@@@~~~Stoning to death, a tradition!~~~@@@, Mysticism, reading, forums, Numerology, Sun Signs, Divination

Posts: 403 · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 4:52 am

Gotmaar festival in India

A river cuts a town divided bv a strange ritual of hatred. On either side are men -and women - with faces disfigured, lives ruined. Their faces a hideous canvas, the deep cuts that run through their bodies mask a tale that is horrifying and ridiculous. Gotmaar must certainly rank as one of the wildest, most insane ‘‘festivals” of India.

It all started 300 years ago when Sawargaon and Pandurna, the two villages on either side of the Jaam river in Madhya Pradesh, broke into a vicious battle over a marriage that went wrong. The bride was from Sawargaon and groom Pandurna.

While Sawargaon tried to take away its bride, Pandurna would just not allow her to be whisked away. Since then, the divided people in this Chhindwara town stone each other on the day following the central Indian bullock festival of Pola - on amavasya after the Bhadon month in the Hindu calendar.

On this day, the 45,000 people here go back to the stone age, too literally for comfort. One can get away with murder. This strange exchange turns perfectly normal humans into fighting machines. Wild, angry and bloodthirsty.

Stone in hand, they will not let the brutality fade with time. In fact, there is almost a sense of pride that flows with the blood. Scores of people have been killed over the years.

Many have lost their eyes, splintered their faces and gone home paralysed. But nothing stops them. It is as if a spirit overwhelms them, possessing their bodies in this evil competition to kill and maim. A contest that has no winners.

There is little anyone can do with people who take their injuries as ‘‘prasad” of the deity Chandrika. There is a sca-rier development now, truck loads of stones and pebbles are brought in from outside and placed strategically on the river bank for use by the rival parties.

And though liquour is banned by the administration two days before Gotmaar, there is no dearth of it.The people procure it illegally.

‘‘Only those who get drunk out of their minds can participate in it and brave a shower of stones,” says DSP Vivek Sharma, posted in Chhindwara.

“This is the Republic of Pandurna. It has its own laws. When deaths occur there are no complaints, so the police has in all these years never been able to book anyone for murder. There are about 1,000 people with injuries every year, more than 100 of them serious.

Two decades ago, some policemen were stoned to death when they tried to intervene. The marauding mobs never give up.” There will be Gotma-ar then, as long as there are stones on the roads of Pandurna.

Courtesy-TIMES OF INDIA

BYE.......

Posts: 403 · Posted: Wed Aug 10, 2005 5:00 am

Nothing dramatizes the extent of pointless violence among us more than the Gotmaar Festival in Pandhurna, India. After a full moon in early September, all village activity stops. The males divide into two groups, gather rocks, and spend the rest of the day throwing rocks at each other. At sunset they stop, nurse the wounded, and return to normal life. In a recent year, 4 were killed and 612 injured.

Posts: 392 · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 3:33 pm

woah...
there is some thing messed up with that...
killing people is normally a no brainer....
throwing stones at people is also normally a no brianer....
and police were killed....
hmmm suggestion for the wise....
DONT bring in rocks...
and DONT throw rocks...
and lastly think of the persons family... you just killed there son...
and you know that next year they are going to try to kill yours...
but hey its all tradition right so have fun *sarcasm*

Posts: 297 · Posted: Fri Aug 12, 2005 4:27 pm

There is an American play that has this same idea to it. I remember doing it in high school. The premice is one person get stoned to death for the benifit of the crops. I cant think of the name of the play now.

Posts: 20 · Posted: Sat Aug 13, 2005 4:46 am

Wow...such a sad and horrifying "tradition". I wonder when it'll end or why people show up at all