Indian Rituals: The Rainmaking

Tansen was one of the greatest Indian classical musicians to have lived. He resided in the Mughal Empire during the reign of King Akbar and was noticed as one of the finest men, thereby making him one of Akbar’s Nine Jewels. He was known to have performed great feats when he sang the ‘Raags’ because he was so fluent and excellent with them. This made many of Akbar’s courtiers jealous, leading them to spread word that Tansen could light an oil lamp by singing. Tansen knew this was possible, but he could die singing this Raag because it would produce so much heat that it would char his body to death. Akbar did find out about this and also believed that he could do it.

Tansen

Tansen knew he had to resolve this somehow, and with his daughter’s idea, he decided to sing the Megh Malhar, the Raag that brought rain after Raag Deepak, the one that caused fire. But since it would tire him too much to do both, he decided that his daughter would sing it after he finished Raag Deepak, the one that would ignite lamps, and had the capability to burn everything else around it. Singing Megh Malhar would bring the rain clouds and this would calm down the fiery performance. The day came, Tansen began with Raag Deepak and all the lamps on the terrace of Fatehpur Sikri were lit but soon after that with the astonishing amount of heat, Tansen fell ill. His daughter sang Megh Malhar and the sky was overcast with rain clouds, which poured down and the water put all the lamps off! A great popular story of invoking rain through a rich art like Hindustani classical music!

The monsoons are a blessing to many in this beautiful country, first to farmers. We know that most of the population’s occupation, that is agriculture, depends on the water that rain provides to the crop and it is simple to understand that hardships would arise when there is no rain. Since time immemorial, the ancient Indians and people all across the world have developed some primitive techniques to call upon the rains and asked for showers of blessings. The rains are what have kept the food chain running. Micheal Tuscano of Nandakal village in Virar described a small incident pertaining to one Catholic ritual performed when they realized the rain was overdue. It was 6.30pm when Micheal and his family carried heavy stones on their heads from home in a procession gathering all the villagers, including his 80-year-old mother. Prayers were recited to Mother Mary as they walked around the church with the stones on their heads, as they believed that Mother Mary would intercede to the heavenly father and send down the well due shower. At around 2.30am that very night, it began to pour and rained continuously for two whole days. This is not the only incident to have occurred in relation to carrying heavy stones on the head. In an old neighbourhood in Bandra on Chapel Road, people carried stones on their heads and proceeded to Mt. Mary’s Church, after which the very next day there’d been a shower, a very abundant one.

In 2012, there were several accounts of there being no rain in numerous parts of the country. Frog weddings, an ancient Vedic tradition from the Yajur veda was performed in Behrampur, Orissa, Nashik and many other places in India. It is said that the croaking of frogs indicates the coming of rain. The belief is that the celebrating the frog’s wedding is an invitation to the rain Gods. Sathyabhama Das Biju, one of the professors in Delhi University’s Department of Environmental Studies said that it wasn’t something that was understood scientifically and therefore tracing the origins became impossible. But time and again it was seen that a frog always croaks a few hours before it begins to rain. Another very popular act is feeding a cow well enough because it is believed that gods live in the bodies of cows. Feeding cows in turn, would appease the gods and rain would be sent to all the famished. Very practically, pandit Sadanand explained that it was more than just rain. “In the process of asking for rain, people are also helping sustaining lives of the cows and the environment. So if they think it is only for invoking rain gods, then their hitting two birds in one stone!”

Parjanya Yagna

One of the widest practiced rituals is that of Yagna. Performing Yagna to bring rain is the oldest rain invoking ritual known to Hindus and dates back to the Bhagvad Gita and the Rigveda. It is a ritual performed with fire and the usage of ghee as the energy along with certain herbs that are said to create a positive effect, remove all the negativity from the atmosphere and through this fresh air, pure water will descend from the sky. In the Bhagavad Gita (3:14) it says – “The whole universe is pervaded by fire in the form of heat and light. Through the fire offerings we nurture the forces of nature. All life depends upon food and the entire food chain is in turn dependent on rain. The vitality of rain depends on the vitality of clouds and the vitality of clouds depends on the nourishing elements in the atmosphere. The energy generated by Yagna is like a tonic to the clouds. In turn, these clouds bring healthy rain, a healthy rain brings a healthy harvest, and a healthy harvest brings good health to those who consume it.”

Pandit Deepak Maharaj from the Tungareshwar temple complex in Vasai said that Parjanya Yagna is the Yagna performed in honour of Parjanya who is Indra in the monsoons. “The Yagna is performed to appease Indra, the god of the clouds and sky. In some mysterious way I have noticed that it comes to pass that rains occur, torrential ones.” There is a simple scientific explanation though. By creating more heat in the atmosphere through fire, the rate of evaporation is higher thereby creating dense clouds faster and bringing rain! Same applies to the process of photosynthesis wherein trees give out water vapour during this act. This is why we plant more trees in modern day to bring more rain!

In Ahmedabad, Brahmin priests performed the Parjanya Varuna Yagna, in which they sat in huge vessels filled with water and rose petals and did the ritual.

Parjanya Varuna Yagna in Ahmedabad

According to Hinduism Today magazine over a decade ago, the deserted plains of Solapur district were suffering due to lack of rain. They called priests of Yoginand Ved-Vijnan Ashram to do the Parjanya Yagna and the head priest. . Ahitagni Nana Kale performed Yagna exactly as it was mentioned in the Vedas by saying 10 mantras 10,000 times from the Parjanya Sukta. While offering continuous oblations to the fire, he visualized heavy winds, evaporating water from the river, dense clouds approaching the villages. The adhibautas or the nature devas converted this energy that he manifested into raindrops! By the seventh day, there was a total of 2.4 inches of rain, never seen by conjuring! “The person performing the ritual must be headstrong and believe that the gods are listening to his prayers. Chanting a number of mantras and shlokas can have a positive effect, but most importantly, they should be correct” said Deepak Maharaj. “Performing Rudra Abhishek and Mahadev Abhishek also appease rain gods in the month of Shravan” he added.

Last year, Karnataka’s chief minister Jagdish Shettar of the BJP Government set aside Rs. 17.5 crore to distribute to all of the state’s temples. Claiming to be an atheist himself, he gave each of 35,000 temples a sum of Rs. 5000 each to perform the Parjanya Yagna so that the state wouldn’t suffer from drought and would rid water problems. Since parts of Karnataka run on hydroelectricity, it would be a boon to the state to have a surplus of water from rains and would avoid the state having to ask neighbouring states for electricity.

‘Bagina’ in South India

While rains weren’t expected the way they came in the 26/7 Mumbai disaster and the Uttarakhand floods, people do not fail in thanking the rain gods for the downpour. 35 kms from Almora valley in Uttarakhand, after using the resources and water provided by the Gods, the villagers decide to thank the rain gods by playing traditional music called ‘Hudkiya Bol’, Hudkiya being the drum and bol being the song. In South India, to thank Gods for the abundance and the filling of rivers and all water resources, ‘Bagina’ is an offering set into the water of the river whose praise is being made of and thanked throughout.