more-in It was during the auspicious Shravana month when two brothers went to the hillside to graze their cattle. The cows after filling their stomach at the green wheat fields returned home, leaving behind the digested waste on the rocks. Next day, when the duo went again, they were shocked to see sprouts germinating from the dung, and its roots fixed in the rocks. The powerful Meremma goddess manifests fertility through the sprouts, they believe. The story of Abdu and Gabdu brothers witnessing the goddess through the wheat sprouts, a popular belief among Lambada tribes in the Telugu regions, is an oral history for ages now. Teej, a celebration of fertility, is observed by maidens in Lambada hamlets, just at the beginning of the monsoons, or with the advent of the Shravana month. The young maidens buy baskets made from date twigs and fill them with fertile soil, in which the unmarried men sow the wheat seeds. This practice, Banoth Deepa Jyothi in The oral traditions of Lambadas says, is to “symbolically represent the respective role of males and females in the procreation of the race.” The maidens are to “follow utmost purity” during the ritual. “It is the duty of the woman to take care of the sprouts. Healthier the sprouts growth, more virtuous the husband she would get,” says Maloth Padma, a mother of three girls. Dressed in their traditional red skirts, Pheita with mirror pieces embroidered on it, young women decorate themselves with ornaments from head to toe and make the hamlets come alive with celebratory fervour. According to G. Shankar Naik, a research scholar at Osmania University, the nine-day rituals have a dedicated song for ceremonies on each day. Accompanied by dappu, a local instrument, the women sing in praise of Meremma (for fertility of their women and lands) and Seva bhaya (for protection of cattle). An excerpt from the song: Sevaro teej borayo re, panni ghalena kuvalo khodalo re panni na ra tho; Meramma ro teej borayo re, diyala la gada lo Raatha andarema (Teej for Seva bhaya is sowed, dig the wells if there is no water; Let a lamp be lit if it is dark, Teej has been sown for Meremma.) An important festival of the Lambadas, the festivities which started on Friday, will conclude on August 13. It is said that the women weep on the last day, immersing the baskets in the ponds, unable to part with their love for Teej they nurtured for nine days.

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