Goddess Jatara: Mela-Mandai

The Mela-Mandai held in Bastar is literally a Jatra of goddesses established in every village. The tribal Muria society calls all its god works as Jatra to tell the common people. So that people can easily understand that the tribal Muria Samaj Dev is working, but when he uses the word Jatara while talking to his relatives, then he talks about the collective worship of the deities under his village goddess. Collective worship of the deities under the goddesses is the Jatra. Jataras are held in the same villages where temples of goddesses are established. In villages, often the village goddess which is called Gaon Mati, it is the temple of Mavli Mata, which is called Danteshwari Mata to tell the common people and the temple of Shitla Mata is established. In these villages, these Jataras i.e. Mandai are held. Goddess Jatara is the fair-mandai. We can say that the Jatra in which the purchase and entertainment of essential items is done along with the collective worship of the deities under the Goddess, i.e. the fair-mandai fills, is called Devi Jatara. In big villages where both the goddesses are established, a fair-mandai is filled in honor of both.

The process of filling the fair mandai in Bastar starts from the month of Magh. This is the time when the tribal Muria community retires from all work and meets their relatives. He shares happiness and sorrow. The forests also adorn themselves with new decorum. The whole forest is fragrant with forest flowers. The intoxicating fragrance of sarai (sal) and mahua dissolves in the air and fills people with freshness. In such a situation, fairs are organized in Bastar. The tribal Muria community is divided into parishes. Every pargana has a Manda Dev, who is called Gotra Devta. When the Jatra of the Gotra Deity is performed, permission is sought to perform the Jatara (Mandai) of the goddesses coming to that pargana. Only after this, fair mandai are organized. In some places of the villages of Bastar, the days of mandai are fixed. Necessary preparations are made for these fairs by meeting before this date. For those whose dates are not fixed, the date is compulsorily fixed by meeting.

After getting permission in the Jatra of Manda Dev, the date of Mandai is decided by meeting in the villages and the deities under the Goddess are invoked. The tribal Muria society prepares for this event throughout the year. The fair adds money for shopping throughout the year. He sends invitations to relatives to come to the fair, he cleans and cleans the house to welcome them. Makes a chapar (green pavilion) to protect it from the cold. Provides wood for burning. He knows that Mitans and Gotiyas will surely come besides his relatives to share his happiness. The people of the village also clean, coat and plaster the Dev Gudi (temple) to perform Devi Jatara. They build pavilions to enthrone the deities. A day before filling the mandai, the deities under the goddess arrive by evening. The mother priest worships the coming deities respectfully in the place, lights a lamp in front of them, tests whether they have come with all their strength or not. For this, rice is placed in front of the gods and rice is interrupted from the chick. If the chick chucks the rice, it is believed that all is well. Otherwise, the reason for the resentment is removed by asking Dev. After worship, there is food etc.

On this day, after the meal, the boys of the village dance in the temple courtyard while playing drums. The drum is a belligerent instrument, whose feet start dancing automatically as soon as it is played. At this time, women from nearby villages start dancing in rows singing Pen Pata (God song. At this time, Dev Baja Nangra, Mohri, Tudbud, Nishan etc. are played in the temple. At this time, all the heads of the deity present here come on the ride of the deity and they go to Dev Baja. The gods have a special tune. Seeing the deity in front, the mohariya (mohri player) starts playing his favorite tune and the deity plays on his mite with great enthusiasm. After this, he joins the queue of dancing women and starts dancing. This sequence goes on till late night.

People of the Muria tribe of Narayanpur region perform Kokerang dance in honor of their deities in the mandai that fills their area. It is called Madia Naach by the common people. In the absence of information, people also consider this dance as a dance to choose a pair for marriage, which is not appropriate. This dance is performed in the honour of the deities around Narayanpur. During the dhol dance, young men and women from nearby villages prepare for the Kokerang dance. This dance is performed on a moonlit night. Its dress is white. The boys wear the white dhoti as a ghagra. They wear white turbans and white vests. The wild bird on the head is called "Jaling". They wear "Tala Kasara" with a small manihari pearl bead on the forehead and neck. Two types of ghungroos are tied in the waist, the small ghungroo is also bigger than the common ghungroo and the big ghungroo is like a bell, all of them weigh 15 kg. Up to. Similarly, girls also wear makeup. She wears a white saree. They groom the hair of the head neatly and tie a bun at the back. Red lace and wildflowers dig out. Talakasra wears a small Manihari pearl garland on the forehead and neck. She holds a pinch (manjira) in her hand.

The Kokereng dancer group consists of a group of five boys and five girls from a village. Boys are in front and girls are behind them. After doing the makeup, all the dancers who belong to about 10-12 villages are there. Everyone stands in a big circle. The whole group is led by the group, who distributes songs to those who have come to this place first and kept the madin jhpi. Madin Jhapi is the name of a bamboo shirt box for placing adornment. After the song is distributed, the group starts dancing and singing. With the sound of the relo, the boys of the leadership team lift the ankle up with the force of the paw and jerk it down simultaneously. This gives out the sound of channa. The girls beat with a pinch or a ringing stick. As soon as one party becomes active, the party in front of it becomes active. The first group goes to the second group, singing Kokereng Pata, playing the ghungroos of the waist. The second group brings the first group to its place, dancing and singing in the same way. The second group dances with the other group and the first group dances with the other team. This dance continues until the rooster crows. The croaking of a chicken is the kokerang core, hence the name of this dance was Kokare Endana.

The drum is once again played with the croaking of the chicken and the men and women all dance with their gods. At the end of the dance, everyone goes to the daily work. After coming from here, the mother priest worships all the gods. Lali, betel nut, coconut, offerings. This is followed by lunch. In the afternoon, Dev Baja is played in the temple courtyard, the deities ride on the heads present here. Dev, mounted on the head, hits his back with an iron barbed cloak to test his veracity. Wonder when blood doesn't come out. After this, they come to Dev Baja and play with great enthusiasm on their tune. When the ride of all the gods comes, then sacrifices are made in honor of the mother and the idol of the mother is taken out by placing it in a plate or doli. Mata, along with the idols of other deities, circumambulates the Mandai with the entire Lava army, Gaza-Baja. After two circumambulations of the mandai, placing the idol of the mother at a certain place, offering rice or rice on her, come back to the temple without completing that third circumambulation. All the deities who come here are honorably sent off by offering gifts from the mother. On the second day there is a stale fair.