Mahottari, 15 November: Sama chakhewa, celebrated as a festival of love and dedication to brothers and sisters in Mithila region including Mahottari, is coming to an end today.
It is a tradition that this festival started on the day of Kartik Shukla Panchami and ends on the full moon. According to this tradition, Mithilani is preparing for the end of this festival. At the end of this festival, it is customary for Mithilani to bury the clay figures of Satbhaiya, elephant, Vrindavan, Chugla, Sama and Chakhewa used in the Sama game to separate them from their brothers in a plowed field or in a deserted forest. At the end of the festival, on occasion, the sisters give their brothers a delicious foods to wish them a long life. Likewise, brothers give clothes and cash dakshina to their sisters according to their schedule.
On the 11th day of the Samachkhewa festival, sisters in Mithila region sing songs describing their brothers’ Surya. This festival is considered a symbol of love and dedication between brothers and sisters. This festival, colloquially known as ‘Sama Khel’, is considered a suitable opportunity for sisters and brothers to express their mutual harmony. Mithilani says that the main aspect of the festival is to gather in a group at Chaubato until midnight on the 11th day of the festival, describing the prowess of their brothers and cursing the evil character to show that there is a holy and intimate love between them. Maithil Yuva Bhangaha-4 Ramnagar 30-year-old Rameeshwar Thakur says that his morale is always high because of the love and dedication shown by his sisters to him through songs.
It is believed that this festival, which shows such love for brothers and sisters, started about five and a half thousand years ago during the Dwapar era. In the Dwapara era, when a Kurauta told Krishna that Sama, the daughter of Shri Krishna, had a love affair with Chakradhar, the daughter was of a virtuous nature and cursed both of them to become Sama and Chakhewa.
There is also a description in the Puranas that for the salvation of his sister Sama and her lover Chakhewa, who had wandered around as birds due to the curse of Shri Krishna, Krishna’s son Samb prayed to Krishna for the boon that he would be able to satisfy his father by performing penance on Shivaji. Dhruv Rai, a knowledgeable associate professor of Mithila folklore, says that there is a tradition of Samachkhewa festival to show gratitude to his brother in memory of the song sung by Sama, remembering the same song of his brother Samba.
- When: Celebrate in November
- Where: Celebration in the Mithila region, which includes parts of Nepal and northern Bihar, India
- What: A 10-day festival that includes folk theater and song
- How: Women collect clay, make idols, and decorate them with colors. They carry the idols in bamboo baskets and sing and dance in Maithili throughout the festival. On the 11th day, the idols are submerged in a pond, river, or ploughed land to mark the end of the festival.
