Festivals
In devgudi of Chitalanka, devotees from different parganas gather 8-10 times in a year thereby giving the place a festive look. The following are the festivals celebrated in all of the nine villages under study:
21.2.1 Amus (Hariyali)
This is the first festival of the year which is celebrated in the amawasya (new moon day) in the month of Shravan (July-August).
On this day, farmers worship all the agricultural tools and implements at home and in devgudi as well. Cows and oxen are also worshipped. The people here perform gendi dance which looks very attractive to see. On this day, neem branches are kept at the entrance of the house with the belief that no disease enters inside.21.2.2 Nava Khai (Naya Khana)
This festival is celebrated in the month of Bhado (August-September) after the new paddy is harvested. The first crop is offered to the presiding deity along with associate deities; only then it is prepared for consumption in the house.
21.2.3 Diyari
This is the Halbi version of the Deepavali festival. But the Muria tribe calls this festival as Diwad. The festival is celebrated for three days. It begins on the second day of Dhanteras occasion; and this first day of Diwad is called Roop Chaudas or Narak Chaudas. Since it is the first day, it is also called suroti, meaning to start. On this day devgudi and other sacred places are cleaned and diyas (earthen lamps) are lighted. The other sacred places are places of Aana kudma (clan deity), Jagarani (the deity with many children), charubeda (resting place of Rav baba), nukang lon (sacred room for keeping rice urns), barn, and cow shed. Normally, gayata enjoys the right to light lamps at Aana Kudma and Jagarani while Dand, head of the farmers in the village (generally a rich farmer) lights the lamp at Charubeda in the names of Rav Baba and Kaudo.2 In the domestic sphere, the elderly woman of the family performs the task of lighting lamps in nukang lon, barn, and cow shed.
On the second day of Dewed, households offer new vegetables, rice, and tapioca (the offering is called jogani) to deities and then it is consume as prasad (sacred food). On this day, the women of a household invoke the clan deity, the presiding deity of the cow shed, and the deity of land by offering rice-flour. Then these deities are duly worshiped with betel nut, coconut, incense sticks, and alcohol. Domestic animals are also worshipped on this day. A dish, known as kichidi (food prepared with rice, lentils, and sometimes vegetables) is prepared for self-consumption and feeding of pet animals like cattle.
The third day is known as kolang endna; on this day, in the afternoon, villagers visit gayata’s house for johar bhenth (to greet gayata with lentils and rice on the plate). This is also the day of merry making and the village girls perform dance (known as Diwad endna); lamps are lit at all places like the day of suroti.
21.2.4 Charu/Choru
This ritual is performed in the month of Kartik (October-November), just before the paddy is harvested, in a certain corner of the village; this site is called Charubeda. It is believed to be the place in the village where their god Rav Baba who visits a devgudi every three years had rested. The place is marked and Charu is celebrated at the same place. The way of marking the place among the tribes also differs. If a person of the village sees strange incidents in the village like snakes coming out of the same place again and again, wild animals coming and sitting at the same place, etc., then it is considered to be the resting place of Rav Baba. Then that place is confirmed through sirha, and marked as Charubeda. Before the ritual of charu, a meeting is held in the village and the time is fixed. Coconut, incense sticks, and a rooster are offered as part of the worship in the devgudi to mark the beginning of paddy harvesting. The villagers pray to the village deity located in devgudi for trouble free paddy harvesting.
21.2.5 Semi Pandum
When semi (beans) starts fruiting in early December, the tribes here first offer it to the goddess; only after that the vegetable is cooked in someone's house. It shows the gratitude of the tribes towards nature and their adored goddess.
21.2.6 Mahashivratri
Here on the day of Mahashivratri Lord Shiva is worshiped in their respective homes followed by a fair in devgudi on the second day. Only a one-day fair is held in the first year; the second year is observed like first year. After that a 12-day fair is held in the third year, which is called Jagar commemorating the visit of Rav Baba, the Celibate God who is nomadic in nature and visits to every devgudi once in three years. Hence, the elaborate fair is organised in a three-year cycle. After the third year, the first year of the next cycle begins.
21.2.7 Amapandum
Like Semipandum, Amapandum is also celebrated in which the first fruit of mango is offered by the villagers to their presiding deity.
As it has been mentioned, rituals are performed every Tuesday in devgudi in which people sacrifice cocks and goats. In earlier days, the people of the area used to sacrifice human also. Through sirha, the goddess used to demand human sacrifice (narbali); then she wards off calamities in the village. But not every god/goddess was offered human sacrifice in the past, because some gods/goddesses do not like human sacrifice. A myth is prevalent about it. Balram Bhaskar (58 years old), priest of Gamawada village in the district of Dakshin Bastar Dantewada, tells about his village goddesses called Satbahini3. Satbahini (seven sisters) had come from Warangal, present Telangana to Dilmili in the district of Dakshin Bastar Dantewada; but after some time, they settled in Gamawada. Gamawada village is/ was adjoining to Dilmili and people started sacrificing cock and goat in the honour of seven sisters and for fulfilment of their own wishes. Gradually, the goddesses started demanding human sacrifice too. Sister Danteshwari, one of the seven sisters, did not like this at all and left that place and came to Dantewada and settled there since then. She is enshrined in the name of Danteshwari in Dantewada. The rest of the sisters are in Gamwada itself, but idols of the seven sisters are installed in the sacred shrine of Gamawada
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