The Bizarre Traditions of India

For centuries, different religions, tribes, and numerous communities have been living in India. The rituals and traditions being followed by these communities contribute greatly to forming the odd and bizarre traditions that we observe today in India.

Mythologies have always been an integral part of the traditions being followed in India and one such tradition based on mythology is “Dhinga Gavar” in which you can see the local people dressed as Gods and Goddesses, in the mesmerizing city of Jodhpur. Now, there is a very interesting story behind this tradition, one day, Lord Shiva changed his form to that of a cobbler to tease his wife, Goddess Parvati. In turn, the goddess changed into a tribal woman to tease Lord Shiva, and thereafter it became the tradition and is observed every year from the first day of Chaitra month (Hindu calendar new year month) for a total of 16 days. Many unmarried men can be seen roaming the streets during this tradition, as there is a belief that if they get struck by the people dressed as Gods and Goddesses during the ritual, then they will soon get married.That’s a really weird tradition. Don’t you think!?

There are millions of people who are afraid of slithering and crawling reptiles like snakes and lizards. And then, there is “Nag Panchami”, a famous and bizarre tradition in India, in which the snakes are worshipped and fed milk on the fifth day of the Shravan month (Hindu lunar calendar). On this day, the priests in the temple sprinkle beautiful flower petals and other auspicious items on the snakes as a gesture of thanking them. The grandest celebrations are hosted by the villagers of Baltis Shirale in Maharashtra, presumably with a large group of snakes.Now, to perform this tradition you need to be either a snake lover or a daredevil.!

When “Cannibalism” is considered taboo by the whole world, even then there are the Aghoris who are cult followers of Lord Shiva and believe that everything provided by mother nature is consumable. They live nearby crematory grounds and rivers, where they can easily find corpses to feed on, and are often shunned from public appearances. They smear themselves with the ashes of the dead as the process of purification.Would you be interested in meeting the Aghoris smeared in the ashes of the dead?

You might have attended many marriages in your life, but have you ever seen a frog marriage between “two wild frogs”, attended by a whole village and that too in the presence of a priest! Well, there is one village in the Jorhat district of Assam, where the villagers in a bid to please “Barun Devta”, the God of Rain, perform a marriage ceremony between two wild frogs following all the Hindu marriage traditions. They believe that it will rain heavily within days of the marriage thus ending the dry spell.Isn’t it amusing to see frogs getting married in full-blown Hindu marriage traditions?

 

What will happen if a huge stone falls on your head? Possibly, you will end up lying on a bed in Hospital. Would you believe it if you are told that there is a tradition in India where people voluntarily get hit by coconuts on their heads?!“Aadi Festival” follows the tradition of cracking coconuts on the heads of the people by the temple priest in a remote village of Tamil Nadu. They believe that doing so will please the Deity, and in return, they will be blessed with good health and prosperity.This is one painful tradition.

If you have small children, then you would have often tossed them in the air playfully. But in Solapur, Maharashtra, many parents can be seen tossing their newborns as high as 50 feet in the air as part of a ritual for blessing the children with healthy lives. The ritual is typically performed by those parents who prayed at the Baba Umer Dargha, for their pregnancy.Now, that is quite the bizarre tradition that you can witness only in India.

People do the weirdest of things to please their Gods and get blessings for performing certain traditions. Every year, in the Kurnool district of Andhra Pradesh, a rather odd festival “Bani” is hosted by the Devaragattu Temple which falls during the more popular festival Dusshera. The devotees can be seen hitting each other with thick sticks from midnight till the break of dawn. All this is performed to celebrate the victory of Mala Malleshwara (a form of Lord Shiva), over a demon.

Now, you have firmly become familiar with the most bizarre traditions of magnificent India.