Childless pray to Ethmasarpen

Childless Adivasi couples and newly married are making a beeline to the Ethmasarpen during the Gussadi festival with a prayer seeking children.Their prayers are heard, they would name their children after Ethmasarpen.

Gussadi caps made of peacock feathers, traditional musical instruments such as  Thudum, Dappu, Vetti, Parra, Peti, Gummela and Kodal to be used in Gussadi- Dandari, Kolatam dances, Tamasha ( skits) together are called Ethmasarpen.

Padmalpurikako temple, which is considered to be the birthplace of Ethmsarpen, is located on the banks of river Godavari at Gudirevu in Dandepalli mandal in Mancherial district. Adivasis perform special pujas to the Ethmasarpen at Padmalpurikako temple.

Couples blessed with child pray to Ethmasarpen by laying their newborns in front of the Gussadi caps and musical instruments that are Ethmasarpen.

Name Ethma Bai and Ethmarao are commonly among the Adivasis, which came into existence with the tradition to name children after Ethmasarpen.

The Adivasis couple blessed with the child fulfill their vow to the Ethmasarpen during the Gussadi or Dandari festival they celebrate in connection with the Diwali, Adivasi leader Sidam Shambu of Mthdiguda  in Utnoor mandal said.

The couple blessed with child celebrates the Gussadi or Dandari with much enthusiasm, devotion by keeping faith in Ethmasarpen.

Sidam Sudhakar of Mathadiguda said ‘they were blessed with male baby by Ethmasarpen in October 2015 and added that Ethmasarpen is powerful God.

Generally, the Gussadi or Dandari will be organized by the local village Patel ( headman of the Adivasi gudem) and arrange the feast for the villagers  and bear the expenditure incur for the celebration.

A goat or hens will be sacrificed to appease the Ethmasarpen r as part of the fulfilling the vows by the villagers during the Gussadi or Dandari festival.  

Safe drinking water a luxury

Atram Pullabai of Chapral

Drinking safe water (borewell) is cause for celebration for the Adivasis of interior areas where there is a drastic fall in the ground water table due to successive droughts in the Adilabad district.

The ground water table has gone down 7.81 meters in November, 2015 when compared to 7.16 meters in the corresponding period of 2014. It means -0.65 meters water table was depleted in the Adilabad district.    

Adivasis are now fetching water from streams, rivulets and drinking wells by walking long distances and majority of these water sources are on the verge of drying up while majority of bore wells were already dry in the district.    

People in general and Adivasis in particular have already experiencing severe drinking water shortage due to prolonged drought conditions in the district and this situation may become worst as summer fast approach.

On the other hand, most of the drinking water schemes have become defunct in the villages and Adivasi gudems due to minor repairs and drinking polluted water causing health problems for the people.      

Adivasis of a few interior gudems like Chapral save water available in the lone borewell fixed with a tap which gives only three buckets of waters every and they extract water one in a while from that borewell to offer that water to relatives when they visit their village or during the festivals. 

The remaining days, Adivasis of village drink muddy water fetched from streams and rivulets. Chapral village is just 7 km from Utnoor headquarters and ITDA office. 

Atram Pullabai of Chapral in Utnoor mandal said ‘villagers are collecting water from deserted well and also local streams and rivulets and using the same water drinking and bathing purposes’.

‘Every day she could hardly fetch only three buckets of water from the local stream and there is huge demand for this water as most of the villagers depend on the same stream and have to put their buckets in a queue waiting for their turn for hours together’, she said.

Mesram Nagorao of the Chapral said ‘they hardly get two or three buckets of water every day from lone borewell tap as ground water table gone down deep due to prolonged drought conditions. They take water once in a week from borewell to give water to their relatives when visit their village or use the borewells water during the festivals and any other celebrations’.He said they used the water collected from the borewell tap during Gussadi festival recently. 

For the last few days the borewell motor is not operational as the electric wire got damaged and few villagers got low level electric shocks while collecting water from the tap and children are at great risk.

ITDA staff fixed the inadequate electric wire and connected to electric motor. Villagers removed the electric wire from the tap to avoid incidents of electric shocks as children were playing around the tap’, said Nagorao.   

Adivasi Gussadi troops act as a traditional matrimony festival

Adivasi youth dressed like 'Poral' and 'Kodal' in Gussadi dance  

Dandari / Gussadi festival which is popular for Gussadi dance is going on with Adivasi traditions and customs in connection with Diwali and the Adivasis are celebrating the event with Gussadi and Dhimsa dances for the last few days in the Adilabad district of Telangana.

The dandari/ Gussadi festival will come to an end with the Kolabodi puja two days after Diwali.

Gussadis also act as a traditional matrimony to fix the matches for prospective brides and grooms in their gudems. Villagers will inquire with the Gussadis about the prevailing conditions in their village and also details about prospective brides and grooms in their village.

During the Gussadi / Dandari dance event, some Adivasi girls get attracted to some Adivasi youth with their impressive Gussadi dance and some other times girls and boys who attend the event also fall in love or become friends and that leads to their marriage. 

That is how the Adivasi parents fix matches for their children who were prospective brides and grooms for marriage.

Adilabad MP Godam Nagesh said Gussadi / Dandari troops’ visit to other villages will also act as a traditional matrimony for the prospective Adivasi brides and grooms and observed that sometimes dance connects young people also.

     

One can see Gussadi troops, wearing head gear made of peacock feathers, going from one village to another as part of their tradition being practice from time immemorial to keep the relations intact with their fellow Adivasis lives in other Gudems.

Gussadi dance has become a symbol to Adivasi culture and their connection with the nature including forests and animals. In Gussadi dance, actions of the peacock, tiger and other animals will be performed.

It is tradition among the Adivasis that Gussadis troop will visit a particular Adivasi gudem during Gussadi / dandari festival and that villagers will reciprocate next year and this will go on to strengthen their relations. 

Adivasis seek state aid for Dandari fete

Severe drought conditions and failure of crops forced the headmen and Sarpanches of the Adivasi gudems to approach the ITDA, Utnoor for the first time seeking financial assistance to celebrate their traditional Dandari festivities during Diwali in Adilabad of Telangana.

Adivasis claim that they are not in a position to celebrate Dandari due to failure of the crops and mounted debts and hence needed financial aid to celebrate the festival.

Headmen of the 130 Adivasi gudems had submitted petitions to the ITDA officials seeking sanction of funds to celebrate Dandari during Diwali, which is a major festival for Adivasis.

They have appealed to state government to sanction funds for them and make arrangements for the celebrations of the Dandari on the lines of Bathukamma for which the state government had made elaborate arrangements across the state.

The leaders claimed that they are forced to seek financial aid as they lost two crops and are unable to clear debts they took from the various sources.  

Dwindling forest cover : Adivasis purchase peacock feathers from other states

Instead of collecting them from jungles in the Adilabad district of Telangana, Adivasis these days are purchasing the peacock feathers from Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajastan and Chattisgarh states thanks to the fast depleting forests.

Adivasis use peacock feathers to make hats that are worn by Gussadis( Adivasis)  to perform the Gussadi dance as part of Dandari, celebrated for 15 days coinciding with Diwali.

In the Adilabad district, forest cover has come down to 20 percent from the 44 percent in the last 50 years due to various reasons including indiscriminate felling of trees, wood smuggling and penetration of non- tribals into tribal areas and expansion of small towns in the agency areas in the district. 

In the process, peacocks’population has also come down due to deforestation. Adivasis who used to collect peacock feathers from jungles these days purchases them at high prices.           

A single peacock feather sell for Rs 5 while a bundle for 100 comes for Rs 300. During Diwali, thanks to the demand, each feather sometimes sells for Rs 20.  comprising 100 peacock feathers sell for Rs 300 and each Rs 5.

Peacock feathers are also being collected from Zoos and peacock farms in other states. There are 10 shops in Jainoor selling peacock feathers and each shop will sell hundreds of bundles during the Diwali festival season.

Adivasis use to collect peacock feathers in the forests along with minor forest produce and some of the cattle grazers would also collect the feathers when they went to forest daily.

Abdul Khadir of Jainoor, owner of kirana shop that also stocks peacock feathers, said Adivasis were purchasing peacock feathers from their shops these days as finding them in jungles has become difficult due to drastic fall in the forest cover.

He added that that they have been selling peacock feathers during Diwali for the last 20 years. While earlier only a few bundles would be sold, now he sells hundreds of bundles. Khadir said they purchase peacock feathers in bulk from Rajastan, Madhya Pradesh, Chattisgarh and Gujarat.

Adivasi leader Kanaka Yadavrao appealed to the panchayat raj minister K. Taraka Ramarao at Jodeghat to ensure state funds to Gussadis to celebrate the event on the occasion of Diwali. 

No pushkaralu for Adivasis

Adivasis' wooden deities 

Despite being attachment to the river Godavari since a long time, Adivasis do not practice Godavari pushkaralu and will not take holy dip in the river Godavari as they have no such tradition.

However, Adivasis give bath popularly known as ‘Ganga Snan’ to the wooden idols of their traditional gods like Bheemanna, Jalli Devara and Nagoba in the river Godavari twice in a year.

Adivasi leader Sidam Shambu said, “We do not observe Godavari pushkaralu. We have our own set of customers and traditions on various occasion”.

They Adivasis take their traditional gods in a procession to give them bath at identified local streams and also some places at river Godavari.

“It is must for the Adivasis to take dip in the water along with their gods to purify themselves (Shuddi)”, Sidam Shambu said, adding that they will give bath to their traditional gods in Pushyamas and Vaishakam’.

He said they too do Pindapradan called ‘Thoomu’ to their ancestors and forefathers while giving bath to their gods.

There is a tradition among the Adivasis that they equate their elders who died, to that of gods, by performing rituals in their names on the occasion of giving bath to their gods. This traditional is called ‘Karun’ merging the elders who died into their gods.

Adivasis give bath to their traditional gods at ‘Padmalpuri Kako’ at Rampur in Dandepali, considered to be a sacred place as they believe it was a birth place of Adivasi dance ‘Dandari’  to be performed by the Gussadis on the occasion of Diwali.

Another place was Kalamadugu in Jannaram mandal on the banks of river Godavari. The ‘Kattodas’, traditional priests of Adivasis, will perform rituals. Various clans like Atram, Nitham, Sidam, Mesram among the Gods will perform their traditional rituals to their specific gods.