The festival of nature, Sarhul was celebrated with utmost enthusiasm in the capital on Sunday.
Tribal people of different walks of life, who worship nature, participated in colourful processions organised in different parts of Ranchi before finally converging at Siramtoli Chowk and alter to the Albert Ekka chowk.
Chief Minister Raghubar Das also participated in the celebration. He waved at and greeted the people after the ‘phul khosi’ from the stage. The Chief Minister spent time watching the dancing groups. He later played the ‘mandar’, danced on the tunes and addressed people with message of ‘Johar’ and Happy Sarhul’ at Albert Ekka Chowk. To add to the excitement there was a sprinkling of flowers by helicopters at Albert Ekka Chowk.
Governor Draupadi Murmu also took part in the celebration at Siramtoli and danced with locals on the tunes of Mandar. In her message she said the people should get ready to protect their place of worship, ‘Sarna Sthal’.
Banner depicting demand for a separate Sarna code was easily visible while Sarna flags were hoisted in large numbers all over the city.
Groups reached the chowk, dancing to the tunes of their traditional drums, the ‘mandar’ and ‘nagara’. Men in some of the groups wore yellow coloured turban and thus made a glittering folk look. Women in their red bordered white sari danced with immense glee holding each other’s hands.
Decoration of flowers in all possible places looked beautiful.
Inspite of the place being densely crowded and full of vehicles, there was a lot of discipline with which people marched towards the chowk. High volume amplifiers and speakers were used for modern Nagpuri songs.
The whole chowk looked much more occupied with the celebrations later in the evening.
There were counters by voluntary organisations providing them free refreshments. The police were also on their toes to avoid any untoward incidents.
The onlookers enjoyed the dance to the rhythm in the peculiar style that is seen every year. “The beat of the ‘mandar’ is irresistible, and thus compels one to dance,” said one person.
The problems of the tribal people also get highlighted.
Moreover the festival also provided a chance to the political parties such as the JMM, the BJP and others to greet the gathering with ‘happy sarhul’ message from highly raised platforms at the Alber Ekka Chowk.
At the same time, the processions caused a lot of inconvenience to commuters as the auto-rickshaw closed their services due to heavy rush.
At another function at tribal students’ hostel, Karamtoli in the morning there was a large gathering to witness the ceremony of worship by the ‘Pahans’.
Three sacrifices are made to three different Gods in order to keep away from their wrath.
Mayor of Ranchi was also present and she on her speech encouraged the students to stick to the tradition and work hard in their lives. Other speakers at the function greeted the gathering with good prospects in their lives.