Charu

Charu is the festival of obliging to your protector deities. It is celebrated by the Muria tribal society with great reverence. The tribal Muria society hands over the responsibility of looking after the crop grown by their labor to their protector gods, when he celebrates Bija Saad. When the harvest produced by his labor is about to ripen, he gives the charu to the beneficence of those protector gods. Every farmer of Bastar, irrespective of caste or tribe, must give charu in his field. The tribal Muria community gives grazing when the crop is ripe and ready to be harvested, while the people of other communities give grazing in the first leisure after the crop has come to the barn. Charu is not a vow made with the wish of a good harvest but is given to the protector gods to oblige them in return for protecting the crop from wild animals and disease.

All the gods of the Muria tribal society are protector gods, but some gods protect them at every step. These are mainly "Ravdev", "Kaina" and "Kaudo". Ravdev is a celibate god, who protects the Muria tribal society by living in a deserted and high place. The second protector is Goddess Kaina, who is considered to be the goddess of water, she is also called mermaid or the goddess of water. The abode of this goddess is believed to be in water. Similarly, the tribal society also considers Kaudo as its protector god, while the people of other societies do not envisage the existence of cows, but in the Muria tribe, Kaudo considers and worships them on the tree present at the place of water source. When these protector deities germinate after sowing paddy, at that time the farmer prays to these gods to protect the crop. At this time, the farmer accepts the request to honor them, fulfills this wish in the form of Charu.

In every village there are farmers' fields and all the farmers' fields on one side of the village are said to be in one pole. In this way, there are three or four poles in the villages. Each bar has a head who is given the responsibility of the work done under the pole. This person is the owner of the bed of the field, where the work under the pole is done. Such as celebrating Dhela Kor, Charu Dena Hesang Jatara Manana, etc. The bed of this field is called "Mohara Beda" in Gondi, "Munuda Beda" in Halbi and Deep Khet in Hindi. All the gods work in this field. When the farmer sows dry paddy, at that time the lumps of soil are released, when they break, he celebrates the lump core, it is also called seed kukdi. When the paddy plants are a little big and the fields are flooded, then it celebrates Bijang. At the time of Bijang, the farmer prays to his protectors that "O God, now it is your responsibility to protect the crop, if there is a good crop, plenty of water in the fields and if there is plenty of fish, we will respect you at the time of Charu. The vow made at this time is fulfilled in Charu.

Before celebrating the charu, the head of the dand informs all the people whose field falls under that dand. On the appointed date, all the people gather in Mohra Beda with the necessary materials in the morning. The peasants bring with them chicken, egg, goat, pig and whatever prayer material is asked for to give charu and give it to the head of the dand. The chief invokes all the protector deities, duly worships them and makes oblations of alcohol. According to the request sought, he honors them by sacrificing the chick, egg, goat, etc. Makeup items are offered to Cana. These are virgin girls and they love adornment. The items of this adornment are called "Laya Singar" in Gondi. At this time, some farmers also wish to have enough fish and good crops to eat in their fields. Such farmers offer those things separately. After this, the head of the dand asks all the farmers to bring paddy earrings from their respective fields. All farmers cut paddy earrings from their fields and bring them. Which he ties in different folds and hangs in the tree of Aden. This is called "code vaging. It means the upper part of paddy. This paddy is duly worshiped at the time of Hesang Jatra and mixed with the seed paddy. After this, everyone cooks the ingredients brought with them and eats and drinks.