Mohktur, or muhurtam in Telugu, is a special prayer that Adivasi Raj Gond farmers say to appease their land, bullocks and plough on a designated day in the first fortnight of June in anticipation of a timely monsoon. And timely rains, however, have seldom occurred in the recent years in the erstwhile Adilabad district throwing agriculture out of gear many a times.
Rain prediction
The customary puja, performed often in the recent times, is an indication of the climatic changes that are taking place both locally and globally. And it should be performed by every family in a given village. It is only after performing the mohktur puja that the farmers start sowing. Village elders fix a date to perform the puja and they predict the arrival of monsoon based on various aspects, including bird behaviour. “Whenever sparrows are not seen during the day, it is assumed that they have gone for a bath in the nearby stream which signals that rains will arrive soon,” said patel or headman of Chaupanguda village in Kerameri mandal in Kumram Bheem Asifabad district of an aspect of ethnic knowledge systems. A day before mohktur, the entire village performs vidri ceremony, which entails pooling seeds and redistributing them, usually a mix of indigenous varieties of jowar, maize and lentils, among all families at the village.
No outsider would be allowed to enter the village for a period of 24 hours from that evening as the Adivasis believe the former can take away their luck with them.
“Mohktur is performed early in the day and farmers sacrifice chicken and offer it as naivedyam with food cooked out of jowar and redgram lentils. After worshipping their land, bullocks and plough, we also place an egg on the opening of an anthill to appease ‘snake gods’ to spare those who till the field,” said farmer Athram Kusum Rao.
Community feasting
The event is performed by individual families in their respective fields where nivodh is partly eaten and the rest taken back home. The main events at the village include greeting each other and community feasting.
“Whatever is cooked as part of the festival by individuals is consumed by the entire village at community feasting,” Mr. Kusum Rao explained. An eco-friendly aspect of the exercise is the serving of meals on plates made out of moduga (Butea monosperma) leaves as these are the only ones that are mature around this time of the year with which plates can be made.