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Karam
Karam or Karma
is the festival of the Oraon, Baiga, Binjhawar and Majhwar tribes. It
occurs in the month of Bhadra.
The centre of
the ritual consists in the cutting of three branches of Karam tree (Gonds
fetch branches of Kalmi or galdu tree) and their installation in the 'akhara' or
dancing ground. The branches are called the 'Karam Raja'. The entry
of the branches into the village is accompanied by dancing and after the
installation Karam dancers revolve round the Raja through the night. The
following morning the branches are garlanded and the Karam legend is
recited. Flowers are then thrown over the Raja and offerings of curd and
rice are made. Red karan baskets full of grain are also put before the
branches and some ceremonially nurtured barley seedlings are distributed among
the boys and girls who put the yellow blades in their hair. The blessing
of Karam Raja is then sought and the branches are taken up and carried by women
through the village.
Girls of the
Gond tribe celebrate Karam by carrying earthen pots with holes and oil lamps
inside them, go from house to house, collecting eatables
and coins. This is done in the month of Asvina. The Korwa and
Korku Adivasis celebrate this occasion after the harvest. Karam is also
associated with a variety of dances and folk songs.
Bhojali
(Bhujalia)
This
significant festival of Chhattisgarh is observed in the month of Bhadra. About a
week before the actual Bhojali day, i.e. on the day of Nagpanchami, wheat,
gram, rice or kondo seeds are sown in earthen pots and manured to grow
into green shoots. These seeds are watered everyday with a view to having the
ensuing crop in abundance. The sprouting of the seeds are called Bhujaria in
Bundelkhand and Jawara in Malwa. At some places seeds are nurtured in
leaf-cups or 'churkus' which is a kind of conical baskets tied at the top of
bamboo pieces.
On
the Bhojali day, meals are held in every town, village and locality. The
womenfolk of the countryside holding the Bhojali (the seedlings) in their hands
or keeping the earthen pots containing the green growth on their heads go in
groups to nearby rivers or tanks. There the Bhojali is floated over the water.
While on the way to the river they sing ceremonial songs,
many of which are addressed to the river Ganges.
In
Bundelhand, blades of grain are exchanged among friends and relatives. In
Chhattisgarh, during the festival, women assemble at the melas and address one
another in terms of Bhojali. When the sprouts are submitted to the water, the
concluding songs generally refer to Bhojali as a deity, close to the
mother-goddess.
Kujlaya
On the full
moon day of Bhadra, the festival of Kujlaya is celebrated to commemorate
the reunion of the legendary queen, Malhana Devi, with her daughter who had been
married to the son of a hostile king.
Nine days
before the Kujlaya, wheat or barley is sowed in small baskets filled with black soil and
manure. Then, on the full-moon day women of the locality assemble
at someone's place and tie rakhi to their brothers and nearest relatives,
including husbands, or would be marriage partners in case of unmarried
girls. The following day the basket of wheat or barley seedlings are taken
out in procession to a river side to sink their contents, except the green
shoots which they distribute among themselves in the name of Malhana Devi.
On way to the river they sing a few songs.
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