Nearly 40 kilometers away from the city of Dhaka, situated along the Dhaka-Mymensingh highway in Gazipur, happens to be a forest named Bhawal Forest – home of the Koch tribe made up of indigenous people, the ‘Rajbangshi’s. In the past, the Rajbangshis used to be the worshippers of nature, and in course of time they converted themselves into Koch in 1954, by the influence of the Hindu religion. They mainly follow the shamanic religion, and are the worshippers of Kali in addition to their boundless respect for the colored skull they keep in every ritual. They call themselves the warriors of the sun, and also claim that they are the descendants of the kings of the Indian sub-continent.
Every year, the people of Rajbangshi tribe hold a festival of Chaitra Puja, part of which is the ‘Chorok Puja’, where the young-adult males of the Rajbangshi tribe are hooked from the skin of their abdominal back, and hung from a huge revolving T-shaped structure. This is a part of their rituals and this task attracts hundreds of audiences who pay a visit to see this.
Chorok Puja is mainly a ritual of the tribal people to satisfy Kali by proving their sacrifice and endurance power. The rituals of the Chorok puja are divided in order to be performed in two days. A Maktab is a young-adult male from the tribe who performs all the rituals by giving instructions to the boys who carry out the tasks and by reciting the different sort of spells as a part of the puja. The Maktab starts reciting the spells along with the beat of drums drummed by a few nearby men. This initiates the ritual, which is performed by the Maktab along with the presence of dhup, an aroma-filled smoke, a colored skull, and a small fire enlightening the small gathering of people surrounding them all. As the recitation continues by different spells of different special features, a number of large knives are kept in front of the other objects, all placed on a large piece of red cloth.
A number of young-adult boys, who are supposed to perform the initiating task, come forward towards the Maktab, with the rest of the people circling around them to watch. A few other men rub a kind of herbal oil on the exposed tops of the boys, which is also a part of the ritual. The beats of the drums get faster, followed by the recitation of the spells by the Maktab which also speed up, along with his outlandish body movement.
The boys perform some kind of meditation, which causes them to think that they are now above all the material things, and that their spirit is not within themselves besides their sub consciousness. Then the task starts, where they lie down their bodies on the dust covered ground around the objects kept for the rituals. They crawl and roll like insects, and all through the time they remain in a state of unexplained paranormal awareness. This may seem barbaric or monstrous to the outsiders, but the people of Rajbangshi value their bravery above others and play the role of fearless worshippers, besides, the most horrific part of the Chorok Puja is to be performed the next day.
The darkness of the night fades away, a new day approaches, and the men start fixing things for the big day. On the second day of Chorok Puja, the Maktab places the colored skull, some needles and flutes on the same piece of red cloth. Beside all these objects, a feet deep hole is made. The music starts to be played as always. A few men bind a heavy piece of wooden log colored in different colors with a bunch of bamboos. Then they insert the weighty log inside the feet deep hole, making a huge T-shaped structure standing above the ground. They also keep some bananas and Shankhas along with the other objects in front of the structure. The Maktab’s recitations continue, along with his body movement. People come forward with a black goat, tie its neck with a rope and circle it around a piece of wood.
Four of the legs of the goat are bent forcefully, and its neck kept on the wood, for beheading purposes, and thus the goat is sacrificed and then cooked for everyone.
The objects of the rituals are blood-bathed by the goat’s blood. The boy who is to perform the Chorok Puja lies down with his back on top. The Maktab oils his back, and inserts the hook in his skin. The boy feels no pain, as he is in a state of no-being by then via meditation, going to a form of trans before performing it. The hook inserted on the back of the boy is then attached to one of the sides of the T-shaped structure, and the boy is pulled to the air. The T-shaped thing is then revolved by tied ropes on the other end, and pulled by other people. The boy is marked with vermillion on his forehead before the revolving starts. People praise the boy for his bravery and devotion, and after a number of 7 rotations, he is finally brought down. The strangest part is that, the hooked boy dangling on air keeps a smile on his face in spite of such painful task throughout the entire ritual, as the state of Trans barricades the feelings of his body towards his brain. Drums are drummed wildly, shankha are blown during the last revolve. After coming down, he is unhooked, and not a single drop of blood oozes from his cut. He then walks around the field, with many people following him along with the musical instruments being played. He feels brave, just like the warrior of the sun he was born.
This is the story of the Chorok Puja, the story of bravery and endurance of the warriors of the sun. This tradition had been followed for several years, attracting hundreds of outsiders as audiences every year. May this custom of the Rajbangshis not fade away, and be preserved as the tribal norm it is.
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