Karam Puja declared holiday for Adivasis

KalimNews, Kalimpong, 20 August 2014: On the occasion of Karam Puja a ceremonial festival of the Adivasi Tribals 5th September is declared as sectional holiday. 

Audit Branch of the Finance Department of the Government of West Bengal vide memo no: 4219-F(P) dated: 13.8.2014 has notified and declared the holiday. 

In the said order it is stated that in continuation of this Department Notification’s No. 8004-F(P), dated 28th October, 2013 the Governor is pleased to declare 5th September, 2014 as a Sectional Holiday on account of ‘Karam Puja’ for the employees belonging to Tribal communities employed in State Government Offices, Local Bodies, Statutory Bodies, Board, Corporations and Undertaking controlled or owned by State Government Educational Institution etc. all over the State.

In Jharkhand Karma puja,a popular festival of Adivasis is declared as a Gazetted Holiday.It is a festival celebrated by the Oraon, Baiga, Binjhwari and Majhwar tribes of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh, Bihar and Madhya Pradesh and other states.

The name Karma is drawn from the name of a tree “Karam”. The branch of the Karam tree is carried by the Karma dancers and is passed among them with singing and dancing. This branch is washed with milk and rice beer locally known as Handia. Then it is raised in the middle of the dancing arena.

All worshipers dance for whole night in the praise of the “Karam”. The ritual starts with the planting of the trees. The dancers form a circle and dance with their arms around each other dancer’s waists.

On this day people go in the forest to collect fruits and flowers, and they worship Karma Devta,a goddess who is represented with a branch of karam tree. The branches are garlanded on the next day. Offerings of flowers, rice and curd are made to them. Red colored baskets filled with grains are placed before the branches. Barley seedlings are distributed among the young people, who wear it on their heads. The branches are worshiped and their blessings sought. As per the legends of Karam Devi, she is believed to be the goddess of wealth and children.

During the dance they pass the branch of the tree, the men leap forward to a rapid roll of drums, while women dance with their feet moving in perfect rhythm to and fro.

The legend behind the festival, according to anthropologists, is as follows: Once upon a time there were seven brothers. They were busy in agriculture work. They had no time even for lunch and as such their wives used to carry lunch to the field daily. Once it so happened that their wives did not bring the lunch for them. They were hungry. In the evening they returned home without food and found that their wives were dancing and singing near a branch of the karam tree in the court yard. This made them angry and one of them lost temper. He snatched the karam branch and threw it into the river. The Karam deity was thus insulted as a result of which the economic condition of their family went on deteriorating. They were starving.

One day a Brahman(priest) came to them. The seven brothers narrated the whole story. On hearing it, the Brahman told them that the Karam Rani was angry and she must be appeased. If it was not done their condition would further deteriorate, the Brahman told them. The seven brothers then left the village in search of the Karam Rani. They kept on moving from place to place and one day they found the tree. Subsequently, they worshiped the it. Thereafter their economic condition started improving.

Since the entire economy of the Adivasis is dependent on land, water and forest, trees that sustain the environment must be worshiped. Karma Dance is also one of the oldest dance form in India. This dance form is common to the many ethnic groups of India.