A three-hour drive from Bengaluru, also known as India's Silicon Valley, a non-descript village hosts a special ritual to please the rain gods. In Kari-Keyatanahalli, part of Hassan district, the locals hold the ritual for nine days believing it brings rain and saves their crops.
The ninth day assumes significance. On this day, the villagers would dress up two of their children as a bride and a groom to take part in the final ceremony.
Both are boys, usually, just playing the roles as part of the ritual. Anjan and Girish are the ones chosen this time for this task.
This ritual is organized on a need basis – whenever their ragi crop is sown, but the weather plays spoilsport. The lack of rain poses a great threat to the crop and by large their survival.
But the nine-day ritual, they believe, takes care of the situation. Faced with such situations, the villagers would conduct this special prayer to invoke the rain gods to protect their crops.
This marks only one such tradition passed on over generations across the country to invoke showers. In Karnataka itself, there are several such practices, which include special poojas of local deities as well as symbolic acts of summoning rain.
One such tradition practiced in Pavagada taluk of Tumakuru is the 'jaldi' ritual, where the villagers believe rolling away of rocks brings rain. The ritual also involves a procession of the village deity and a special puja in the local pond.
