Karma magnetises youth with ethnic touch

Vijay Deo Jha Ranchi Friday, September 12, 2008

Jubilation and festivity knew no bound on the occasion of Karma, a vital and vibrant youth festival. The young and colourful tribal boys and girls with loads of fun and frolic took on the roads of the town.

Their spirit refused to die and continued to dance and sing without any apparent note of fatigue.

Several places in Ranchi, noticeably in the Department of Tribal Language, Ranchi University; the occasion was celebrated with ethnic tribal touch. Chief Minister Shibu Soren, who had come to grace the occasion, could not stop from trying his hand on Mandar. Praising the nature for its bounty, Soren asked the devout revellers to stay in tune with the nature. Later, Soren along with Ram Dayal Munda, the former VC of RU and AA Khan, VC RU and several others joined the chorus.

To give Karma cultural splash, different organisations held procession which was joined by the youth at different parts of the town --- Siromtoli, Chadhri, Morahbadi and Gandhinagar.

The bands of youth in their traditional dress who were swaying and gyrating in consonance with tribal songs gave nostalgic d?cor to the entire moment. Not missing any chance to narrate the legends of Karam Devta, the God of Power, the tribal culture was at its best display with beats of Mandar and the clangs of cymbals. In fact, the tribal culture stands nowhere without its rich treasure of ebullient festivity.

Even when modern lifestyles have intruded the tribal culture of Jharkhand the festival was celebrated in its traditional style. Dipa, a young tribal girl from Gandhinagar, said she along with her friends culled the items required for Puja from a nearby forest. "We kept dancing and singing in group for the entire period," she said.

With the dawn of the day, the unmarried young tribal girls worshipped the Karma Tree keeping a small basket with germinating seeds of jawa as a mark of fertility and the bounty of nature. Java and wheat are germinated a few days earlier and the small plants are put in a small bamboo basket and placed before the branch of the Karam Tree, which represents Karam Deo. Celebrated on 11th moon day of the Hindu month Badhav, the tribal girls observe fast and offer green melons to the Karam deity as a symbol of "son" which reveals the primitive expectation of human being, i.e. grains and children.