Birpani Parab (rainfall prediction festival)

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Introduction

Satyanarayan Pattnaik, June 10, 2019: The Times of India

How Odisha's Koraput tribals use ancient wisdom to predict rains

KORAPUT: When it comes to predicting the rains, the tribals of Koraput district prefer to rely on their ancient wisdom rather than the modern weather forecast.

And if their indigenous rain forecast method is anything to go by, the state is going to get a good monsoon this year with plentiful rain for three months. This prediction was made on Saturday by tribal priests during the Birpani Parab, a festival during which rituals are performed to predict the annual rainfall and appease the Birapani deity for a good harvest.

It's a festival that falls, on the sixth or the tenth day of the lunar month of Jyestha, where thousands from the Paraja, Halwa, Pentia and Bhumia tribes, dressed up in their traditional attire, gather at the Kodanmali hilltop near Gadapadar village under Jeypore block to appease the goddess.

The place of worship is marked by three water holes set in a straight line with rough circular openings. According to tribal beliefs, the first and the second holes symbolise Birpani and Dongar Dei. The third one symbolises Bhairab-the attendant of the two goddesses.

It is believed that one of the three holes belonging to the deity (Birpani) pumps out water from the earth and the force with which the water gushes out indicates the arrival of rain.

"I insert my right hand into the hole to feel the quantity of water and its intensity. It is on the basis of these observations that I predict the onset of the monsoon and the quality of harvest," says Bhagaban Bhumia, the chief priest.

"We have been following this tradition since times immemorial and our prediction has never gone wrong. This year, the state will receive good rain for three months," he adds.

Jeypore MLA Tara Prasad Bahinipati says the tribal priests predicting the quantity of rainfall has never ever gone wrong.