For Shrimalis garba takes a morbid hue

Palanpur, Oct 2 (UNI) Instead of the usual gaiety and garba, the Shrimali Vado community observes mourning on the seventh day of Navratri festival.

Scores of Shrimalis, in Kheralu taluka about 35 km from Mehasana in Mehasna district, assemble on the appointed day dressed in whites to observe a mock funeral, with the women crying and thumping their chests.

Gopalbhai Nathabhai Trivedi (33) lies on a bamboo ladder and then tied and covered with a shroud, with him playing the 'corpse'. It is then taken to the temple of the goddess and after completing all necessary rituals the 'corpse' is carried imitating a real last rites procession.

Then it is symbolically laid to rest.

According to Shrimali elders, the strange custom is followed ''to rid us of the wrath of 'Mada' our family Goddess''.

''We migrated from Bhinmal in Rajasthan probably without the permission of our Goddess and settled here some 300 years ago. As a result we had to face her wrath in the form of diseases and untimely deaths,'' Narhari Prahladji Trivedi, 60, said.

An elderly Indaba Trikamalal Trivedi remarked, ''While we were all bewildered not knowing what to do, the goddess appeared in the dream of one of our forefathers and revealed this ritual to him,'' ''I did not like this one bit. Then illness struck me too and many others adding to our troubles. And then I realised that the ritual has to be performed and there was no way out,'' said Hasmukh Trivedi.

''There were many discordant voices against this practice initially. We therefore made it obligatory for all to observe the tradition strictly,'' said Dayabhai Manilal Trivedi.

UNI XR WD YA VV1555