Festival of Spring Sarhul

 

                                                The Festival of spring Sarhul.

 

There are many festivals and fairs of tribal’s in Jharkhand such as Sarhul, Karma, Jawa, Hul Puniya, Ropini,Bhagat Parv and another one called Jani Shikar in which women folk of the area dressed themselves as man and go for hunting small animals, birds into the jungle with traditional weapons and with great zeal.

The Sarhul festival celebrated by the Munda, Ho, Santhal and  Oraon tribes and it is celebrated at the beginning of first Hindi calendar of every year which generally falls on the third day of the moon or the fortnight of ‘Chaitra’. Being worshippers of nature they use to celebrate by worshipping trees and other elements of nature, whereas it is being celebrated as the festivals of flowers by the Santhals or “Baha Parab”.

                The Oraon tribe of Jharkhand celebrates it when the ‘Sal’ trees get new leaves and flowers because Sal flowers, Mahua used for worshipping the deities, so the Sal trees are of great importance in this festival. It is derived from Sar or Sarai or seed of Sal tree and ‘Hul’ called worship. This way it makes Sarhul. It is worshipped by the tribal because they believe that Goddess ‘Sarna’ protects them from all kinds of natural calamities and disasters. Goddess Sita and Lord Rama are also worshipped by Oroan tribe because they believe that Sita as Mother Nature. The priests or Pahans use to worship by keeping fast for two days and taking bath in the morning on festival day and then wear new cotton attire and worship under the Sal trees. He uses to measure water which is kept in earthen pot a day before and predicts about the oncoming season of good rain or famine. By sacrificing of young roosters of three colors for different tribal Gods. Then he use to do ‘Phool Khonsi’ at the roof of every house of tribal’s in the villages. After that he use to drink Hadia a locally made brew also called rice beer and then all the tribal’s use to take it and dance in very traditional way with Dhol, Nagara, Turhi whole day and night with new clothes on.

                Travelers from across the globe use to visit Jharkhand to witness the colorful festival of the eastern Indian state. If anybody wants to witness this colorful and vibrant festival then March is the best month as its celebrations start with the onset of spring and blooming of flowers, music and dance being the main attraction of this festival. It goes on weeks in this region of Chhotanagpur in Kolhan region which is called festival of flowers.

 

Ranchi at a glance-

State- Jharkhand,

Languages spoken- Hindi,Mundari, Asuri, Kurmali and English,

Altitude- 651 meters above sea level,

Winter temperature – 0 to 25 C

Summer temperature- 20 to 42 C

Best time to visit – October- May,

STD Code- 0651,

Major tourist attraction- Dasam waterfalls, Jonha waterfalls, Rock garden, Sun temple, Panchgagh falls, Hirni falls, Kanke dam, Patratu dam, Rukka dam, Pahari temple etc.

Major festivals- Sarhul, Karma, Durga puja, Holi, Chhath,Tusu parab, Ramnamvi and the most important Rath Yatra at Jagganathpur temple in the month of July.

Staying in Ranchi- Many hotels Ashoka, Blue Radisson, Capitol Hill, and budget hotels as OYO series accommodations, Maharaja are available.

Educational institutions-

 There are many prestigious schools here such as Jawahar Vidya Mandir Shyamli, DPS, Loreto Convent for girls,   Bishop Westcott for boys and girls and many DAV schools. And the most prestigious institute B.I.T. Mesra which produces engineers and management skilled persons only.

 

 

Text and Photo by- Ashok Karan,

ashokkaran@gmail.com

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