Sama-Cakeba

Siddhi B. Ranjitkar

All people living in the Mithila area celebrate this festival called ‘Sama-Cakeba’ starting on the sixth day of the bright fortnight in the month called Kartik and ending on the full Monday. This festival starts immediately after the festival called ‘Chhatha’ celebrated in this area. Mostly the women celebrate it with love for brothers and hate for the informer for misinforming Lord Krishna. Then, everybody dinning on good food on the last day of the festival ends it. ‘Sama’ is a female bird and ‘cakeba’ is a male bird.

A legend has it that Lord Krishna has been furious with his daughter at her wrongdoing believing the third person’s account about her misconduct and changed her to a bird in anger. Lord Krishna has a daughter called Syama. She was married to a man called Caruvakra. One day an unscrupulous person told Lord Krishna that his daughter has had love affairs with an ascetic man. Without listening to his daughter’s side of the story of the love affairs and trying to ascertain the real fact, Lord Krishna made her a bird in his anger. However, she has done nothing wrong, as her father has thought believing to the informer.

In protest against making his spouse a bird and with so much of love for her, her husband Caruvakra also changed to a bird for living together with his spouse in the world of birds. Caruvakra went to meditate on the god for pleasing the god and then asking the god for changing him to a bird. Ultimately, he has succeeded to please the god and got himself changed to a bird. Thus, Caruvakra became a bird and went to live with his spouse in the world of birds.

Finding both the sister and brother-in-law have changed to birds, the brother became very sorry for them and wanted to change them back to humans again. So, he went to meditate on the god and underwent physical sufferings for getting met his wishes by the god. After a number of years of his great efforts on pleasing the god, he ultimately succeeded in pleasing the god and the god met his wishes. With the favor of the god, his sister and brother-in-law changed back to humans.

So, sisters celebrate this festival called ‘Sama-Cakeba’ with love for brothers and hate for the third person that has misinformed Lord Krishna and has made him furious with his daughter at her reportedly misconduct and changed her to a bird. Sama has evolved from ‘Syama’: the name of Krishna’s daughter and Cakeba is derived from ‘Caruvakra’: the name of the husband of ‘Syama’.

Women illuminate their houses and ultimately illuminating every village each evening during the festival period. Thus, they keep villages in a festival mood for eight days of the festival. 

In celebration of this festival starting on sixth day of the bright fortnight in Kartik, women make clay male and female birds and dry them on the sun during the day and them collect those clay birds in wicker baskets in the evening every day during the festival period.

At night every woman takes the clay birds in a wicker basket to an open area and then all women sit in a circle everyone setting her basket at the seat. Then they sing songs praising the love of brothers and of the god that has changed the birds back to humans and hating the person that has misinformed Lord Krishna about the daughter. While singing songs women swing the wicker baskets with clay birds holding them by both hands. It becomes a village opera.

Every day for eight days and nights, women in the Mithila area celebrate this festival making clay birds in a day and swinging them in wicker baskets and singing various songs in praise of brothers and in hate of the person deluding Lord Krishna every night.

Women also perform the feeding of the clay birds in an operatic way. In honor of the female bird ‘Sama’ and the male bird ‘Cakeba’, they feed the clay birds with the seeds of grass, and sing songs in praise of the birds.

Similarly, singing women perform the punishment given to the person that has deluded Lord Krishna. They burn jute fibers for symbolically burning the moustache of the person thus giving him the punishment for misinforming Lord Krishna about the daughter and Krishna punishing the daughter changing her to a bird. This is also done in an operatic manner.

Women also sing the songs describing the love of the brother for his sister and for undergoing incredible sufferings for changing his sister and brother-in-law from birds back to humans again. Similarly, they also sing songs in praise of the husband that has shown so much of love for his spouse changing himself to a bird to be with her in the world of birds.

So, this festival is for appreciating the love of brothers for sisters and the love of husbands for spouses in operatic ways. This festival is almost like the folk operas played in villages for eight days hating the unscrupulous man and loving the good people.

On the full moon day in Kartik, women offer sweets and other good foods to brothers and then dine on the festival food. Women prepare good food for their brothers the whole day and serve the good dishes to brothers in the evening. Then, all other family members also dine on the festival food.

Brothers usually visit their sisters on the full moon day and celebrate the festival with sisters. They enjoy the good food sisters have prepared for them and for the family. Thus, this festival is also for meeting between the brothers and sisters, and for them together enjoying the festival food.

This festival is also for the Mithila women to go out of the four walls they perpetually live in. During the festival time they have the opportunity of going out of their homes and sing with other friends and relatives at the open places in villages. Thus, the Mithila women enjoy freedom of free movement out of their homes at least for eight days during this festival.

Brothers end the festival breaking up clay birds sisters have made for the festival and disposing them of at their farmlands. Sisters hand out the basketful of clay birds they have made during the eight-day festival period to brothers for ending the festival. Then, brothers break up the clay birds and take the wicker baskets full of broken clay birds to their farmland and dispose the broken clay birds there and end the festival of the ‘Sama-Cakeba’ for a year.

Nobody knows when this festival has started off but various Hindu scriptures called ‘purans’ mention it indicating it must be the very old tradition. This culture of brothers and sisters having so much of love for and dedication to each other is certainly very ancient one.

November 5, 2009.

This festival has ended on Monday November 2, 2009.