Makar Sankranti is often celebrated as Uttarayani in Uttarakhand. In Kumaon it is known as Uttarayani festival or Ghughuti festival. On this day big fairs are also organized at Sangam places like Haridwar, Bageshwar etc. On this day flour is kneaded by mixing jaggery and a special bird Ghughuti (Ghughuti is a bird found in the mountains.)Make a shape and cook it by putting it in ghee and make a garland of it and also put orange fruits etc. in the garland. These garlands are worn around the neck of the children, they wake up in the morning wearing a garland and call the crows by saying black and black and feed them after breaking them with a dish garland. This practice is not seen anywhere else than Kumaon. This is an ancient festival here.
Why is the Ghughutia festival celebrated?
Different views are heard in this regard. One opinion is that Chand Raja Kalyan Chand had no children in Kumaon. The childless king and queen would always be sad for this. At the same time, the minister who is the trustworthy minister of the king thinks that due to the absence of any successor of the king, he will get the kingdom after the king.
After consulting astrologers and family priests, once King Kalyan Chand went to the Baghnath temple with his wife and asked Lord Shiva for the happiness of children. After some time with the blessings of Lord Shiva, the king received the son Ratna, whose name was Nirbhaychand. The queen affectionately called him Ghughuti. The queen had garlanded him with a pearl which was very much liked by the boy. He would never let that pearl rosary separate from him. The ghuguti used to be very happy wearing this garland. When he insisted on something, his mother would tell him not to insist, otherwise I will give the garland to the crow. To scare the child, the queen used to call the crows that – black crows eat black ghuguti garlands. The queen used to keep some food outside so that a crow often used to visit her courtyard. The prince also kept food for the crow, due to which he became friends with that crow.
On the other hand, the minister, who was waiting for the throne, started thinking of killing Ghughuti so that he could get the throne. The minister conspired with some of his colleagues. One day when Ghughuti was playing, he quietly picked him up and took him to a deserted forest. When he was taking Ghughuti towards the forest, a crow saw him and started cawing loudly. Hearing his voice, Ghughuti started crying loudly and took off his garland and started showing it. The crow gathered the rest of the crows with his voice.
In the midst of Prince Ghughuti’s attempt to free himself and the minister’s force, the garland of the prince’s neck broke and fell on the ground. The crow picked up the garland and took it to the palace. The remaining crows attacked the minister with a peck, due to which the minister had to run away. On the other hand, the friend crow attracted the attention of the people with his crow loudly in the palace and flew towards the forest and started pointing back again. The army and people, including the king and queen, followed the crow and ran towards the forest.
The crow took them to the same place where that prince Ghughuti was. The king’s queen’s happiness knew no bounds after getting the prince. It is said that after coming home, the queen made many dishes and asked Ghughuti to feed this dish to the crows. It is also believed that gradually this thing spread all over Kumaon and on the orders of the king, this festival was celebrated on this day in which crows were called and food was started.
Uttarayani, another folk tale based on Ghugutiya:
It is said that in ancient times there used to be a king named Ghughuti in the hilly areas. Once suddenly he became very ill. Even after taking many types of medicines, he could not recover, so he called astrologers in his palace. Astrologer after seeing the planetary condition of the king told that there is a terrible Marak Yog going on. His death was announced by crows on the day of Uttarayani. In order to avoid his death on the day of Uttarayani, this measure was taken that on the day of Uttarayani, the crows have to be entangled by feeding them Dhudhut, Puri etc. from morning itself.Because crows are considered the symbol of time. This thing was told to all the subjects. On the day of Makar Sankranti, the people made a dish in the name of Ghughuti Raja with a solution of flour and jaggery and called crows in the morning and fed them. Thus the death of the king was averted. Because there is no delay in preparing the dish in the morning of Uttarayani, the tradition of preparing the dish at night itself and making garlands for the crows started.
Religious importance of Uttarayani festival:
Uttarayani One of the reasons for celebrating black crow on the day is that the crow is considered an exclusive devotee of Lord Vishnu. Vishnu is worshiped after bathing on the night of Uttarayani. Wise people are busy in worshiping Vishnu, while the child devotees of Vishnu please the crow because Saturn is the ruler of Makar Sankranti and Saturn is of black color, so black bird crow is invoked.
Along with Ghughuti, Uttarayani festival is considered a big festival in Kumaon. This festival is Shri Ganesha of Magh bath because Magh month is considered best among all months. Those who are unable to bathe for the whole month, they definitely bathe on the first three days of the month of Magh. By bathing for three days in the month of Magha, one gets as much virtue as one gets by bathing in Pushkar, Ganga, Prayag and other pilgrimage places for 10 years.
The most important thing in the entire Magh month is the bath which is done before sunrise when the Sun is transiting towards Capricorn. The bath of this time is going to destroy all kinds of sins. Bathing in Bageshwar Saryu on Makar Sankranti or Uttarayani festival in Kumaon is as important as bathing in Triveni of Prayag.
Uttarayani Historical importance of the festival:
The historic Uttarayani fair is organized in Bageshwar, to commemorate the biggest festival of Uttarakhand festival, Ghugutiya. It is said that this fair has been going on since the time of Chand kings. Because in Sanatan Dharma, special importance of charity and bath has been told on Makar Sankranti. That is why people used to gather in large numbers on the banks of Saryu from the very first day itself for bathing.
Gradually it developed into a fair. The fair of Bageshwar Uttarayani holds a very special place in the Kumaoni culture. In this, you will get the philosophy of culture and civilization of entire Kumaon at one place. In this fair, you will get to buy specialty items, natural herbs, pulses, spices and many other types of handmade products from the mountainous regions of Kumaon and neighboring country Nepal.
Uttarayani Political significance of the festival:
The Uttarayani Mela of Bageshwar has had political significance as well as religious importance. On this festival in 1921, Kumaon Kesari Pandit Badridutt Pandey and his fellow leaders raised their voice against the coolie forced labor system. On this day, these people had thrown the documents and registers related to porter begar in the Saryu river.
