Women strip for rain
Women at Doddakurugodu in Gauribidanur stripped themselves naked and offered prayers to the rain god.
Women aged between 40 and 50 offered prayers for five days — Thursday to Monday — from 8 pm to 10 pm near the village. After praying aloud, they walked half-a-km along the bank of the village tank, put their clothes on, prostrated before the tank and returned home.
Valvemen as well as village elders stood guard during the ritual.
On the last day, the women also offered prayers at the nearby Gangamma Devi temple. They cooked food on the tank’s bank and served it to cowherds and shepherds and other residents of Doddakurugodu.
The village has been experiencing drought year after year — 32 of the last 75 years.
Local environmentalist Doddakurugodu Chowdappa has requested “people’s
representatives, thinkers and the government to take action to preserve water resources and also implement irrigation projects to avoid such situations.”
