The Bengaluru’s Karaga Festival or Karaga Jatre (Ka—ra—ga is the acronym for KA — Kaiyalli muttade (without touching by hand); RA — Rundadalli Darisi — (bearing it on the head); GA — Gatisuvudu — (to walk)) is celebrated annually in the Chaitra month (March/April) of the Hindu Calendar prominently by the Tigala community. The Tigalas consider themselves descendants of Draupadi. There are three main sub-groups within the Tigalas—Vahnikula Kshatriyas (Tamil speaking people belonging to the lineage of Vanniyars or Vanniyans), Shambukula Kshatriyas (Tamil speaking descendants of the sage Shambu who is said to have migrated from the neighboring states), and Agnikula Kshatriyas (Kannada speaking descendants of the folk hero Agni Banniraya, native to Karnataka).
The basic folklore related to the origin of the Karaga festival is derived from Mahabharata and has several variations. The most common lore is around the demon Timarasura. The Pandavas, Krishna, and Draupadi were on their way back after completing their exile in the forest when Timarasura called out to Draupadi and teased her. Since her husbands and Krishna were ahead of her, she was left alone to fight the demon. Timarasura was blessed with a boon from Lord Shiva that if a single droplet of his blood fell in a battle, there would arise thousands of Timarasuras. Draupadi assumed her primeval form of Adi Shakti, and when she shook the cloth covering her breast, warriors like Durga pujari, Gante pujari (bell priest), Ganachari (community chieftain), and Veerakumaras (hero protectors of the Goddess) leaped from it. The battle was awful and long. Every time the Goddess hit the asura, his blood would flow and more asuras would emerge. In the end, the Goddess struck one final blow and licked clean the flowing blood, and swallowed the demon. The Goddess then regained her original form of Draupadi and promised to visit her warrior sons once every year.
Another lore describes a scene when Dharmaraja Yudhishthira and Draupadi were crowned as the king and queen after the completion of the Kurukshetra War. The couple witnessed a young woman riding a horse while her husband was walking with her slippers on his head and his mother limping across the road. This was a sign of the onset of the Kaliyuga and signaled that it was time for Draupadi and Yudhishthira to depart to heaven. On their way to heaven, Draupadi was confronted by Kalipurusha (the human form of Kaliyuga); the Pandavas, who had received news of Krishna’s death, were in no state to help her. Draupadi prayed to Lord Shiva and Parvati, who gifted her their powers; she was also advised to make a pot and safeguard her shakti (power) in it, and then warriors were born for its protection.
These two significant narratives about the origin of the festival show that the Karaga festival portrays the victory of good over evil through the defeat of the asura at the hands of the Goddess, who appears as a guardian of the socio-cosmic order, and honors the birth of the female principle of divinity, Shakti.
The festival celebration is spread over for 11 days. It involves several ritual participants of which the Karaga priest (who bears the karaga) and Veerakumaras (who are identified by their Katti (sword)), are the most important ones. The pot plays a vital role in the festival and is sacred as it is supposed to embody the Goddess's power which is attributed to the priest when he is carrying the pot. The priest is chosen six months before the festival, during which he is on a strict diet and goes through training at garadi manes (ancient gymnasiums). For the 11 days of the festival, the priest breaks off all contact with his family and lives a life of solitude and penance at the Dharmaraya Swamy temple, one of the few temples dedicated to the Pandavas. It is believed that the strict routine enables him to bring in the Goddess’s strength into him and manifest male and female characteristics in himself, which prepares him to receive the Goddess’s energy on the day of her birth. It is also customary for his wife to get rid of all symbols of her marriage to the priest during the period. The other key members include Kula Gowda (community headman), Gante Pujari (decorator and performer), Kula Purohita (community priest), Potharaja Pujari (priest from the Potharaja household, a local king who is believed to have ruled the region when the Pandavas visited the city), Bankadasi (Banka player), Banka (budle like instrument), Kolkar (who carries the news of the rituals).
Different rituals are performed on each of the 11 days. On the night of the seventh day, Hasi Karaga (birth of the Karaga) is performed. It is the most significant ritual of the Karaga festival. It is conducted after sundown at the Hasi Karaga mandapa with thousands of devotees gathered to witness the manifestation of the Goddess in the Karaga. The Karaga priest and his troupe perform secret rites at the mandapa covered by a white cloth and protected by Veerakumaras. At about midnight, the Goddess manifests herself in the Karaga made from the raw sediments of the Sampangi lake, accompanied by frenzied trembling and dancing by the Karaga priest, loud noises from the drums played by musicians and hunting horns blown by the Bankadasi, and by chants of ‘Govinda’ from the devotees. Finally, a priest who holds a dagger in his right-hand carries the Karaga on his waist to the Dharmaraya Swamy temple.
The Karaga procession on the night of the ninth day is the most attended event of the festival. The Karaga that night is adorned with jasmine flowers and representative symbols of the Goddess like the conch, discus, trident, mace, and drum. The Karaga priest is dressed in a turmeric yellow sari with a red border, bangles, necklaces, and a gold waistband. Once the Karaga is mounted on his head, the priest starts the night procession from the Dharmaraya Swamy temple and visits the other temples in the Pete and the dargah (which comes on the way), and having touched the edges of the old city, returns to the temple in the early hours of the next morning.
On the last day of the Karaga festival, everyone from the Tigala community takes part in Vasantotsava (spring festival), an event where men are challenged to break coconuts tied from a wooden frame while turmeric water is splashed on them. The festivities come to an end with the lowering of the flag and once all the rituals are completed, the Karaga priest returns to his family where he is remarried to his wife.
The Karaga festival is an essential part of the intangible heritage of Bengaluru and highlights a significant historic layer of the city and its secular character, one that must not be forgotten and perished in the wake of modernization. It also indicates the adaptable nature of traditions and festivals which find ways to sustain themselves even if the physical space is continuously developing.
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