Hand in hand, young tribal girls and boys danced to the tune of Mandar and Mundari songs under a peepal tree near the Bariatu hills till late on Monday night. Earlier in the day, the city was full of leaf-lad men, women, boys and girls, gyrating on the streets in rhythm. Sarhul celebrations that began at noon in the city refused to peter out till late on Monday.

The weeklong celebration, in fact, has gripped the Jharkhand countryside. Visit any tribal habitat on the outskirts of Ranchi and you will find tribals, drunk on hadia, celebrating Sarhul with pomp and enthusiasm. The city on Monday witnessed this festive spirit.

I noticed a marked difference between the involvement of the city in Sarhul and in festivals like Durga Puja and Ramnavami. The city was only an onlooker, enraptured by the high spirits of tribals attired in leaves and smeared in gulal.

Last year in October, Churuwala, Kaveri and other restaurants opened extended stalls for Durga puja revellers and did brisk business with couples and kids going out to eat. There were huge crowds at garment shops and sweet stalls during the puja. Traders dominated the puja committees, which organised cultural programs, and the city hummed for seven days with inhabitants visiting the puja pandals that dotted its nooks and corners. Ranchi is all set to witness similar involvement during Ramnavami on April 18.

The restaurants and garment shops, however, showed little interest in the centuries-old Sarhul, the predominant festival of tribals. Understandably so, as the “indigent” tribals hardly have any buying power to inspire the traders. Though Governor Syed Sibte Razi gave his message of love for nature through an advertisement and some non-tribal politicians attended the Sarhul procession, the city residents, at large, were indifferent to it.

Experts say that the festivals like Durga Puja and Ramnavami came to the city with the arrival of
Bengalis, residents of northern Bihar and people from other parts of the country in 1950s and 60’s. Ranchi’s original settlers were not even aware of Durga Puja and Ramnavami until the first half of the 19th century. The market forces, which flourished in Ranchi with the setting up of the HEC, Mecon and other industries, “adopted” and patronised the festivals of new settlers. It was because these festivals suited their commercial interests unlike Sarhul, Sarna and other tribal festivals.

Sarhul — a combination of Mundari words sarai (flower) and hul (bouquet) — means a bouquet of summer-blooming flowers. As the name suggests, the tribals worship trees and flowers that decorate mother Earth.

According to Jagdish Trigunayat’s Munda Lok Kathayen (Folk tales of the Mundas), Sarhul celebrates the arrival of Viddi, believed to be the daughter of the Earth. Once upon a time, Viddi, in a bid to pluck a lotus, drowned in a river and went to Yamlok.

The mother’s grief at the treatment meted out to he daughter caused the flowers and trees growing on her lap to dry up. The creator of the universe had to intervene and request Yama, lord of death, to return Viddi to earth. Viddi landed on earth to the delight of her mother, who infused life in the flowers and trees once again. To date, pahans (priests) decorate their homes with flowers to mark Sarhul.

Jharkhand watchers say that the Sarhul procession has been getting relatively smaller and less enthusiastic in the last two decades. They describe the city’s indifference towards the festival as the main reason for the decline of enthusiasm in Sarhul.

Nalin Verma
The Author is the Ranchi based special correspondent of the Telegraph