For as long as humans have existed, they have tried to forecast the weather, as knowing what lay in store allowed them to store food or move home-base accordingly. Given their coexistence with nature, most of these practices involve resources like water or animals and birds. Two rituals of the Sarhul festival—Hai-karkuma and Shakun-panni bring this out most aptly.
‘Hai’ and ‘Karkuma’ are Mundari words for fish and crab respectively, and the ritual begins on the first day of Sarhul festivities, termed ‘Upaas’. On this day, the village priest — called Pahan — fasts the entire day, and the village youth are sent out to catch freshwater crabs and fish.
“The crab figures in many of our creation myths. According to one, the crab was the first animal created by god Dharmesh. Other things in the world were later born out of the crab,” reveals Jaglal Pahan, the head-priest at Sarna Toli in the capital’s Hatma. A fourth generation Pahan, he is a librarian at Ranchi University, when not doing his religious duties. “Another legend states that the first man was born out of a fish, and finding no place to go, he took shelter in a crab’s hole, which nurtured him,” he added. Interestingly, only young men are allowed to fish. Elderly men can go only if there are no young men in their family.
However, finding crabs is tough, especially in the early summer heat. “This year, the crabs are very small, maybe because the heat has come early,” said Jaglal, displaying two angrily clawing members of his catch. The best places to find crabs, he reveals, are deep under the ‘medh’ or embankments around open paddy fields, where the excess water pools; or the tall paddy tillers in shady areas near forests, which give crabs a good niche nutritionally and physically.
Their ritual use is made the next morning, during the household puja. “The crabs are hung by a piece of string at the worship site in each house, while the offerings of flowers and seven new fruits are made to the deity. They are later powdered and mixed with the seeds, which are sown in the field after purification with cow dung and water. It is said that the crab powder makes the lands fertile,” says Jaglal.
And while there is no limit on the number of crabs caught, and the bigger it is, the better; two strict conditions apply. “When the crabs are hung, one should be male and the other female. Also their claws or digits shouldn’t be damaged or missing,” stresses Jaglal.
Second day is the main day of festivities, but its most waited rituals kick-off in the night of Upaas. The Pahan and his assistant Pujari fetch clean water from a nearby source of water in two new earthen pots and keep them under the Sal tree. Known as Shakun-panni, the potsare guarded throughout the night, and after the main worship in the village congregation, the Pahan checks the vessels’ water-level late in the evening.
“As per our tribal beliefs, if the water level is unchanged, risen or barely fallen, it portends a good monsoon and good harvest. If the water level goes down, it indicates low rains,” says Jaglal. The pots also indicate the direction the rains will come from. “One pot is kept facing north and the other south. The pot with the higher water-level indicates that rains will come from that direction,” he adds.
Besides these divination rites, some village priests put a few rice grains on a hen’s head. Prosperity is predicted if the hen eats the grains after they fall to the ground, but if the hen does not eat it is a bad omen.
And despite their quaint nature, the predictions are taken quite seriously by the tribals, even in urban areas. As Jaglal’s neighbour Sabita Oraon stated, “Pahan has not gone wrong for so many years, nor did his forefathers. They have known the spirit world for ages, so we cannot disregard his words.”