Naked Girls Plowing Fields...
By iriscot
@iriscot (1289)
United States
July 25, 2009 10:38am CST
PATNA, India (Reuters) - Farmers in an eastern Indian state have asked their unmarried daughters to plow parched fields naked in a bid to embarrass the weather gods to bring some badly needed monsoon rain, officials said on Thursday.
Witnesses said the naked girls in Bihar state plowed the fields and chanted ancient hymns after sunset to invoke the gods. They said elderly village women helped the girls drag the plows.
"They (villagers) believe their acts would get the weather gods badly embarrassed, who in turn would ensure bumper crops by sending rains," Upendra Kumar, a village council official, said from Bihar's remote Banke Bazaar town.
"This is the most trusted social custom in the area and the villagers have vowed to continue this practice until it rains very heavily."
India this year suffered its worst start to the vital monsoon rains in eight decades, causing drought in some states.
(Writing by Bappa Majumdar Editing by Sugita Katyal)
What say you?
4 responses
@jaiho2009 (39142)
• Philippines
25 Jul 09
What a belief?..With the technology they can ask the Indian government to do some watering like irrigation or deep wells.
Is there nothing the government can do with this problem?
@oindy54 (3445)
• India
25 Jul 09
I do not think the government is even aware of it.All they do is to fight in the Parliament between political parties and the whole system in India is very corrupt from top to bottom.Millions of people in India are living below the poverty line and it is natural for such uneducated people to be superstitious.I wish there was an immediate remedy.
@bird123 (10632)
• United States
25 Jul 09
One has to wonder where all the hard working guys are while those naked girls plow!!!! Watching??? Maybe the oldest customs are the best. We need to do this in the USA. Stop using oil and tractors will stop global warming. Once again we have all underestimated GIRL POWER!!!!!Of course, us guys won't be worth much until that field is plowed. We will be doing nothing except watching.
@oindy54 (3445)
• India
25 Jul 09
This is the most shocking piece of news and very sad indeed that even in the present age of internet and technology people cannot get rid of their superstitions.I wish the government will take heed of this and intervene immediately to put a stop to such embarrassing practices.I wonder how the young women can be treated like this in a bid to bring rain.Catering education to each individual in an over populated country like India is a huge problem and this itself is leading to such false and ridiculous beliefs still gripping the mindset of people in the rural areas.I sincerely hope that immediate action will be taken to find an alternate means to make water available to the parched fields through irrigation.Is the government listening?I wonder
