Farmers of Chhotanagpur start farming with Aakhan Jatra

Jamshedpur: The people of the farming tribes of Chhotanagpur Plateau started the agricultural work with the Aakhan Jatra on Monday.

In the rural areas of Bidra’s Danga village in the Patmada block, the second day of Makar Sankranti, known as the first Magh, is considered an auspicious day for Aakhan Jatra.

Farmers celebrate this day as the new year because it marks the start of agricultural work.

On this day, farmers bathe, put on new clothes, worship their animal wealth, and begin ploughing their fields on this day.

People who do not have ploughs use a hoe to dig in cow dung twice and a half times.

This tradition has been passed down from ancestors and is reminiscent of the Asuras’ worship of the Sansi-Kutasi tongs and hammer, who were primitive blacksmiths and who are still engaged in iron smelting.

Those who took part in the Aakhan Jatra included Bijay Mahto, Chandan Mahto, Shankar Mahto, Premchand Mahto, Pratap Mahto, Amit Mahto, Maheshwar Mahto, Bhadru Mahto, Hutu Mahto, Bhajhari Mahto, Sukhen Mahto, Mahadev Mahto, Jagdish Mahto, Nityanand Mahto, Sitaram Mahto, Nripen Mahto, Rajeev Mahato, Swapan Mahato, Ashok Mahato, Prahlad Mahato, Subhash Mahato, Mantu Mahato, Siddheshwar Mahato and Rakesh Mahato and all participated in ‘Hal-Punyah’.