Karnataka   

Whatever it takes to attract rains

MADE FOR EACH OTHER: Frogs getting ‘married’ near the Clock Tower in Udupi on Tuesday.

Udupi: Udupi was witness to a bizarre spectacle, when the Udupi Zilla Nagarika Samiti on Tuesday organised a “marriage of frogs” to pray for rains since the monsoon is playing truant in the district.

It had almost all the elements of a traditional wedding. The “couple” were brought in a procession from the Diana Circle to the Clock Tower near Service Bus Stand on a decorated carriage.

There were trumpet blowers and the drummers in the procession. There was a rush of people to see the procession and it disrupted the traffic on the busy Kavi Muddanna Road.

When the procession culminated at the Clock Tower, the marriage rites were performed in a traditional style.

A “mangalsutra” was tied to the “bride”. People around threw the “akshata” on the “newly weds.”

Samiti general secretary Nityananda Volakadu told presspersons that this “marriage” of frogs had been performed to please “Varuna” (the rain god) as the rains this time had failed.

“The coastal belt is undergoing a dry spell at a time when it should have seen heavy rains.

The farmers are in trouble as they cannot sow their crops. My grandparents used to say that when the frogs croak, it was a signal that rains were ready to hit the place. Hence I undertook this marriage of frogs,” he said.

He said cruelty was not intended on the frogs. They would be left behind at the place from where they were collected.

While some in the crowd found it funny, the others thought of it as a novel idea, but a few questioned the rationale behind such a move and thought it was a very superstitious practice.

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