|
Rajula Festival
It is celebrated for one day in honour of Polam Raju or Nagoba
deity, a God holding sway over the hills and forests. He is supposed
to protect the cattle and the herdsmen. On the full moon day in
the month of Ashadha, all the male members, including children with their
cattle go to the nearby forest and sacrifice a goat to Rajula deity.
Kheer (rice cooked with milk and sugar) is prepared and a little
is given to all the cattle, the rest eaten by the family members.
Afterwards a straight line, twenty or thirty metres long is drawn with
turmeric powder and cattle are made to cross over it and driven away untended
into the forest and brought back on the following day and the men perform
the Puja. Women look after the preparation of the feast; a non-
vegetarian feast, including Kheer is prepared and eaten with much relish.
A goat is sacrificed and its meat is distributed among all. They
do not touch the leaf of a teak tree till the function is over. This festival
is based on the belief that on the day, if any of the cattle driven away
to the forest is killed by a tiger, the village would face a tiger menace
throughout the year.
|
