KARAGA

KARAGA

Karaga, (karaga) (ಕರಗ) is an annual event that takes place in Bangalore and certain other places such as Malur, Hosakote and Kolar all in Kolar district. However, Bangalore Karaga has acquired a great reputation and is looked forward by most of the old timers in the city. Karaga has a wider spread in Tamilnadu and Andhrapradesh and even in Bangalore the lead role is played by communities which are conversant in Tamil. (Vahnikula Kshatriyaru, thigaLaru) Karaga ritual and festival are celebrated in various places in Tumakuru, Mysore, Chamarajanagara and Bangalore (Rural) districts also. Karaga is one of the oldest festivals in Karnataka and literary texts dating back to the tenth century make a mention of Karaga.

Karaga in Tamilnadu and some places of Karnataka is associated with Shaktidevatas in general. In Tamilnadu Mariyamma the Goddess of health and rains is the nucleus of Karaga dance. Karaga has three semantic connotations. Firstly, it is an annual ritual and worship. Secondly, it is a dance form which is performed by a devotee with a flower bedecked pot on his head. Thirdly, it is the name given to the vessel filled with water carried in a procession by the said performer. Karaga in Sanskrit literally means a vessel that holds water. Of course these three meanings are mingled with one another during the annual events.

But in Bangalore and many more places karaga is associated with Draupadi of Mahabharata. The rituals and the celebrations are linked with the tribulations undergone by Draupadi after the Great War and also on other occasions in her life. She creates a band of loyal supporters called ‘Veerakumaaras’ in order to protect herself from harassment by Timiraasura and others. They have remained loyal to her even to this day and for them Draupadi represents the most idealized form of womanhood. Thigalas constitute a community of horticulturalists well versed in Tamil. They must have migrated from Tamil speaking areas centuries ago. Many of them have settled down in and around the Dharmarayaswamy Temple in the heart of Bangalore city. (ThigaLara pETe) They are also found in the villages adjoining Bangalore. There are specific rituals associated with Karaga that are practiced with out let or hindrances from hundreds of years. The main features of Karaga are a ritual dance performed by a person who has earned that privilege by virtue of heredity. He carries the Karaga on his head and he is surrounded by a bare-breasted band of Veerakuamaras brandishing a sword in their hands. The Karaga is taken in a procession around the important streets of old Bangalore through out the night. The Karaga is worshipped by one and all irrespective of caste and creed. ” An eloquent testimony to the secular character of this festival is seen just before sunrise when the Karaga procession halts before the Dargah-e-Shariff of Hazrat Takwal Mastan, the 18^th century Muslim saint. According to legend, Mastan was once hurt when he rushed to have a glimpse of the Karaga procession. The temple priests applied kumkum (vermilion) to his wounds. An overjoyed Mastan prayed to Draupadi that the procession should halt at his dargah (grave) after his death. This tradition has been maintained over the years, giving a distinct secular flavour to the festival.”

Karaga itself is held on the full moon day of Chaitra the first month in the Indian calendar. However, the rituals associated with the karaga festival begin at least seven days in advance. On the first day a yellow flag is hoisted in the court yard of Dharmarayaswamy temple and this ‘dhvajArOhaNa’ heralds the launch of the festival season. The priests and the Veerakumaras put on the sacred thread on that day. Only they are entitled to worship the deity Draupadi from then onwards. The rituals that take place from the second day till the sixth day are totally confidential and the evening ‘aarathi’ that takes place at the shaktipeetha in the Cubbon Park and six other water tanks are the only events that is performed publicly.

‘Karaga’ is a clay pot filled with water. It is decorated with turmeric, vermillon powder and flowers. Flower garlands are made to hang from the top of the pot in a conical shape with the help of a contraption made of bamboo sticks. The responsibility of carrying the Karaga is given to a person who has inherited that right. Running in the streets with Karaga on one’s head is an act that demands lots of skill and dexterity. Actually the performer is in a trance like state and the devotees believe that he is possessed by super human powers during that period. ‘Hasi Karaga’ and ‘Pongalu Seve’ take place on the seventh and eighth days respectively. The procession takes place on the ninth day which also happens to be the full moon day. On the full moon day, the performer who is called ‘karagada guDDa’ is taken to a well and he is made to worship Ganga deity. He is dressed in a saree and is made to wear black bangles. The Karaga, with its bamboo cone and Jasmin decoration is worshipped and is placed on his head. He comes round the temple thrice behind the Veera Kumaras and then moves out in to the streets. The procession proceeds in the main roads of the town and visits many temples en route. Karaga carrier dances to the tune of percussion instruments such as ‘tamaTe’ and ‘halage’. After the procession is over the performers and the chariots of other Gods assemble in a field and the Karaga carrier exhibits many more skills.

‘Shantipooje’ and the sacrifice of a black he-goat to pOtharAja’(gAvu pooje) takes place on the tenth day. The ceremony comes to an end on the eleventh with the de hoisting of the yellow flag.

Scholars such as Janaki Nair have observed that “There is perhaps no singular annual event, celebrated up to the present day, that unite aspects of Bangalore’s tank economy with the religious landscape of the old city area and its complex economic life as the Karaga.” (Janaki Nair, 2005, Page 36)

There are other varieties of Karaga such as ‘onake karaga’, ‘chombina karaga’ and ‘ChitragOpura karaga’. In many villages Karaga is not an independent event and it forms an integral part of the worship of ‘graamadEvataa’.

Karaga is an event with many social, religious and anthropological dimensions and it needs to be studied in greater detail.