WB Farmers fight bad monsoon with frog marriage

FROG TALES: Farmers worry the scant monsoon could soon turn into famine if rains shy away totally.

Ads by Google

ibnlive.com is on mobile now. Read news, watch videos
be a Citizen Journalist. Log on to m.ibnlive.com NOW!

Related Stories

• Monsoon hits Bihar

• Monsoon hits Kerala a week early, farmers rejoice

• Monsoon loses pace, no progress since Monday

Photogallery

Find us on Facebook | Join IBNLive community

Stay ahead with G-Talk Buddy | Click now!

  

Kolkata: Bengal farmers are falling back on a trusted local method to bring badly needed monsoon rains -- marrying off two frogs.

Villagers in West Bengal pooled their money together this week to marry Ram and Sita, two frogs named after the most revered mythological couple from the epic Ramayana.

Following an ancient Hindu belief, the frogs' heads were smeared with vermilion paint and the pair were held up in the air in a ritual in front of a traditional clay candle.

"We feted about 3,000 villagers and solemnised the marriage with every single ritual," Shobin Ray, head of a local council in Madhya Baragari village, about 750 km (470 miles) north of state capital Kolkata, told Reuters by phone.

The women at the wedding fasted beforehand and then invited the river to join the ceremony and give its blessing, as is customary in Bengali tradition, he said.

India this year suffered its worst start to the vital monsoon rains in eight decades, causing drought in some states.