Women are ploughing fields and men are writing letters to Lord Indra, praying for rains to end the current spell of drought.
In Madanpur village of Bhognipur tehsil in Kanpur Dehat district of Uttar Pradesh, women ploughing fields performed puja to invoke blessings of Lord Indra, the god of rain.
The women also carried out the ritual ‘Bhauri’ wherein they carried various kitchen tools and offered prayers in temples.
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A local astrologer Avanish Dubey said, "In the modern era, people may term this practice as a superstition, but this is a popular belief here that if women replace bull and plough fields, the rain god gives abundant rainfall. In ancient times, Janakpur was the kingdom of Videhas, where Janak was the king. Once there was a drought in the kingdom and the people started facing hardships. They all went to King Janak for solutions to their problems. King Janak promised to the people that he would do all possible means to relieve them of their problems."
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Dubey added, "The king then asked all priests of his royal palace to come up with some solutions. One of the priests then suggested to the king that the rain god Indra must be appeased to bring rainfall. And to appease Indra, the king should himself plough the barren land. King Janak instantly agreed to plough the field. While ploughing the field, it rained heavily."
The residents of the region have been upset since they have not received any rain this season and this is delaying the sowing of paddy.
In Gonda district of Uttar Pradesh, one Sumit Kumar Yadav has lodged a complaint with the tehsildar against Lord Indra, seeking appropriate action for the delay in rains.
In a surprising move, the tehsildar has forwarded the complaint to senior officials for ‘suitable action’.
