BioFest- Indian festivals and Biodiversity Part I

Biodiversity and Indian culture both of them share a common thing i.e., their vulnerability to changing world, both of them need to be conserve in their field, while the biodiversity of the planet has a great international importance, the latter has a great importance for Indians and people indulge in cultural studies.

Both Indian culture and biodiversity need conservation to an extent as both are being affected by modernization and greed-based development. Biodiversity conservation is one of the hottest topics running around the globe, and to protect biodiversity many conventions and laws are enacted on several occasions, but the real protection of the biodiversity is in the hands of society and if the society is aware or has some emotions to protect it then the conservation can become successful.
Similarly, the fast-progressing time has somehow made the current and the elder generation oblivion of their regional cultures and therefore a need has arrived to develop Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) site to educate the generations their own history and culture. Currently India has 14 ICH (UNESCO).

Indian festivals are mirrors of Indian philosophy and culture, they show how our ancestral values are deep rooted with nature. Worshipping nature is an unseparated part of Indian Culture. Beside their relation to society and rituals, there are many festivals in Indian culture which have good scientific explanation and logic to follow them, also if we remove the pseudo-science from them there are many rituals and festivals left to be followed logically for the betterment of society and nature. Taking help of festivals and cultures to protect biodiversity can be beneficial as they are deep rooted in society, and people also has some emotional attachment to them. Some festivals and rituals directly or indirectly promote biodiversity and nature conservation, so by promoting and putting some green changes in them, can make our most of the conservation programmes successful. To denote such festivals some people call them BioFest i.e., those festivals which celebrate nature and its elements, like particular plants and animals. The following chapter is focused on those BioFests which celebrates non-agricultural plants and animals.

BIOFESTS OF INDIA

The relation of Indian festivals and biodiversity conservation can be viewed by two ways or we can categorise our Indian festivals/rituals in two types of BioFests. The first category includes direct biodiversity conservation as an integral part of the festival or rituals which can also be called as Major BioFest, and the second category include indirect biodiversity conservation due to the ritual or festivals’ process which can also be called as Minor BioFest.

MAJOR BIOFEST OR FESTIVAL/RITUAL FOR BIODIVERSITY

India has a large number of festivals for different occasions sometimes they are to appease some deity, sometimes to celebrate a historical moment or sometimes to celebrate the patterns of nature. In the long list of these Indian festivals there are some festivals which are completely devoted to nature and its elements. The first category of Indian BioFests includes those completely nature devoted festivals and rituals.
In the first category we can include those festival which are directly linked to nature and its elements. It includes worshipping those plants and animals which are sacred and the whole festival or ritual won’t be completed without their presence which in itself made it compulsory for the society or at least to people of the faith to conserve them for future. It can also be possible that the ancient Indian philosophers had knowingly inserted these festivals to protect those particular species by seeing their vulnerability to extinction, and it can be confirmed by seeing the various Maharishis’ work related to those species which were not directly related to human economy and society specially plants for example Maharishi Parashara’s Vrksha Ayurveda. Also, the Brhat Parashar Smrti (10.379) admonishes in this context: He who plants and nurtures the following trees will never see hell: one each of the holy fig (pipal), margosa (neem) and banyan (bargad), ten tamarind trees and three each of wood apple, the holy bel, myrobalan and five mango trees.
The list of first category of Indian BioFest includes many festivals and rituals, following is the list of some most known of them: –

Phool Dei in Uttarakhand: – Festival of flowers where, children give flowers to people.

Aavla Ekadashi Vratam: – Celebration Day for Aavala tree (Indian gooseberry)

Ashoka Pratipada: – Celebration Day for Ashoka tree (Saraca asoca)

Maa Shitalaa Puja in North India: – Celebration Day for Goddess Shitalaa and Neem tree (Azadirachta indica)

Sarhul in Jharkhand: – Sarhul festival is celebrated when Saal trees get new leaves and flowers. They do not start eating any fruit, flower or paddy in this season

Puli Kali in Kerala: – Pulikkali is a recreational folk art performed during Onam

Naag Panchami: – Celebration Day for snakes either through idol or live snakes

Waghbaras in Maharashtra: – Carnivalesque gathering that goes on through the night to pray and appease the benevolent spirit of Waghdev (leopards and tigers).

Tihar during Deepawali festive: – Festival celebrated in Himalayan states for five days with worshipping crows, dogs, cows, and bulls

Chelina Jatre in Karnataka: – Festival of worshipping scorpions

Vat Purnima: – Celebration Day for Vat tree (Ficus benghalensis)

Mithun Sankranti: – Celebration Day for mother earth

Shat-tila Ekadashi: – Celebration Day for Sesame

Vasant Panchami: – Celebration Day for Spring arrival

Bail Pola in Central India: – Celebration Day for Ox

Bishnoi Sthapana Divash: – Celebrated as establishment day of Bishnoi Community of Rajasthan with spreading awareness regarding the 29 principles of love and compassion of the sect.

Bathukamma in Telangana: – Festival of flowers, where flowers are offered to ponds.

The festival of Phool Dei is celebrated in the Garhwal and Kumaun regions of Uttarakhand every year in the flowering season (March-April) for about a month. Children go into farms, forests and gardens and collect fresh flowers to offer to the local deities and then to the doorsteps of each home as a welcome gesture for the onset of spring season. The local belief is that placing flowers at the doorsteps of houses for the gods will bring prosperity and blessings. The groups of children, known as Phoolyari, bring flowers daily to the households and receive money and sweets in return from each family on the last day of spring. The celebration of Phool Dei indirectly rooted a sense of affection and protection towards nature, especially local flowers and trees, in people, especially children minds.

The Waghbaras festival has special importance for Indian biodiversity conservation programme regarding its relation to one of the keystone species of India, the Leopards. Waghbaras or Vaagh Baras is celebrated in Gujarat and Maharashtra a day before Dhanteras. It is an important day when cattle and calves are worshipped and fed with wheat products. The Waghbaras is the special day for the Warli tribe of Maharashtra. Rituals and offerings are a crucial part of Waghoba (Leopard and tigers) worship, which materialises during the annual Waghbaras festival. The Warlis and people of other tribes worship the Waghoba for protection from diseases, calamities and big cats (they believe that the wagh or leopard is the “king of the jungle”, and it would protect them when they roam forests).

Similarly, Naaga Panchami, the popular Hindu festival, falls on the fifth day of the bright half of Shravan month of Indian calendar (on August 4 this year). People worship the snake or Naag on this day. But the people of Kandakoor village, about 20 kms from Yadgir, Karnataka worship the idol of a scorpion and play with scorpions too by the name of Chelina Jatre. Worshipping scorpions or an idol of a scorpion is very uncommon in the state. On the festive day people trek up the hill, singing folk songs. They then gather and worship Kondammai and a statue of a snake. After this begins the bizarre ritual of hunting for scorpions. the villagers and devotes, including children, sing songs, pray to the deity and then begin searching for scorpions beneath boulders and rocks on the hill. After playing with the scorpions, the villagers bring them to the temple and place them before the deity. They then offer saree, oil and coconut to the deity, pray to it and then start their descent. Scorpions generally are shy creatures and they scurry away to the safety of a nook or corner. They rarely sting unless they are touched. But in this case, they neither flee from human touch nor do they sting. So far, there has not been a single case of scorpion bite on this day.
Chelina Jatre is not only a unique and fascinating festival, it also makes an incredible relation between humans and some of the venomous creatures of the earth. Surely it decreases the inbred fear of scorpions – snakes, makes people to see the life in another way and make them realise that how there are many creatures living on our planet sharing it with us.

The list of Indian Major BioFest is very long considering that there are many plants and animals sacred in India and there is always a specific day and festival devoted to worship them. The list of Indian sacred plants and animals is uncountable due to its bio-ethnic-diversity and so the list of these festivals and rituals.

… To be continued

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