Lucknow, July 9 (Inditop.com) It is not about colours, but cow dung and unseasonal Holi. Residents of a village in Uttar Pradesh daub cow dung on one another in this Holi that is believed to appease the rain gods.
Fervently praying for revival of monsoon, residents of the Naglarajan village in Farrukhabad district are daubing one another with cow dung, playing the “Gobar Holi”.
“The custom of playing Holi with cow dung is being practised in the village since ages to ensure rainfall,” Sontara, a woman resident, told IANS over telephone from Farrukhabad, about 200-km from this state capital.
Though anyone can participate in the age-old custom, young woman are preferred to carry out the ritual in the belief that they stand a better chance to appease Indra, the rain god, than others, she added.
According to the villagers, women sit in fields around baskets filled with cow dung and offer prayers to the rain god. After the prayers, they place the baskets on their head and start throwing cow dung on one another.
The average district wise rainfall in Uttar Pradesh from June 1 to July 6 has been 44.4 mm. Situation has been worse in western Uttar Pradesh where average rain in the same period has been 76 per cent below normal.
The state meteorological department has forecast revival of monsoon in the next six to seven days.
“Possibilities of widespread rains are bleak, but upper air-cyclonic circulation can cause thunder showers in many parts of eastern Uttar Pradesh,” said meteorological office director J.P. Gupta.
