The Bhumi Panduga festival is celebrated annually by tribesmen in villages of the Bhadradri Kothagudem district and Andhra Pradesh mandals of Yatapaka, VR Puram, Kunavaram, and Chintoor. The festival started in June and will continue until the end of July.
The festivities kick off with women pouring water into fields and singing traditional “Rela” songs. Each tribal hamlet establishes a timetable and carries out customary celebrations before the official start of the event, which lasts for three to five days.
During the festival, men go on hunting expeditions with their trained dogs to capture small game, believed to bring a good harvest. Women sing “Rela” songs as a way of greeting and lay logs across the main road to signal if the men go hunting early in the morning.
The person who hunts with a bow is celebrated as a hero, paraded through the village while chanting Rela songs and adorned with wild flowers. Women also travel to nearby towns to beg for money while performing Rela tunes in stores.
After gathering praise for five days, they buy dal and jaggery to share with everyone on the sixth day. It is believed that finding tiny animals during the five days of hunting will result in a good crop yield that year.
A significant ritual involves offering the hunted animal at the “Mutyalamma” tree with prayers and singing before distributing the meat among villagers. The festival concludes with the traditional Kommu Koya dance, promoting community and cultural pride among tribespeople.
Sode Venkanna, a tribal, emphasized the importance of engaging enthusiastically in the Kommu Koya traditional dance at the end of the week-long celebration. The festival began in early June and will end in late July, marking a significant tribal celebration eagerly awaited each year.
