Fiery faith keeps a village alive

The residents of Naikasol in Baharagora will do anything, even walk on fire, for the health, wealth and prosperity of their village.

So they fast, then pray and then stroll over a flaming pit, all to appease the heavens into showering nature's bounty on the place they call home. During the annual Tamsa Mela between February 7 and 9, which the villagers have been organising since 1900, hundreds of people turned up to see men walk over a seven-feet-long bed of burning wood so that no calamity ' natural or otherwise ' befell their beloved village.

"The tradition started more than a hundred years ago. We have heard our ancestors say there was a time when the village suffered one calamity after another. Crops did not grow and the farmers starved. That is when the villagers decided to observe the fire-walking ritual and we have only thrived since," said Karia Hembrom, a resident of Naikasol and the mukhiya of Balijui panchayat.

Every year, the men in the village of 560 residents begin preparations for the big event on the eve of Maghi Poornima ' the full moon day in the eleventh month of the Hindu calendar. They clean their homes on the first day and start fasting from the second half. The second day during full moon, they bathe, wear new clothes and then go on to take part in the rituals at the village ground or puja sthal.

After completing the rituals, mainly comprising various forms of nature worship, one by one the men walk over the burning pit, which is seven-feet-long and two-and-a-half-feet wide. Though the number varies every year, this year 18 men took part in the walk.

"We prepare two pits. People cross one and walk back over the other, which is set at a distance of about three feet. We generally burn wood and not coal. Many say that fire walking is a trick, but for us it is about faith," said Bukai Soren, a village youngster who took part.

After the sombre ritual, the villagers celebrate the third day of the festival by visiting the ongoing fair and wind up with an evening of jatra organised by the local Galang Champa Baha Club.

"It is about faith. Last year there was a drought in many parts of the state. We too suffered, but the harvest was not as bad as expected. The villagers believe that the ritual and the almighty being happy saved us," said Jadunath Hansda, the gram pradhan of Naikasol.