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Bhojali (Bhujalia)
Festival
 This major festival of Chhattisgarh is observed in the month of Bhadra. About a week before the actual
Bhojali day, i.e. on the day of Nagpanchami, wheat, gram, rice or kondo seeds are sown in earthen pots and
manured to grow into green shoots.
These seeds are watered everyday with a view to having the ensuing crop in abundance. The sprouting of the seeds is called
Bhujaria in Bundelkhand and Jawara in Malwa. At some places seeds are nurtured in leaf-cups or 'churkus' which is a kind of conical baskets tied at the top of bamboo pieces.
On the Bhojali day, meals are held in all town, village and locality. The womenfolk of the countryside holding the
Bhojali (the seedlings) in their hands or keeping the earthen pots containing the green expansion on their heads go in groups to close by rivers or tanks.
There the Bhojali is floated over the water. While on the way to the river they sing traditional songs, many of which are addressed to the river Ganges.
In Bundelhand, blades of grain are exchanged among friends and relatives. In
Chhattisgarh, during the festival, women assemble at the melas and address one another in terms of Bhojali. When the sprouts are submitted to the water, the concluding songs generally refer to
Bhojali as a deity, close to the mother-goddess.
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