In Telangana’s Nagoba Jatara, Hint of Change and Political Overtones

This time while rituals and other religious practices connected with the event remained the same, what was clearly visible was the character of the gathering and the shift to enhance its sanctity with holy methods of worship.

N. Rahul

The Nagoba jatara, one of the largest tribal fairs in the world, now underway at Keslapur village of Indravelli mandal in Adilabad district, Telangana has lost much of it’s sheen under the influence of cultural transformation but yet it is a big draw with people.

Traditionally, a festival of Gond clan of tribes dependent on forest, it is now owned up by plain area tribals and even Hindus.

The festival commences annually on Pushya Amavasya (new moon) which fell on February 9 this year. It lasts five days and Snake God is worshipped, the mythological divine force of the Raj Gonds, who considered the contiguous forest from then Madhya Pradesh, including the present day Chhattisgarh, down to Chandrapur in Maharashtra and Adilabad their fiefdom six centuries ago. But, it was only a century later that different mythological stories have traced the origin of the festival under the aegis of Mesram dynasty of Raj Gonds.

The customary practices

The rituals are held with an enormous snake inside a temple where members of Mesram dynasty alone are allowed to camp in make shift accommodation in the surroundings throughout the five days. Mythology has it that Nagoba who also went by the name Sesha Narayanamurthy appeared with hood open and danced from night fall to midnight on Pushya Amavasya. He drank milk offered by devotees and vanished. The moral of the story was that Nagoba shed light in the lives of devotees amidst pitch darkness caused by the new moon at his brief appearance. This was visible only to priests around.

The festivities commence on full moon, a fortnight earlier, with one hundred and ten members of Mesram dynasty fetching holy water from river Godavari that passes by Jannaram forest, 110 kilometres away. Clad in all white with turban on head, they walk barefoot with earthen pots in a single file through rocky terrain and woods. It is a visual treat to watch the long stretch of walkers trekking in tandem in the Kawal tiger reserve as the sun sets over the western horizon and the sylvan stillness is shattered by the soft rustling of leaves amidst breeze. They collect water from the river in pots after performing the pooja and walk back on the same route till Indravelli where they halt to worship at the temple of Indradevi, related to Nagoba, before commencing for the last leg of their journey up to Keslapur, accompanied with drum beats and a band.

The walkers change the route every year to reach out to a wider section of Gonds in a bid to unite the tribe. This year, they covered 28 interior tribal habitations and a dozen villages having road network in five mandals. The villagers served them food and provided night shelter in keeping with tradition. Simultaneously, a separate group of men in white carry out a publicity campaign riding in bullock carts in villages for a week to announce the upcoming festival.

The water from river is used to clean the shrine of Nagoba, the idol of deity and the surroundings. When the elaborate rituals begin after night fall, the newly wed bridal couples of Mesram dynasty who are married in the year gone by are introduced to each other formally. Then, the doors of the temple are thrown open to public. The rituals are conducted by members of Pradhan, priest group, while all other services in the festival are rendered by the Kollam and Thoti groups. The families of Mesram dynasty take turns to cook food for themselves in hearths within the compound of the temple while others have to fend outside.

The noticeable changes

There was no change in the rituals or other religious practices connected with the event but what was clearly visible was the character of gathering and the shift to enhance its sanctity with holy methods of worship. For instance, animal sacrifice which was part of the festival is now allowed at an isolated place away from the temple. The devotees are only allowed to break coconuts in front of the temple now as it is in the Hindu custom.

How the darbar started

According to V. N. V. K. Sastry, retired director of Tribal Cultural Research and Training Institute, the festival was interrupted only twice in its long history. The first setback was on account of the encounter killing of legendary Gond leader Komuram Bheem by the army of nizam in 1940. Komuram Bheem waged a war against the tyranny of Nizam who ruled Hyderabad State by mobilising tribals to demand forest rights. He raised the slogan “mava nate, mava raj” (our village, our rule) as he pioneered the jal, jangal, jameen struggle of tribals.

Realising the virtue in the demand, nizam sent one of his ministers of British origin to meet noted anthropologist Fredrick von Furer Haimendorf at Copenhagen to mediate in a bid to win the confidence of tribals. Haimendorf who had discontinued his research in the north east due to restrictions imposed by the second world war accepted the invitation of Nizam after the latter gave him a firm assurance that he will have a smooth going.

Haimendorf suggested the conduct of darbar on one of the days as part of Nagoba jatara to hear their problems and resolve them instantly. The darbar was launched in 1942 and continued till date to serve as a platform where officials from all government departments are present to interact with tribals.

In his book, The Tribes of India, Haimendorf noted the grouse of Gonds that their traditions were overtaken by modernity. He also discussed that the Gonds were unhappy over losing exclusive rights to the festival with the intervention of Hindu culture in the rituals.

The darbar was held on Monday, February 12 this time in the presence of tribal welfare minister Danasari Seethakka, local MLA Vedma Bojju, Adilabad collector Rahul Raj P. S., superintendent of police Ghouse Alam and in-charge project officer of Integrated Tribal Development Agency (ITDA) at Utnoor Khushboo Gupta.

The jatara was again disrupted after the infamous police firing on violent crowd at Indravelli in 1980. Thirteen people were killed in the incident by official count but unofficial figure was over a hundred. The incident took place at a meeting organised by the People’s War Group of Naxalites, the earlier name of CPI (Maoist), during a weekly shandy in the village.

After a couple of years, the government constituted a committee of officials headed by ITDA PO M. V. P. C. Sastry, which successfully won over the tribals from a situation where there was a total breakdown in government – public interface. There was both fear and anger among tribals, Sastry who was associated with the conduct of the jatara in the past said.

A tribal elder Thodsam Chandu pointed out that the darbar was reduced to another political platform for leaders to harangue speeches and there was no resolution of demands put forth by the participants. The infrastructure at the temple, however, has vastly developed.

Courtesy : The Wire

Note: This news piece was originally published in thewire.com and used purely for non-profit/non-commercial purposes exclusively for Human Right