After the monsoon season was delayed across India, authorities at Sri Raja Rajeshwara Devasthanam in the Indian state of Telangana conducted a four-day-long varuna yagam to appease the Hindu god of rain Indra. A total number of 60 priests participated in the grand ceremony where various deities were invoked over four days of continual rituals starting July 2nd and ending July 5th. Incidentally, rains set in at the village where the yagam was conducted, as well as neighbouring villages the same evening the yagam ended.
Delays in the arrival of seasonal rains can have a severe impact on the agriculture-dependant economy as well as the availability of drinking water for the common man. In the city of Indore in the state of Madhya Pradesh, a man gave God an “ultimatum” by putting up a poster that said he would go on a hunger strike if it did not begin to rain within a week.
“It is God’s duty to take care of all living creatures on earth. And he must make it rain on time to provide one of the basic necessities of life, water, to commoners. Farmers in the state are in dire need of water and a delay in monsoon will spell doom for them. I will sit on hunger strike against the delay in monsoon from July 8th. God Indra is omniscient and omnipresent. Indoreans have tried to appease him in several ways but all has been in vain. Now, we are left with no other option but to protest. Hope he will read this poster and shower blessings on us,” said middle-aged Prahalad Sharma.
Similarly, residents from another locality in Indore did something equally bizarre to appease the rain god. They “married” two German Shepherd dogs in a traditional Hindu ceremony, with strong belief that that would make it rain. In a third bizarre incident, a group of women marched across the streets of Indore carrying frogs on their head hoping that would convey their message to the gods above.
Droughts are a cause of great fear amongst Indian farmers because they often lead to failed crops and farmer suicides. The delayed monsoons have not only caused farmers to conduct yagams but also compelled school authorities in rural areas to ask students to pray for their fathers’ harvests.
