Kolam Dasara a unique tribal fete

About 10 per cent of Telangana’s demography is from tribal heritage

Though Dasara is a national festival, it has local variants across the country and so is it in Telangana, especially among tribals.

About 10 per cent of Telangana’s demography is from tribal heritage. Kolams are among one of the tribes belonging to the Particularly Vulnerable Tribal Group. They live along hill-slopes and forests in north Telangana and celebrate two types of festivals during Dasara – Ayyaak Dasara (celebrated at the place of their clan deities) and Oora Dasara (celebrated at the place of their village deity Nadidamma).

Ayyaak Dasara

Ayyaak is the supreme clan deity for Kolams. Each phratry/clan has a separate deity and the Kolams belonging to a particular clan celebrate Dasara at the place of their clan deity. There are four clans among Kolams – Naali Deyyaalker (4 deities clan), Aid Deyyaalker (5 deities clan), Aar Deyyaalker (6 deities clan) and Ed Deyyalker (7 deities clan). For instance, Kolams with initial Aathram belong to the Aar Deyyaalker clan; they go to Bheemayyaak temple at Danthanpally in Komaram Bheem Asifabad district the night before Dasara day.

They clean the premises of the temple (Guditekaan), wash the deity (Bheemayyaak) Gajaa (2 feet wooden poles with Lord Bheema’s motifs) and other sacred visora (things) – Saatl (whips), Ayye or Gurraa (terracotta horses treated to be Mothers), Bise Gund (sacred stones) – with Ganga Jal (water) from a nearby natural pond.

By the morning of Dasara day, all the Kolams belonging to a particular clan reach the temple of their clan deity. The women extract fresh sesame seeds (til) oil by using ‘gaana’ and prepare fresh sendur (vermilion) and dhoop (incense). Katudaak, the clan priest applies the fresh til oil (noone deetekad) to the visora – gajaa, saatl, ayye and bise gund and sprinkle the mix of til oil and sendur on the same visora.

There are three types of memorials placed at a distance to the temple in memory of deceased persons. They are: gundl (stones), gurraa (terracotta horses) and mundel (wooden shafts with tapering edges). The Katudaad will sprinkle the oil-sendur mix on these memorials also.

Raising Jendaa

The Kolams prepare a flag of white cloth of two feet in triangle shape, apply the oil-sendur mix in its centre in the shape of half moon (nela bottu), and tie erodi pootha (red cloth flower) at the end of the flag. Til oil and charcoal powder will be mixed and the left and right palms dipped in the mix will be stamped on both sides of the flag at a time. Once such flags are ready, people beat drums, Dol and Thudum, for a while. In response, a few get into a trance; they are called soopaari. They wave whips into the air for some time, tie the flags to wooden shafts and erect them near the memorial visora. If the soopaaris are young, they climb up the wooden poles and tie the flags on their upper edges with a special rope made of boyl creeper which is endangered now.

Sacrificial feast

The clan people collect Saaraa (contributions) among themselves and buy a goat. They worship their clan deity by breaking coconuts and showing roosters and the goat. The latter are sacrificed at the mundel after they are possessed by the God shedding the water smeared on them (jadpa). Their tharmud (lungs) will be fried and offered to the God immediately. Rest of the meat will be cooked and offered to the God together with bonam (fresh cooked rice), gaarelu, sweet atlu (pan cakes), ponna paanke (jowar rotis), thambaaku (tobacco pieces) and ippa kal (Mahua liquor).

The elder males belonging to the Aar Deyyaalker, for instance, six in number, will sit in front of the temple (Deyyaaletikan) in a circle and a few others will give them water (eer) to clean their hands, teak leaves (tek tegu) to spread out as plates and serve naivedyam already offered to the God. The elders flick the first fist of rice or other stuff beside themselves in honour of their predecessors and the deities and start eating chanting “Ram Ram”. The community feast ensues.

Those who have lost their relatives during the year are considered ceremonially polluted and hence not entitled to be served the sacred sacrificial food. Further, those who sacrifice roosters and goats at the memorial pillars of their predecessors are also not allowed to offer their food and cooked meat to the God, but they can have it separately. Some people prefer to consume liquor also, but a little.

Pleasure dances

By evening people start returning to their native places while, at some places, the youth, boys and girls, show enthusiasm to dance for sheer pleasure. While the Dasara special drum Dol is being beaten with a big stick at one side, the other side will be beaten with two small sticks. The style of beating of the Dol and the corresponding changes in the stepping patterns of the dancers triggers two types of dance forms called Demsa and Gero. The dancing girls form the inner circle and the boys the outer circle, holding each other’s hands. Both the genders sing folk (Rela) songs teasing each other alternatively. They also sing songs in honour of their deities – Naagoole, Bheemayyaak, Nadidi Amma, etc.

Oora Dasara

Every family belonging to all the clans in a Kolam settlement will gather at their village centre near the Goddess Nadidi Amma and celebrate Oora Dasara. The village elder/priest Delaak draws before the deity Nadidi Amma a rangoli called pattu with boxed lines using white, black, yellow and pink powder. A big pumpkin or two are decorated like a male goat. Poonji (jowar grainy floor) is poured before the pattu and then all the people prostrate before the Goddess seeking boons while the Randhalaak (village elder / priest) sacrifices the decorated pumpkin. The pumpkin pieces are cooked by the Randhalaak who offers the curry to the Goddess and serves villagers sitting in a circle.

Men and women form a circle holding hands and perform the Dandari dance to the tunes of Rela songs sung by the women.

Here is a song:
Rela relaa rerela rerela relaa rerelaa
Relaa rerela rerela relaa rerela
Edoho sandeeke andaave ‼ 4 ‼
Paaredi sandeeke andaave ‼ 4 ‼
Gondite lopaa taneeve andaave ‼ 4 ‼
Gondite lopaa gumpaaye andaade ‼ 4 ‼
Gumpaate lopaa taneede andaade ‼ 4 ‼
Gundaate lopaa naagoole andaade ‼ 4 ‼
Adnene mene entaadee andaade ‼ 4 ‼
Goduma pindida meneye andaade ‼ 4 ‼
Naarlee talye andaade naagoole ‼ 4 ‼
Adnene mukkeye entaade andaande ‼ 4 ‼
Tumkee panhe mukke andaande ‼ 4 ‼
Adnene palk entaave andaave ‼ 4 ‼
Biyyaamotaa palklaan andaave ‼ 4 ‼
Adnene kallye entaave andaave ‼ 4 ‼

Lendee pall kallye andaave ‼ 4 ‼
Rela relaa rerela rerela relaa rerelaa
Relaa rerela rerela relaa rerela
(Courtesy: Madavi Bheembai, Bheemangondi. The meaning of the song is in question and answer mode, as explained below by Athram Mothiram, Wankidi, KB Asifabad)

(There are seven long gullies in which there are seven caves. They sheltered a group of serpents. The skin of the cobra is shining like it is made of wheat flour, its head is like coconut, its nose is like tendu fruit, its teeth are like rice grains, and its eyes are like black jamun. (Like this, several animals are described in the songs).

Such song-oriented dances will go on for couple of hours or till the dancers are exhausted and retire to their homes in the night. Though this practice is not found among the Kolams of Adilabad, the Kolam Dasara in Asifabad reveals the roots of the festival which are basic and different from that of the other communities and villages in Telangana and beyond.

– Dr Dyavanapalli Satyanarayana
(Scholar specialised in Telangana history and culture)