Guru Puja

Guru Puja is an important Hindu festival which is celebrated on the full moon day, in the month of July- August. On this day, the Brahmins and the Khatriyas (Chettries) bathe early in the morning, using clean soil, (cow dung, til, kush and various other medicinal herbs mixed with water.) They bathe either at the source of a spring water or in a river, enchanting vedic mantras. Thereafter, they offer Tarpan to Rishies and exchange their Iife for a new one, and put on new clothes. While doing all these things, they continue enchanting the Gayatri Mantra and the purohit of the ceremony ties Rakhis on their wrists.

Guru Puja is a ceremony observed annually to uphold and continue the sacred and ideal relationship between the teachers and their pupils. Therefore, the students, in order to show their respect and thanks to their gurus, offer generous alms, called Guru Dakshina, delicacies and new dresses to their respected teachers on this day, and in return beg for more knowledge and blessings from them. The gurus thus revered on this day, is not only Bidhya Guru but also Diksha Guru and Gayatrij/ ved Gurus.

In order to celebrate Guru Puja, which is also known as Guru Purnima, all witch doctors gather together at a place a day earlier to make all necessary arrangements and preparations for the great day. The next day, when the main puja is performed, these witch doctors first of all establish a Thaan, and then either go to their respective house, or gather at the house of the most revered witch doctor to perform their individual puja to their respective gurus.

Witch doctors of all intensity and category bathe early in the morning and put on traditional long flowing robes, similar to an ankle-long frock, and bedlock themselves with garlands of rittha and rudrakshn, and with the bones of snakes, with small gongs hanging from them. After having prepared and decorated themselves, these witch doctors invoke their guiding deity or the guru who taught them the art of witchcraft, by dhengro and cast acheta on all the four sides, to keep all other envious witches and evil spirits away from causing distractions while they frantically dance to please their gurus. While dancing, these witch doctors hang across their shoulders a cloth bag which contains a turban decorated with the spines of hedgehogs and the feathers of birds, a piece of ginger and a small sickle. They also carry some shewli.

- While making a dancing procession around the village or the vicinity, these witch doctors engage themselves in different activities, such as fortune telling, burning incense and some in-beating bronze plates with wooden sticks, etc. The crowd gathered on either side of the colourful parade make this day a very enjoyable and pleasant one to look at.

The apprentices, known as dhupawray, are enthrusted with the task of burning incense and the ~itch doctors make ceremonial offerings utterings mantras and beating dhengros in rhythm to appease Mantra Guru, diksha guru, Param Guru and to Lord Mahadeo and Parvati, the ‘Old woman'.

The main duties of these witch doctors are to ward off the effects of evil spirits, such as bhoot, pret, boxchi, diyani, burani, sikhari, udhauIi, ubhauli, sindi, athani,etc. They also restore peace, prosperity and good health in the
community through their mystical power of mantras and rituals.

Unfortunately, experts and powerful witch doctors of gone by days are difficult to find now, but of lesser propensity and calibre, are still available and in places where modern medicines are still not available; these witch doctors give their valuable service in treating the sick with their rudimentary but mystical method, and in many cases they come out with flying colours of success much to the appreciation of everybody in the community

Ritualistic items of witchcraft such as dhengro, ghungring, amlisho, kawlo, shewli, thighbones of human beings, eggs, dhup, milk, sisnu, rudraksha, bones of pythons, jama, turbans, bronze plates, etc.- are the items that are treasured and preserved by all witch doctors.