MONDAY, MAY 20, 2024
Arti Das
The forested village of Caranzol of Sattari taluka, which is blessed with beauties of Western Ghats, is also a place where one can witness age old customs and religious practices which speak about our land and its people in a very profound way.
One way to experience this is witnessing Chorotsav, where eight villagers symbolising as ‘chor’ (thieves) are buried in the ground—four have their heads buried, where their torso and hands with swords are visible and remaining four are buried till their neck, thus their face is visible. This ritual is held in front of the temple of the goddess Brahmani Maya, at night. This year, it will be held on March 30, seventh day of the full moon.
The story behind this unusual ritual states that many centuries ago, four men with two children from a different village, were passing through this village. However, villagers mistook them as thieves and thus beheaded these four men and hung two boys. But, when parents of these men reached this village during their search, it was realised that it was the case of mistaken identity and they were not thieves. When villagers realised this, they accepted their mistake. And thus, to give justice to their souls, the villagers promised to the parents they will remember and keep them in their memories through this ritual which is part of the Holi festival. Such ritual is also held in the neighbourhood village of Zarme also. It has a similar narrative and it is held on the day of Holi, thus it was held on March 25 this year, first day of full moon.
Dr Vidya Kamat, member-secretary of Centre for Study of Mythology and Culture (CSMC), who has studied this ritual held at both the villages, explains that this ritual speak of human sacrifice, social justice, and also creation myth, especially Chorotsav at Caranzol village. She says, “Creation myths are a key to any community’s existential needs. So they consider these myths as sacred tales that cannot be forgotten by the community.” She suggests this with a story narrated by the villager elder, Shantaram Gawde.
It states that many years ago (probably around 4th or 5th century) a ‘Satpurush’- a man who came from Kashi (Satpurush also called Kashipurush) and decided to set up a village in Caranzol. Devachar (vanni) who owned the land/or lived on that land demanded a human sacrifice. So tradition of giving a human sacrifice was established. Once a girl from Zarme village was married to a boy from Caranzol. When she was visiting her mother’s home at Zarme she got the news that her husband was being sacrificed to vanni (Devchar). She came crying to her father asking him why he married her into a village where she had to become a widow and eventually go ‘sati’ (locally known as Masti) after her husband’s death. Father felt sad and went to Caranzol village with few of his aids and requested the gaonkars to stop the sacrifice of his son-in-law. Gaonkars agreed on a condition that they will take prasad of the goddess and requested her to accept a rooster as a sacrifice instead of human. The goddess accepts their request and since then human sacrifice was stopped and now only a rooster is sacrificed during Holi festival.
Chorotsav at both villages—Zarme and Caranzol symbolises human sacrifice. “The idea of sacrifice is that from death/blood springs new life. Holi festival signifies beginning of new cycle. Both the chorotstav festivals of Caranzol and Zarme highlight the ‘sacrifice’ as the main motif. Therefore I believe it could be origin myth of the community,” states Kamat. She further mentions that human sacrifice was indeed a common practice in ancient times in Goa. “James Frazer in his book ‘The Golden Bough’ has given the context of human sacrifice in ‘primitive’ communities. And this lore suggests that there was a custom of offering human sacrifice in ancient times,” she adds.
Kamat also makes an important point here that speaks about the role of Goan Gaonkari system where justice is of utmost importance. “The ancient Gaonkari system of Goa believed in justice as an important social value. At Zarme, village elder Rajaram Gawas explained Chorotsav is about giving justice to the departed souls. The day the village forgets or fails to perform this ritual for departed souls, village will be doomed. He called this performance as ‘itihass’ or history of this village. At the closing part of the Chorotstav festival, all villagers promise that they will come again next year to celebrate this lore.”
