Date:01/07/2009 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2009/07/01/stories/2009070155841100.htm

National

Tribals celebrate Hool Maha festival

Raktima Bose

‘It is our custom and a way of paying tribute to the bravery of great leaders’

— Photo: Arunangsu Roy Chowdhury.

In festive mood: The Santhal community is celebrating the “Hool Maha” festival at Bhalukshole village in Shalboni near Lalgarh of Paschim Medinipur district in West Bengal on Tuesday.

BHALUKSHOL (PASCHIM MEDINIPUR DISTRICT): At a time when the air of the Lalgarh region is smelling of gunpowder from the bullets fired at each other by personnel of the joint security forces and the Maoists, when landmine explosions triggered by the Maoists have almost become a regular feature and when hundreds are fleeing their homes to take shelter in relief camps, residents of Bhalukshol village, in the region, celebrated the gallantry of the famous tribal leaders, Sidu and Kanu, on Tuesday as Hool Maha festival.

On this day back in 1855, Sidu and Kanu, had declared war against the British colonists for the exploitation and discrimination of the tribal people by the English East India Company.

They wrested a large portion of the erstwhile Santhal Parganas from British control till 1857.

Barely six km from Sijua, where the joint security forces and the Maoists had engaged in a five-hours-long gun battle just a day ago, young tribal men and women, dressed in new clothes, organised the festival.

The women danced in slow rhythmic motion as the men beat drums while two young priests decorated an altar adorning the idols of Sidu and Kanu with sal leaves and marigold garlands.

The idols are worshipped and the entire community remains on fast till the ceremony ends.

“It is our custom and a way of paying tribute to the bravery of the great leaders. We cannot forget our pride and tradition because of troubled times,” said Chunaram Hembram, a 21-year-old resident of the village.

Feast

Traditionally, a feast and cultural programmes that continue till late night are organised after the prayers are over. It had to be, however, curtailed this year in the wake of disturbances in the region.

Hembram said that the police has asked the organisers to wrap up the festival by 6 p.m.

Asked if they feel that the struggle started by Sidu and Kanu is continuing till date, Lakshiram Hansda of the same village said: “It is continuing. Tribal people are yet to receive all the rights that they are entitled to. But our struggle is a democratic and peaceful one. We do not believe in the violent struggle of the Maoists.”