News in Marcos: Patalkot sentences

PAtalkot, a remote valley located near Tamiya in the Chhindwara district of Madhya Pradesh, is not only an intact paradise for nature enthusiasts, but also a sacred land full of ancient traditions. Hogar of indigenous tribes, including the Bhariya, Gond and several other tribal communities, the valley has long been a place where traditions have been transmitted.

Among these traditions are the vital and cultural spiritual rituals practiced by the Bhariya and Gond tribes, El Ganga Pujan and Beedari Puja.

Ganga Pujan is a ceremonial rite made to honor and elevate the members of the deceased family to the state of deities. After a family member dies, a special ceremony is held where villagers, together with the Ojha (spiritual healer) and Gunia (Traditional priest), meet to carve sacred symbols in stones. These stones are placed in a sacred place where prayers are offered to the ganges.

Beedari Puja is a ritual of harvest and fertility. During this ceremony, both men and women from the community prepare traditional dishes and take them to the temple of the town or the designated prayer site, accompanied by bamboo baskets covered with clay.

These baskets contain several seeds of their homemade grain reserves (corn, millet, finger and sorghum, which are essential for their agricultural practices. The seeds are blessed during the ceremony and then are distributed among the villagers in small -leaf packages. Each family mixes the seeds blessed with theirs, symbolizing the exchange of blessings for a fruitful harvest.

Both the bargain pujan and the Beedari Puja serve as deep expressions of the deep respect of the tribes by nature, their ancestors and the divine forces that govern the cycles of life and nature.

These rituals not only preserve the spiritual traditions of the Bhariya and Gond tribes, but also reflect their agricultural knowledge and their reverence for the environment.

Photo: Am Faruqui

Precious offers: the women and men of the tribal communities of Bhariya and Gond bring homemade dishes and bamboo baskets covered with clay for the Beedari bid. The baskets contain seeds of their personal grain reserves aimed at sowing in the fields.

Photo: Am Faruqui

Sacred seeds: small sheets of leaves with seeds are distributed to men, which will mix them with the seeds brought by them, for a blessed and generous harvest.

Photo: Am Faruqui

Unity in tradition: tribal women who walk together in devotion to the bargain ceremony pujan, honoring their ancestral traditions with unity and reverence.

Photo: Am Faruqui

The heads leaned: the members of Gond Tribal carry out the final rite of offering land after the last rituals of the bargain ceremony they bid to honor the deceased.