank or stream. The kukumber which was offered to the Karam
Raja is taken by the girl’s parrents and brothers.
Nawakhani
Festival:
New
rice eating festival is celebrated when the early rice crop is ready in the
Hindi month Bhadrapada. Santhaltribe also celebrate this festival with the name
‘janthar’ in the month of Aghan when the winter paddy has ripened. Korwa and
Birjia also celebrate ‘Nawakhani’.
Paddy Harvesting
Festival:
Santhaltribes
celebrateSohare as paddy harvesting festival. The festival is six day long
affair which includes the blessings and baiting of cattle, a fishing expedition
and a community hunting. The festival is
celebrated in the Hindi month of Poosh and Magh after the paddy has been
reaped, threshed, and stored.
Kharihami Puja:
Kharihami Puja festival is celebrated by generally Oraon
tribe before the start of paddy threshing.
It is celebrated by the whole village at a place known as tanar. All the villagers go to that place with the
village pahan (shaman) with rice, fowls and handia. The pahan make five piles of rice and sits
facing east. He sacrifices fowls by
cutting their neck with his knife. In
the end he sacrifices a white fowl to Dharmes.
The blood is poured on the rice piles.
After observing the sacrifice the killed fowls are cooked with rice and
all the persons present there eat it.
Paddy threshing starts from that day.
MaghaParab:
In
honour of the ancestors who are the household gods, Munda tribe make offerings
to them. The festival is celebrated on
the poornima (full moon night) of the Hindi month Push. Push Purnima is an important festival of all
the tribes of Central India as well.
Other crop related festivals are ‘GanjiPijje’ and ‘Kharwaij’ celebrated
by Maler tribe and kharwaij also celebrated by Asur. In Kharwaij festival the Baiga of the village
offer sacrifice in honour of Dhartimai, SurajDeota, DuariaDeota, Devimai and
Kalimai for the well-being of the villagers and the domestic amimals. Santhals
celebrate ‘Soharae’ festival to observe their gratitude towards the cattle
because of their service they have rendered in the cultivation. Oraon tribes also celebrate Sohorai in the
evening of Hindi month KartikPrathama or the new moon day. Many earthen lamps are lighted. This is like a Diwali festival for the
tribe. Sohorai is also celebrated by
Munda, Birja, Korwa and Asur tribes.
Tribes
of Jharkhand also celebrate festivals for forest produce. These festivals are ‘BahaParab’, ‘Sarhul’,
‘Ba-Parab’ (Munda). ‘The Oraon of Chota
Nagpur celebrates the Sarhul festival with great enthusiasm for offering
rice-beer to the tutelary goods. The pahan collects some rice from every
household of the village and it is propared by pahan’s wife. The pahan and pujar keep away from food and
maintain chastity during the festival.
Korwas celebrate Sarhul in the Hindi month of Baisakh when the lac is
ready, the Korwa worship GowhalDewta at the time of Sarhul. To climb on the tree or to cut the lac from
the tree is completely forbidden till the sarhul festival is not observed. This festival is observed at indivisual
family level.’*
Festivals for
hunting:
Generally
the community hunting festival is observed in the Hindi month of Phagun that is
around March. Oraons call it Phagu which is celebrated on the full moon day of
the month of Phagun. Mundas celebrate Phagu as Holi festival. The young boys of the village go to the
forest and cut a semur (bombixmalbericum) tree and bring it to the
village. The tree is taken to the spot
where on the previous evening castor oil plant was burnt which practice is
observed at the Holi festival. Castor plant
is a symbol of Holika who was the sister of Hirnakashap according to Hindu
mythology. Semur or semal tree is also
burnt there by the vilagepahan. On the
next day the hunting expedition begins.
The sacrifices of fowls are made in honour of the Bongas or deities of
the forest, the hills, the streams, the fields and the groves. Korwas also
celebrate the Phagu festival more or less in the similar way by burning the
semal tree. The next day in the morning
they go for community hunting.
Conclusion:
Every festivals project a very important dimension of human
activity. From very ancient times in the
history of mankind, festivals have been an important feature of group life all
over the world. India is not an
exception. India is a country with
innumerable number of festivals. Each
one of these festivals has its own distinctive features. Some of these are religious and others like
Holi, RakshaBandhan, etc. transcend religious boundaries. When we look at
festivals we do realize that they are social institutions which promote
feelings of fellowship and brotherhood among the members of the group that
celebrates them. They are social in
nature. They provide opportunities for social groups and individuals to gain release
from tensions and obtain emotional satisfaction in an atmosphere that is free
from native cares and anxieties. They
make him cheerful and happy and give him rest and peace.
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