Hyderabad: The villagers of Peddapapaiahpally village in Huzurabad in erstwhile Karimnagar district became cynosure of all eyes on Friday, by performing the marriage of two frogs to appease the God for bountiful rains during this monsoon.
The farmers geared up for taking up agricultural works in the ongoing crop season with the early onset of monsoon this time. Except for a few days, the district did not register more rainfall leaving farmers on the edge. After waiting for a few days, the villagers decided to perform the marriage of frogs to appease the rain God.
According to their plan, the villagers assembled at Sri Ramalingeswara Swamy temple around 9.30 am. Accompanied by village elders, a priest performed the wedding of the frogs after tying them to a stick smeared with turmeric paste and offered special prayers for rains.
It took five hours for the priest and village elders to complete the wedding. Amid drum-beats, they took out a procession covering every house enabling the family members to greet them with pure water laced with vermillion and turmeric and offered as ‘saka’.
“We usually perform the marriage of frogs when there is delay in rains. We have been following this practice for decades and if there is abundant rainfall immediately after the onset of monsoon, we won’t perform the practice,” former village Sarpanch, Boreddy Rajitha Dayakar Reddy told Deccan Chronicle.
She said a majority of villagers took part in the ceremony at Peddapapaiahpally village with 1100 houses. She said every villager was delighted with the wedding, which was organized to appease rain God. “We collected donations from villagers and performed the wedding,” Rajitha explained.
She added that the villagers gave donations depending upon their financial ability and there was no force on them to give a fixed amount.