Team Herald
BICHOLIM: As Shirgao zatra is set to be celebrated on May 5, the dhond or the devotees of goddess Shri Lairai have begun with their penance.
This year the zatra will be celebrated with great pomp after two years. In 2020, due to COVID restrictions, the organising committee had cancelled this zatra and had also asked the dhonds to do the penance at home.
Now this year the dhonds have started with their five days penance rituals away from their home in the nearby temple or where there is water source.
The penance of these dhonds start five days before the zatra and maintained strictly. For five days they have to cook their own food and before having any food they have to bathe. They prefer to stay in temples where there is purity and required facilities.
Some also still stay in kulagars and have preferred to stay amid nature, rather than in any temple. They stay in kulagars at Bhatwadi, Mayem and said that they are following their ancestors.
“We are staying here since our forefathers have stayed here as dhonds and we are following their legacy” said a dhond, Subhash Kinalkar from Mayem.
