HONNAVAR(UTTARA KANNADA): Gandhi Jayanti is synonymous with cleanliness drives, ever since Swachh Bharat Mission was launched in 2014.
Uttara Kannada has been doing it differently for centuries. This time of the year, villagers clear out their homes in a bid to keep them free of diseases and epidemics.
Unused and discarded household stuff is bundled up as the villagers wait for Vadagalajji, the mobile goddess who goes to every village along the coast, accepting them.
On September 5, the villagers of Karki in Honnavar taluk in Uttara Kannada, the cleanest and greenest district, gathered outside their village on National Highway-66 near a temple.
Women applied vermillion and turmeric, put on green bangles, and made offerings of saree and coconut to a deity on the roadside.
They brought various dishes as offerings, while people threw live fowl and salt. Along with this, were offerings of waste and unused products in a huge heap.
‘Deity of waste’ removes diseases: Residents
Travellers along NH-66 will no doubt find heaps of household items along the highway, which they are likely to dismiss as indiscriminate garbage disposal. The heaps are part of this ritualistic drive in a region where cleanliness is given divine status for ages. It is an annual practice, with the faith that the goddess who travels with the waste products protects them from diseases. “There is a belief that the deity takes away disease with the waste,” said Gopal V Naik, a resident of Honnavar.
The goddess Vadagalajji or Vadagalamma, who arrived here on September 5, will stay until Mahalaya Amavasya (mid-October) and will be shifted to the neighbouring village on the highway, informed Nagendra Kharvi, another villager. The term Vadagu means to ‘sweep’ in the Kannada dialect of Uttara Kannada.
Ganapathi Bhat, another villager, attributes this practice to a scientific reason. “The offerings made to the deity are damaged and used products. People make these offerings by cleaning up their homes and surroundings. Stocking these things at home means an invitation to diseases. Cleanliness gets rid of epidemics which might affect the populace,” he said.
“Centuries ago, the monsoon in Uttara Kannada would bring in epidemics like cholera and various kinds of fevers, elephantiasis and stomach-related ailments. The people would pray to Goddess Vadagalamma and offer waste products to keep away these epidemics and outbreaks. In case there was already an outbreak in the village, they would make offerings to get rid of it,” said Kharvi.
The deity is offered everything from used brooms, bags, torn clothes, agricultural implements, umbrellas and even electronics. The deity is welcomed with a loud music and devotees continue to make offerings during the scheduled period.
On the day of departure, devotees irrespective of caste, religion and class, carry the deity with noisy chants and slogans along with offerings made, and hand it over to the neighbouring village along the highway in the middle of the night.
Though there is no study or research done on this deity and the practice, Shyamsunder Gouda, a historian from Ankola, says, “There are two routes this deity takes -- one comes to the North via Manjugini, Gokarna towards Ankola where devotees gather offerings and transport them to the next village. Earlier, they used to carry them on their shoulders, now they bring them in vehicles.
The deity in Honnavar and Kumta is known as Vadagalamma or Vadagalajji, while she is called Marihore -- mari (disease) in a bundle or load (hore) -- in Ankola. The deity passes through Ankola and covers Karwar, and sent to a secluded place near River Kali outside Karwar, while the other one route goes through Bhatkal,” he said. According to the villagers, it is taken outside the district after Bhatkal.
With every village stop, the load keeps increasing, and so do the number of people carrying it. The waste is finally burnt or buried as suitable.