PARV 24 OF 30 · KARTIK
सामा चकेवा
Kartik Shukla Saptami (after Chhath) to Kartik Purnima (November)
"सामा खेले चललीं, भैया के बगिया"
Katha · The story
Sama was Krishna's daughter, and she loved to wander in the forests with the rishis. A courtier, Chugla the backbiter, told Krishna she was meeting men there, and Krishna in anger cursed her to become a bird. Her brother Chakeva, who loved her, did penance until Krishna relented, and Sama was returned to human form. Chugla's lies were exposed and his moustache set on fire. The sisters of Mithila have sung this story every Kartik for centuries, and it is also the story of the birds that come to Mithila's ponds in winter.
For eight evenings after Chhath, the girls of each tola shape Sama, Chakeva, Chugla, the birds, the dog and the sati-bihula from clay, paint them, keep them in a bamboo basket and take them out at dusk to sing. On Kartik Purnima night the brothers come to the jowar fields, the sisters give them the clay figures, Chugla's moustache is burnt, and Sama is seen off with the last song until next year.
Mahatva · Significance
It is the Maithil festival of brother and sister, a counterpart to Rakhi, and of the migratory birds whose arrival marks winter. Its figures and songs are among the oldest folk art of Mithila. It also keeps the girls of a tola together in the week after Chhath, when the men have mostly left again.
"सामा चकेवा अइहा हे, ई साल के जइहा हे"
A line everyone at the festival knows
Vidhi · How it is done in Malinagar
Chura, dahi, the makhana and gur the brothers bring, and the sweets exchanged on Purnima.
Sama Chakeva is fading in the cities and alive in villages like ours. If the girls of your tola still make the figures, the gallery wants a photo.