As Kerala reels under the scorching sun and reports indicate that the meteorological centre estimates no significant drop in temperature in the coming days, and with the monsoon being nowhere close, few people in Palakkad have resorted to an age-old ritual to please the rain gods.  

A group of people in Palakkad burned an effigy on Thursday, claiming this age-old ritual to be a sure-shot technique to make it rain. The ritual demands that the 7 feet tall effigy of Kodumpaapi (sinner), be dragged on the road for a distance of a kilometer and a half accompanied by the drum rolls, before it is set on fire.

V Nadesan, organizer of the event, told The NewsMinute that the people resort to this ritual when it gets impossible to bear the brunt of the scorching sun.

The highest temperature recorded in the State was 41.1 degree Celsius in Palakkad.

He said, “This is a traditional ritual that we practice during summer when the heat gets unbearable. We have been conducting the ritual for the past ten years and not even once have the rain gods betrayed us.”

Kodumpaapi (sinner), a symbolic figure made with hay, is fastened with thick ropes and paraded in public before it is set ablaze. As the smoke rises to the sky, the popular belief stands, rains can no longer evade the land.

Though dark clouds did loom over the sky but no showers poured down post the ritual, Nadesan seems to be optimistic, “After conducting the ritual the previous year, we received rainfall so much so that people began to pray for the rains to stop.”

News, views and interviews- Follow our election coverage.

Click TN Election Special

Click Kerala Election Special