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2 The Folk Goddess Tushu, Her Festival, Songs, and Brata One important aspect of Bengali folk religion is the prominence of festivals, or melas. Festivals are widespread in village Bengal and frequently involve music, songs, dance, worship of a natural object or sculptured image, and the sale of a variety of goods (food, garlands of ×owers, worship items, plastic kitchen utensils). Some festivals are dedicated to gurus and saints, and there are usually pictures or posters with their images. During the bigger festivals, which are usually goddess pu – ja – s (such as Durga Puja and Kali Puja) there will often be clay statues of the goddess available. These often portray the goddess in mythological roles and accompanied by associates and mounts (va – hanas). One example of a festival in folk Hinduism to a local goddess is the Tushu festival, which is full of song and story. The major ritual of the festival is a procession involving symbols of the goddess (special rice balls), which are carried in paper chariots to the Suvarnarekha River and represent the return of the goddess Tushu to her husband, who lives beneath the waters. Tushu is compared to a daughter who visits her parents once a year and then returns to her home with her husband. Tushu is an example of a goddess worshiped by both tribal and folk Hindu groups. Her major worship occurs during her yearly festival, and she is worshiped by people living in the western area of West Bengal, the eastern area of Bihar, and some portions of Orissa and Madhya Pradesh. According to anthropologists interviewed , it is “the most important village festival in West Bengal,”1 and “along with the Bhadu festival, it is the largest village goddess festival in West Bengal.”2 The writer Kisalaya Thakur stated, “the most widespread and enthusiastic festival in the villages is Tushu,”3 the anthropologist P. K. Bhowmick has called it “perhaps the most popular festival of the masses,”4 and ethnomusicologist Suhrid K. Bhowmik has called it “the most popular folk festival of the southwest frontier of Greater Bengal.”5 The festival is seasonal; it begins on the last day of the month of Agrahayan (about mid-December) and continues on through the whole month of Paush (until mid-January). It celebrates the end of harvest time, the relaxation after hard work, and it also ends the tribal year. It is celebrated by a variety of village and tribal peoples along the eastern part of the Jharkhand belt sometimes known as 13 Frontier Bengal, which includes Purulia, Bankura, and Midnapore districts. Tushu is an important goddess of the Jharkhand people, who have recently created their own state in India, called Jharkhand. Many songs are sung every evening throughout the month of Paush to Tushu. Some people say that the songs are sung to awaken her, and others say that the songs are to please her so that the next year will be fruitful. Tushu is welcomed with song and dance during periods of rest and also during various household chores and other work. However, the climax of the festival is during the µnal three days of the month of Paush. According to practitioners in Purulia, on the µrst of these three days, the protectress of seeds is worshiped, whose name is Chauri. She is associated with the goddess Chandi and also with Rohini, the woman who (according to Jharkhand tradition) discovered the µrst seed. She saw the seed on a hill slope, took soil with the seed, and grew the µrst cultivated plant. She is worshiped as a bud· i – (ancestress) for this act, and called the matrika (mother) of seeds. On this day, all the rice on the farm should be brought to the family house. On the next day, small bundles of grain are made for the next year’s crops, and put into the granary. This day is sacred to Bauri. She is associated with the clear sky, the movement of the stars and moon, and the cosmos as a whole. She is also goddess of animal behavior (as it is in×uenced by the heavens), and on this day she ritually dwells in the storage bin with the grain. On Bauri day, the goddess’ chariot (chaudel) is purchased and two cowdung and rice balls put inside, representing the union of male and female qualities (cowdung is considered to be a good thing, for as fertilizer it encourages nature and growth). These balls have often been previously worshiped in...

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