Excelsior Correspondent
UDHAMPUR, June 18: The Udhampur Campus of the University of Jammu organised the festival of “Raade” celebrating traditional “Tamdeh” on the occasion of Aashad Sankranti, which is believed to have been observed in Duggar since time immemorial.
The month-long festival commenced with an inauguration ceremony graced by Vikram Singh, Sarpanch, Garnai Lotta along with Naib Sarpanch Dina Nath. The event began with inserting ‘Dhamma Raada’ (made of largest circular neck of earthen pot) in the centre of other Raadas to give it prominence.
Women from the surrounding areas of the Udhampur Campus, the students and the faculty participated in the event by placing the necks of the earthen pots in the ground and planting seeds of different kharif crops like maize, sesame (til), millet, etc in them. The growth of these Raades signifies growth and good fortunes of the members of the family.
On this occasion, the women also recited folk songs and Bhajans, particularly those that were about Raades. Every Sunday at sunset, these Raades are beautifully and artistically decorated with natural and herbal colours made from flour and ground rice, turmeric and dried leaves of plants in a variety of designs as a Rangoli in order to seek God’s blessings for health and prosperity.
Speaking on the occasion, Rector, Udhampur Campus, University of Jammu, Prof. Yash Pal Sharma said Raade is a celebration of happiness, colours, vitality, mutual affection and good fortune. However, he added, as in case of other such festivals, this beautiful and colourful ritual is also losing its sheen due to the ignorance of the youth, lack of social connect and the generational gap.
Exhorting youth for taking their time off from their hectic and monotonous life to celebrate such festivities, Prof Sharma also advised parents to continuously interact with their children and motivate them to organize and participate in such festivals so that our rich culture is preserved and transmitted to the posterity.
The event was coordinated by Dr Mamta Sharma, Lecturer in Commerce and attended by the students, locals village Garnai Lotta, Non- teaching staff and Teaching faculty of Udhampur Campus including Dr Shilpa Gupta, Dr Ritika Sambyal, Dr Kamani Dutta, Dr Jatinder Kour, Taruna Dubey, Dr Jyotishna and Dr Sunita Kumari.
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