By IANS,
Lucknow : Marriages of frogs are being conducted, women folk are harnessing themselves to the yoke to plough the fields, and children are ritualistically rolling on the ground. In the large parched swathes of Uttar Pradesh, people are resorting to every known rite and ritual to invoke the rain gods.
In Varanasi, where the mercury has already breached the 40 degrees Celsius mark, villagers performed the wedding of frogs to usher in the delayed monsoon.
“The wedding of frogs at the Dasaswamedh Ghat took place Wednesday as per Hindu customs,” said Dev Raj Sharma, the priest who solemnised the marriage.
A traditional belief has it that if frogs are married according to Hindu rituals, the rain god is appeased and rainfall takes place within days, the priest added.
In Allahabad district’s Kharkahuni village, the women have undertaken the ‘ploughing ritual’ to usher in the delayed rains.
“In groups we perform the ritual. It all starts with songs that are dedicated to Indra Dev (the rain god). Once the songs are over, we carry the plough on our back and move through the fields,” Ramadae, a woman in the village, told IANS.
The septuagenarian woman recalls that decades ago the ploughing ritual was performed by women folk in a different manner.
“While the ceremonies associated with the ritual are more or less the same, earlier women would plough fields during the midnight hours and that too without clothes,” she recalled.
However, as time passed women altered the tradition and started wearing clothes for ploughing fields, she added.
Similarly, Manpur village in Sitapur district, children have been drafted to appease the rain god.
Village elders make children roll over on the ground, and while they do so women sprinkle water on them.
“In this village, the practice is being followed for the last several years. We believe the rolling of children pleases Indra Dev, who will then bless us with showers,” said Jugari Lal, a village farmer.
According to officials, the monsoon currents are moving slowly towards Uttar Pradesh. Based on earlier calculations, the Met Office had forecast that the monsoon would arrive in the state by June 26. But now weatherman says rains will be delayed till at least June 30.
Probably until then, weddings of frogs or women substituting bullocks to plough the fields would keep the people busy in the hope of welcome rains.