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GLOSSARY India glossary |
transcript |
| Section 1 | How many families live in this village? 34 families. |
Do all the families belong to the same caste? No, six families belong to Kolta caste, and nine are Bajagis (the drumbeaters). There is no Brahmin family here. Two families are blacksmiths. |
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Which is the higher caste – Bajagi or Kolta? Bajagis are higher. They make us dance, whereas the Kolta people do our work such as farming. |
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Do Kolta people have their own fields? They have very little land so they take some of our land for cultivation. |
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Do they ask you for the land or do you give it yourself? How is this transaction done? We harvest our produce thrice a year and on each harvest we give them two to four kilos of grain. |
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Do the Bajagis also have their own agricultural land? They also do not have much land. We give them land on hire in the same way. |
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Approximately how many fields do they have? They have around five to six fields but they cannot produce food for the whole year. We give them extra grain. |
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Are you native to this place? Yes, we belong here. |
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What are the arrangements for schooling here? It is good. The school opens daily. |
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Do you know how to read and write? No, I cannot. |
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| Section 2 | Did you have a school in your time? Yes. |
Didn’t you ever feel that you should study? How could I decide? I was married off at a very young age. |
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How old were you? Ten years. |
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How old was your husband? I don't know how old he was. |
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Were you both of the same age, or was he elder to you? No, we were not the same age. He was around eleven years older than me. |
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How does a marriage take place here? We have a lot of rejoicing and festivity. We prepare lots of delicacies like meat and vegetables, and puris (type of fried bread) and rice. |
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Does the bridegroom accompany the marriage procession? No, the bridegroom did not accompany the marriage procession in the old days. But now they do. |
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In your time, how many people from the boy's house used to go in the procession? There used to be only two, the priest and any other member of the boy's house. A person from the Bajagi community used to go along beating the drum. Such a procession from here meant that people from the girls' house were expected to go over to the boys' house. [In this area, unlike the rest of the country, people from the girl's house used to go in a marriage procession as baratis to the boy's house the next day.] If two people accompany the priest [from the boy's house to the girl's house] it means that the whole village from the girl's side has been invited for the feast [at least one member of each family in the village]. But if only one person accompanies the priest, it means that fewer people are expected to go from the girl's house to the boy's house - only her closest relatives. If three or four people go with the priest it means that the entire khat (local word for patti – a group of villages that make up a revenue unit) is invited. Usually 50 to 100 people accompanied the girl. This was the custom in our times. Today the barat (marriage procession) goes from the boy's house to the girl's house. The next day it returns. Earlier the girl's grandfather, father, brother and all relatives used to come. They were invited to the girl's house. Next day these guests were invited by the whole village and were welcomed and offered wine made up of herbs. This custom is followed even today as you have seen. The procession stays in the girl's house for two days. Today people still follow the same custom. In fact the procession which you saw today went from the boy's house and the groom accompanied it, just as it happens anywhere else. [The groom is in service. His father is also working and almost all members of the house are educated.] But the girl's relatives came over to our house. You saw that her grandfather and father had come. They are all working yet they have maintained their own custom. Only the groom did not agree. He went with the barat. |
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| Section 3 | What is this custom of marriage called? It is called bewa ka jejuda. |
How do you negotiate a girl's marriage? We leave one rupee in the girl's house. When the girl gives it to her father the marriage is fixed, and takes place on the day that it is decided to be performed. |
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I have heard that there used to be a demand for jewellery from the girl's side. No there was no demand. Whatever people gave of their will was accepted. |
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Then what was the custom of ‘girl's money’ [property bestowed on the girl at marriage. This is her only inheritance from the parental side]? Suppose the girl gets divorced. Then the person who marries the girl the second time has to pay some money to her first husband. The girl's father pays the boy an amount he asks for to get the divorce through, if he is unable to get another boy at the same time to marry his daughter. But later when he marries his daughter a second time he can ask for his money back from the first husband. It is known as chut. We do not take money when a single girl is married. But a divorced girl is married after taking the money. |
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How much money is demanded? Eight thousand, nine thousand, five thousand ... depends. |
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I have seen that sometimes two men have one wife between them here. Do you still follow this custom? Yes, this used to be our custom and we still follow it. But the new generation is changing it. Earlier three brothers, or even seven brothers, had a single wife. But now it does not happen. |
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What about the younger generation in the village, those who are illiterate and uneducated, do they follow this custom? Yes, many families follow this custom. |
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Why do you do it? We feel that a family should remain a joint one. Everyone should live together with love. But these days everyone wants to marry separately. But those who want to live together stay jointly. We feel that land and house should not be partitioned. In single families the property is ruined. If you want to save yourself from disaster stay in a joint family. Everything stays safe, it really does. |
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Are educated people also of the same view? Educated people are of the view that one man should have one wife, but people who are involved in agriculture do not think so. |
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| Section 4 | What jewellery do you wear in marriages? We used to wear tugal in the ears, bulak in the middle of the nose or a nose-pin, a gold necklace and a silver locket, bangles on our hands, made of silver, and kanguthi (heavy silver anklets) on the feet. But now people wear pajeb (finer anklets). |
Did men also wear any ornaments? Yes, men used to wear utaraya (rings worn on upper ear). But they do not wear them anymore. Now they wear ornaments, which they prefer. |
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What is the role of women in household work? Women play the major role. Take me for example. I have built this house alone after my children were born. I have also built the top story and the thatched part (where animals are kept). I was alone then. My sister-in-law was not with me at that time, nor did I have any daughters-in-law. I took the entire responsibility. This is the only house which I have constructed along with my daughter-in-law [gestures to an annex]. |
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I did not quite understand what you mean by ‘alone’? I had to arrange for the construction of the house. I had to hire labour. They brought a lot of material but I had to arrange for everything. I have carried a lot of material used in this house on my back. |
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Don't the villagers help each other? I have heard that they are very helpful? Yes, they do cooperate for getting material from a far off place. All villagers do that. Villagers get kadi (wooden cross-beam for the roof), padhale (slate roof slabs), etc. They help in farming also and any other work, which is heavy or difficult. We complete it by turns. |
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Do women participate in the panchayat (village council)? No, women are not allowed in the panchayat. |
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Women have not entered this field as yet? No, not as yet. One woman has been elected as the head [of ?], one as a ward member (person employed to do specific work in the village on the government’s behalf). We felt good about that. But let's see what happens in the panchayat. |
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Did you ever feel that women should also be included in it? Yes, we used to feel that it should be so. We even used to say that there should be a panchayat of women alone. But since that was not the custom, we could not even participate in it. |
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Are all the disputes settled by the panchayat? Yes, all judgements are passed here and are accepted. |
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What are the rules of the panchayat? The person who is at fault is fined. But at the time of a girl's divorce, the panchayat is not called. She is free to take a decision regarding the divorce. |
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| Section 5 | What is the amount of the fine? It is Rs 50, Rs 100, sometimes even up to Rs 1000. The amount of fine depends upon the crime. |
Which type of family do you prefer, joint or separate? All elderly people prefer joint families. |
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What advantages does it have? If someone falls sick or there is some other problem, all members of the family are present together to help. No one is alone. Even if four or five people go out of the house, others are not left alone. Every type of work can be done easily such as farming, managing cattle, fetching grass and wood, and so on in a joint family but these tasks cannot be done in a separate family. Only one or two kinds of work can be done. Will a single woman look after her family or her fields? If she falls sick who will do her farming or cook food or fetch wood and water? There are all sorts of troubles. But there is no such great problem in a joint family because no one is alone. |
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Where do you get your household goods from? Do you make them yourself or do you purchase them? We make them ourselves in the village. The large stone utensil for pounding paddy, for instance, it is called a mortar. You call it a pestle? We make ringal ki bisai (round basket for drying grains) ourselves. We also make bags made up of ropes, different types of brooms, material for plastering stoves and big brushes for whitewashing houses and all types of things needed to clean the house. People of the Kolta caste make such things, and almost every person can make a rope himself. |
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What work do blacksmiths do here? They do not work with iron anymore. They have started working on silver and gold. They have become goldsmiths now and make earrings and other jewellery. |
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How much money do they charge for making earrings? I do not know. |
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Could you tell me what instruments the Bajagi people play? They play drums, ransingha, karnai (made of brass) and damadi. |
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Which instruments were played in the marriage that took place the day before? We had called a band. But the traditional instruments of the village were also played. |
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Which festivals do you celebrate? In the months of August and September we celebrate a festival called Jagada. A litter carrying the goddess is brought into the temple courtyard. It has a golden umbrella on it. We call the litter palki. People hold it and make it dance around the courtyard. Everyone from the village comes. Those who are working outside take leave and come. Girls who are living away with their in-laws also come home. We call the girls dhiyani (worshippers). Our relatives and guests come from other villages. We all dance collectively in a large circle holding each other’s hands. |
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| Section 6 | What food do you prepare during this festival? We make rice and chapattis (thin flat bread). |
What special delicacies do you prepare? Aska and pinwai. Rice and kauni (millet) flour is mixed together in warm water and this batter is put into an iron mould which is in the shape of a bowl. After putting two or three ladles in each bowl, it is then covered with another mould. This batter then rises [and ferments like a beer]. After three to four hours it is removed and the aska is ready. It is made sweet as well as salty. If you put jaggery (unrefined sugar) in it, it becomes sweet. Pinwai is made by making small balls of the dough. Thin strips of wood are kept and some water is sprinkled on. The dough balls are then kept on the wood and covered. They are also made both sweet as well as salty. After they are cooked in steam, they are removed and eaten with ghee (clarified butter). |
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Is badi (dried food made from lentils, can be stored and used year-long) also prepared here? Yes, badi is also prepared. When we feel like eating something special we prepare khindadi and eat it. We put flour in hot boiling water and stir it with a wooden spoon. After it is cooked for a considerable time, it is served with jaggery and ghee. Jaggery is boiled and formed into a thin juice. It is made like halwa (a sweet dish). We prepare it and eat it. |
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What vegetable do you have here? I mean local vegetables. We have a vegetable called kuska. It is first boiled, then mixed with maize flour, cooked, seasoned and then served. Guriyal buds are also used as vegetables. We also make pickle out of it. There is another thing known as pili. It is also a flower like guriyal. It is pink in colour and blooms during mid February to March. It is also prepared like guriyal. There is a vegetable known as gani. It is generally found near water since there is grass in abundance. It grows in such places. It is a small grass and has pink flowers. It is also boiled, wrung, seasoned, and the vegetable is ready. Another is lengada (variety of fern). It is a small stick, bent at the front, as thick as a finger. It is cut into fine pieces, seasoned with oil and cooked for some time. It is a dry but delicious vegetable. We use arabi gagudi (yam). We make vegetable out of its leaves also. These days (December) we eat the vegetable batu, which grows wild in the fields. |
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| Section 7 | Did you receive any dowry in this marriage since it was of the modern type? No, asking for dowry is considered bad. We ask for the girl only. Whatever the girl's parents give of their own free will is accepted. We did not make any demand. |
One special thing that I had heard was that the boy married his niece. Is it true? Yes, his niece, that is the father's sister's daughter, is married to the boy. It was our custom earlier but not anymore. Now everyone thinks that the niece is a sister and we cannot marry her. Even the uneducated people of the younger generation feel this way. |
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What is the name of your native deity? His name is Chaldu Mahasu. He is our native deity whose temple has been made in the middle of the village. He is the brother of Lord Mahasu. One year he is taken to Ladwan which is near village Dunai and the next year to the Yamuna river (the village is located in the valley of the Yamuna river, a tributary of the river Ganga) for a holy bath. Holy water is brought from Ladwan. This water is special and other people cannot take the water. In the courtyard of the temple there is a separate well which has a room above it. The room is closed these days. This well is always full of water but the villagers do not even touch this water, as they are not allowed to use it for any purpose. If the priest gives us some water, we use it only for drinking. The Harijans (low caste) cannot even go into the courtyard. Every family worships it for two days. We call it pata. The priest gives us water to wash our feet. We enter the temple only after cleaning our feet. God had appeared here itself. He is the Lord of our khat which consists of fifteen villages. Many people believe in him, in fact the whole of Garhwal. But he is worshipped only in these fifteen villages. |
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Do you offer animals for sacrifice in the temple? Yes, during Jagada we offer animal sacrifice. Also, when someone prays to God and his desire is fulfilled, he offers a male goat. The time for sacrifice is only up to 10am. After the prayer is finished, the sacrifice can be made only on the next day before the prayer. Wine is not offered in the temple though one can have wine and go. |
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What are the other festivals? There is a festival of Vissu in which flowers are offered in the house. All the children of the village collect in the temple courtyard and offer flowers to God in the morning. After that flowers are offered by them to all houses and also to other people. This festival is celebrated in Baisakh (March/April). Fifteen days before Sankrant (the first day of the month) we make a high platform of stones and worship it daily. On the day of Sankrant [of Baisakh] we beat the drums, drink wine and demolish the platform. |
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Why do you demolish it? There must be some story behind it? There is no story as such. It has always been our custom - that is why we do it. It has become like a game. |
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| Section 8 | What other fairs do you have? There is a fair called Thodu. In this fair a man wears thick woollen pyjamas and thick shoes, and he keeps jumping. This man is aimed at with bow and arrow, below his knees, according to the rule. Many people try to aim and hit him but very few arrows hit the target. The person whose arrow makes a hit is considered the best marksman. There is a roar of happiness. This fair takes place on 3rd of May in Chail village. We all go to see the fair. Then there is a festival called Panchva. We prepare aska for this festival also. Remember, wine is served here in all festivals, and if a guest comes at any time, even on normal days, wine is served first in place of tea. This is our custom. Wine is homemade [women also consumed wine in the old days]. In our society the guest asks for tobacco. This means he is asking for wine! |
You are smoking. So all the women...? Yes, earlier all elderly women used to have tobacco. In the younger generation boys smoke and have liquor but not the girls. It is considered bad for the girls. |
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Tell me about your next festival? Now the festivals of the month of Magh (January/February) will come. They are known as the festivals of Magh. On the two days of the month of Paush (December/January), 28th and 30th (dates according to the Hindu calendar), goats are sacrificed and meat is eaten the whole month. Guests are invited home and we ourselves are also invited out. |
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In the Garhwal hills we send kaleva (food gift from natal family) for the girl to her in-laws house. Do you also give this? Yes we also do. Thrice in a year, the girl's share, which we call banta, is sent to her in the months of Margsheesh, Magh and Baisakh. During the festival of Vissu we send papad (dish made with rice flour), laddu (sweets) and puris. The second time we send chuda dana (puffed rice) and batasha (sweet made from white sugar). During the month of Magh we send meat, rice and flour. |
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What rituals or customs do you follow on the birth of a baby? The person in whose house the baby is born goes to the temple on the third or the fifth day, burns incense and offers prayers. The baby's mother or aunt lights the incense. When the baby is one year old all the people of the Kolta caste are invited for food. Sweets, jaggery and rice are distributed among the children on the third or fifth day. If a girl is born they give a sigh of relief and if a boy is born they feel happy and say it's good it’s a boy! |
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What are the rituals performed after the death of an individual? Depending upon the [wealth of the] family, we perform Terahveen on the third, fifth, ninth or twelfth day after the death. Very poor persons perform it on the third day, a person better off performs it on the fifth day. Similarly, people do it according to their capacity. The person who performs kriya (spiritual ritual) eats only once a day and his food is not touched by anyone else. For the first three days all the members of the family will not eat such food. They do not even have their bath. The well-educated people follow this rule for thirteen days but one person particularly must follow this custom. The person who performs Terahveen on the third day, his whole family participates in the ritual. When the mother dies, the son who performs the kriya does not wear shoes. In fact the day they go for cremation, none of the sons wear shoes. |
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| Section 9 | What is your name? Asuji Devi. |
What is your age? I do not know. |
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How many children do you have? I have six children. My son is 28-29 years old and my daughter is 17-18 years old. [The daughter said she was 20 years old.] |
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What do your sons do? First he had a job for five to six years, now he has a scooter and drives it (takes passengers for income). One son is into agriculture. I have two sons and four daughters. |
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Did you like the old days more or you like the present times? We liked our days more. There were joint families and everyone loved each other. You make fun of us regarding our system of polyandry. Why should we cook food separately? We like our customs. Why are we mocked? Everyone has their own customs. |
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How do you save grains from insects? The kulath crop (variety of lentil) has maximum pests. We mix ash into it or rub it with oil and keep it. But before that the grains have to be put in the sun and dried well. In fact, this rule goes for all types of grains. If cow's urine is rubbed with the grain, it saves them. These days we rub DDT powder in wheat to protect it. But we never used it before. We dry wheat twice. Our godowns are away from the houses. They are made of cedar wood. |
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Is there any crop, which you used to harvest before but not anymore? No, we have all our traditional crops here such as marsa (amaranthus), kauni (proso millet), koda (finger millet), sarso (mustard), maize, jhangora (barnyard millet)... all types. Chattu in rice, wheat, in cereals, urad, kulath, masoor, (different pulses) potato, arabi (yam), and fruits such as walnut and chulu (apricot). We also have rajma (a bean). Potato is our commercial crop. We get rajma up to six sacks. We also sow chaulai (variety of amaranth). It is sold at a high rate. We have cut down on cultivating kauni and jhangora. Chaulai is used to make lamdi (?). We used to eat it before but it is not made anymore since it is all sold for a good amount. Instead we buy rice in its place. Chaulai is sold for Rs 500 per maund (approx. 40 kgs). |
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| Section 10 | Today, so many people are sitting here. Is everybody from the same village? No, there are some married women and girls and some daughters-in-law. Today you are like our daughter. Had our daughter been studying outside, today she would have also returned home because we are celebrating the festival of Diwali (festival of light) and also a marriage in the village. That is why everyone has returned to their homes. We celebrate Diwali in this month. It was four to five days before [you came]. [Narrator sings a few lines from a song.] The customs of our hills are good and all people come together. Now everyone will return to their homes. |
Please tell something about matri? They are invisible goddesses of the forest and live in high mountains. They captivate beautiful girls. If they enter into (possess) some girl, she cannot speak and becomes all rigid. A priest has to be called to offer prayers. They do not accept animal sacrifice, instead they are offered flowers and prasad (dish made of flour, jaggery and ghee). Chudi ka danda is “the mountain which belongs to matris”. |
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How would you like to settle down in the plains, away from these mountains? If it has to be so, we should all be settled together in one place. But we do not like the plains. We do not like the food, it smells. We feel sick while travelling in vehicles. Even the water stinks. All the things here are good and delicious. You feel like laughing, but what is there to laugh about? Here we all are free and happy. But in the plains we will be shut inside the rooms. Here we sit in the open, nobody locks their house. That is why we do not like the plains. But if we are forced, then we would like to settle down together, not separately at all. There you do not even have your own grain, everything has to be purchased from the shops. Our own land is better. |
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How do you celebrate Diwali? During Diwali, during the first evening all the families go to their terraces and throw walnuts from the roofs to distribute them amongst the children. They collect as many as they can. On the second day the priest throws walnuts from the veranda of the temple into the courtyard. All the children jump up to collect them. They compete with one another as to how many each can collect. On the first day, ten walnuts are offered to the temple from every house. At night torches are lit and are played with by moving them in different directions. That day in the evening a long, thick rope is made and people play tug-of-war. Those who win dance to celebrate their victory. The whole village participates in it. Anuva is a delicacy, which is prepared in the same way as gujiya (stuffed sweet pastry). It is made up of jhangora flour. It is filled with walnuts, coconut, raisins. We also make chruda, musuve (pakoras made of urad pulse) |
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Do you carry some snacks with you when you have to go to the forest? Sometimes we do, sometimes we don't. |
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| Section 11 | How much time does your work take in the forest? We go in the morning after breakfast and come back in the evening around four to five o'clock. |
What trees are there in the forest? Bamboo, burans (rhododendron), ayar, churtha (?), angaroi (?), vanoi (?), visoi (?), suyanai (?), chukadghussa (?), kasmoi (?), hisoi (wild thorny shrub with edible fruits). |
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Are all these fodder trees? No, hisoi and kasmoi are wild shrubs. We eat their fruits. These shrubs have thorns. Then there is guriyal and khadik, which are used for making vegetables. These are trees. All the others are also trees. |
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Do you make use of leaves for preparing manure? Which leaves do you use? We use the leaves of banj (oak), burans and ayar. We use banj as fodder and it is best for burning wood. In our house we gather leaves for everyone collectively as well as separately. |
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Do you have snowfall here? Yes, we have a lot of snowfall. |
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I have not seen any rain here even in December. It is dry. Why? Earlier we used to have snowfall more frequently and in abundance but not anymore. |
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What do you think is the reason? The times have changed, people have changed, seasons have changed. |
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What is the condition of the forest? Were they dense before or are they so now? Earlier they were very dense, now they are less thick. |
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Why have they reduced now? The forests have been cut down. |
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How were they cut? We have cut them. When fuel for cooking is needed, trees are cut. Fodder for animals is also cut from the forests. Wet trees - that is green trees - are also cut when they become dry. |
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Is the chulu (apricot) tree used for any other purpose? The chulu tree is useful as wood when it dries up, but the oil of its seeds is very delicious. We take out oil from this tree. We also used to make oil from the seed of a wild shrub called bhemal bhainko but we do not make this oil now. |
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[Interview with Pushpa begins at this point:] |
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| Section 12 | Do you have a mid-wife here? Yes, Asuji Devi herself is a mid-wife. Whenever there is a delivery in the village, she goes. |
What kind of food is given to a new mother? We give her khindadi (flour mixed with boiling water jaggery and ghee) for about a month and a half. Now people have also started giving chapatis and khindadi alternately. They have also started giving halwa. |
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You have your folk dance and folk songs. What are the names of the dances and songs? Baju, jangu, tadankai, thandkya, anda-panda ka, arula, jinta, ransu, ghundaransu, chode. Ghundaransu is a dance form in which men and women dance together. Tadankai is also a dance in which women on one side and men on another side hold hands and dance in a circle to a particular beat. |
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Please sing something...... [Narrator sings.] This is the story of Ram and Lakshman. Ravan takes Sita away. Ravan's wife Mandodari tells Ravan to return Sita because she is a queen. Mandodari says to beware that they are two brothers. Ravan replies that they are only two, but I have a large army. They have an army of monkeys only. They will never be able to defeat me. |
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Who composed it? Whom did you hear it from? Oh, if people have heard the legend, they convert it into a song themselves. |
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Please sing some other chode (story about Gods), or some other song. This is not a chode, it is a baju (non-religious song). In this song a woman is singing on a mountain top saying, “I am cutting grass and there is someone nearby”. A voice comes from the other side saying, “I am Sadar syana”, and then they converse through songs. [Narrator sings a third chode, which tells the story of Krishna and Putara. This song is also recorded. At the end she says, quoting Ram, that Krishna is also another form of Ram.] |
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Do you have the pandav (the five warrior Princes of the Mahabharata) dance? Yes we do but much less now. There is another dance in which panyali dances. |
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Who is panyali? Panyali is a woman who puts a pot full of water on her head and dances. |
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I have heard the name of Lord Vijit. Who is this God? [Interviewer’s comment: They laugh and do not want to tell me because they feel it is useless. There are elders in the house who are educated, and retired persons. They now feel that it is superstition. The wife feels that there is such a God. I asked her whether it was true that if a woman was suspected to be a witch, and she was taken to this God, that she would walk on the sword if she was not a witch. If she was, she would not be able to do so, and she would apologise. His wife said yes, but the old man said that it was all superstition. The woman's name was Vardei, age around 60 years.] |
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| Section 13 | Interview ends |
Interviewer’s notes: 1. Khorky A round courtyard which has a thin, long and round stone in its centre. A small house stands next to the courtyard. This courtyard is called khorkyali and the house is called khaikudi. The agricultural produce is kept here and it is threshed in the courtyard. To save the grains from rain and storm, those, which are threshed, are placed inside the house. A one and a half foot wall surrounds the yard. The courtyard is made up of flat stones and plastered with cow-dung. It looks beautiful. It is made for a special purpose. Because of that there is no litter in the village at the time of harvesting. A khorkyali is made away from the village above the fields, in the centre. Everybody has their own khorkya/khorkyali and khaikudi. 2. Khoral - A place where a male goat is kept to fatten for the festival in the month of Magh (January-February). The goat is sacrificed on the 28th or 30th of Magh and on the same day another goat replaces it for the next year. It is fed lots of grains and grass. It is kept in darkness in a small room near the kitchen and never brought out. This room is made of wood without any light. The goat's excreta is deposited in the room below it. They say that such a goat has a lot of fat on it, which is why this is done. [To be checked]. 3. Houses here in Jaunsar have a special go-down underground. There is also a wooden warehouse, which is made above the ground like a small house with a special design and often decorated with carvings. It is found everywhere in hills and here too. But in the underground warehouse, the walls and floor are constructed below ground level. First the underground room is dug, and then the wooden floor and walls are fitted around. The room is divided into four or five parts with wooden planks. It is covered so neatly on top that the person sitting above is not aware that there is a warehouse below him. The lid is not very large. Since it is constructed with cedar wood, no pests can infest the grains. Thieves also do not come to know where the grains are stored. 4. On the first day of Diwali, walnuts are distributed around 5 'o' clock in the evening. All the villagers gather together and go to every house. One member of the family throws walnuts before the gathering and everyone scrambles to pick up as many as they can. It is a game. Though it is particularly meant for children, the elders also join in the fun. Sometimes a person can collect up to 100 walnuts. The temple priest also throws one sackful of walnuts from above and people dash to pick them up. Then a thick rope of grass is made which is held by people from two villages at each end and a game of tug of war ensues to see who can break the rope first. Aska is made on this day in which kauni, china and rice flour can be mixed. 5. A married woman cannot go inside the temple, only girls are allowed in. Only after sacrificing a goat, is a married woman permitted into the temple courtyard. Two types of goats are offered, one is for sacrifice and other is ghandua (the goat, which is not sacrificed, is called a ghandua). No one can kill these goats. They can wander around anywhere. If it eats the grain it cannot be pushed away because it is a sacred goat. |
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