🌳 Karma / Karam Parv (Karma Ekadashi) Puja Vidhi — step by step
This is the village-home vidhi of Karma — from growing the jawa to the worship and immersion of the Karam branch; led by the pahan/elders, every village with its own flavour.
How to do Karma / Karam Parv (Karma Ekadashi) — the steps
- Growing the jawa (7-9 days earlier — usually Bhadrapada Shukla Tritiya/Panchami): unmarried girls/women bring sand-soil from the river or pond and sow seeds of barley, wheat, maize, urad, gram and mustard in a new bamboo basket (dalia); after bathing every morning and evening they give water-turmeric-a lamp, sing jawa songs ('jawa uthana'), the basket in a high, pure place; the sprouts come up yellow-green.
- Karma morning (Ekadashi): the sisters fast (waterless/fruit), bathe, new/clean clothes, plastering and decorating the house and courtyard (akhara); the brothers/young men cut a branch of the Karam tree from the forest (without letting it touch the ground, with songs and nagara) — they do not look back at the branch.
- Evening (Pradosh — time above): planting the Karam branch in the centre of the akhara (three branches too), the jawa baskets around it, lamps, flowers-akshat-turmeric-sindoor-durva, cucumber-fruit-murhi (puffed rice)-jaggery, coconut; the girls offer sindoor and flowers to the Karam branch and their jawa on the branch; the fasting sisters sit holding jawa in their hands.
- The Karam katha: the pahan/elder tells the tale of Dharma and Karma (below), the girls respond with 'hunkari'; after the katha the fast is broken — cucumber, fruit, murhi-jaggery, rice-milk (in many regions the full meal later at night).
- All night: the Karma dance around the Karam branch to the mandar, nagara and cymbals (a circle — women and men holding hands), Karma songs (jhumar, damkach, 'Karam Raja…'), handia (some communities); the whole village, sisters, brothers and sisters-in-law; new clothes and jewellery.
- The next morning (Dwadashi — immersion): the Karam branch is pulled out and immersed in the river/pond with song and dance; the sisters pluck the jawa sprouts and tuck them behind the brothers' ears/in their turbans (the blessing of protection), the brother gives the sister a gift; a share of the jawa to the field, threshing floor and home temple — the prosperity of the harvest; the remaining sprouts to the cow.
- Home custom (non-tribal rural families): if no Karam branch, a shami/peepal branch or a Karam picture; the jawa on the Tulsi chaura; katha and songs; the sisters do the brother's aarti and tilak; on this day all communities in Jharkhand dance — go to the 'Karam akhara'.
- Jitiya Karam (Ashwin Krishna Ashtami — some regions): the Karam branch with Jitiya; the same fast; Dussehra Karam on Ashwin Shukla Dashami; match the date with the panchang/village pahan.
Puja samagri checklist
The jawa basket and seeds, the Karam branch, sindoor-turmeric-durva, cucumber-murhi-jaggery, the mandar and nagara — the Karma list.
- Jawa: new bamboo basket (dalia) 1-3, river sand-soil, seeds — barley, wheat, maize, urad, gram, mustard, paddy; turmeric water, lamp
- The Karam branch (the Karam/haldu tree — *Adina cordifolia*; if unavailable, shami/peepal), a pit in the akhara, cow-dung plastering
- Puja: sindoor, turmeric, akshat (arwa rice), durva, flowers (marigold-lotus), incense-lamp (mustard oil), coconut, betel nut-paan, mauli
- Naivedya/fasting food: cucumber (the main), fruit (banana-guava), murhi/lai (puffed rice), jaggery, chura-curd, rice-milk, sesame; the night feast — rice-dal-sabzi, pitha
- The Karma dance: mandar, nagara, dhol, cymbals, flute; new clothes (sari — red-yellow border), jewellery, flower crowns (girls)
- For the brother: jawa sprouts (to tuck behind the ear), the tilak-aarti thali; a gift from the brother to the sister
- Katha and songs: the Dharma-Karma katha (pahan/book), Karma-jhumar songs; hunkari
- Immersion: song and dance to the river/pond, a share of jawa for the field
Cucumber, murhi-jaggery, chura-curd, pitha — the fasting thali and night feast of Karma
On Karma the sisters fast all day (waterless/fruit) and break the fast after the katha with cucumber, fruit, murhi and jaggery; cucumber-murhi-jaggery-coconut-fruit for the Karam branch; rice-dal-sabzi, pitha (of rice flour) and kheer at the night feast; handia (rice beer) is in the tradition of rural-tribal homes, but not in the vrat and puja.
- Breaking the fast: cucumber (the main — the Karam prasad), fruit (banana-guava-apple), murhi/lai-jaggery, chura-curd, rice-milk (some regions), sesame-jaggery
- The naivedya of the Karam branch: cucumber, murhi, jaggery, coconut, fruit, arwa rice; the jawa sprouts
- The night feast: arwa rice, dal (arhar/moong), sabzi (pumpkin-okra-cowpea), greens, pitha (rice flour with coconut-jaggery/urad filling — steamed/griddle), kheer, curd
- Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh: dhuska (fried rice-dal), arsa (rice-jaggery), thekua, madua roti, cheela; Odisha (Sundargarh-Mayurbhanj): pitha-arisa-manda, chakuli; Bengal (Purulia): pithe, muri-jaggery; Assam (tea gardens): pitha, rice-meat (the festive feast)
- For the brother: pitha-kheer from the sister's hands, jawa sprouts; a gift from the brother to the sister
Rules — do's and don'ts
✅ Do
- Grow the jawa 7-9 days earlier (girls), daily water-lamp-song; the fast and worship of the Karam branch on Karma
- The Karam branch with respect — do not look back, do not let it touch the ground; shami/peepal if unavailable
- Hear the Dharma-Karma katha, hunkari; the family in the night's dance and song; the immersion the next morning and the jawa behind the brother's ear
- The brother's gift to the sister, the sister's aarti-tilak-jawa for the brother; a share of the jawa in the field
- Non-tribals are welcome at the akhara too — Karma is Jharkhand's shared festival
❌ Don't
- No disrespect to the Karam branch/jawa, throwing or trampling (the katha's lesson — calamity); no harm to the tree when cutting the branch (one branch)
- No liquor or meat in the puja and fast; no intoxicants or fights at the night dance
- No unwashed hands in the jawa basket, no touching the jawa during menstruation (folk rule — another girl does it)
- No waterless fast for the unwell/pregnant — fruit; the night vigil according to health
- No mockery or commercialisation of the Karma dance — it is a festival of faith
Vrat katha
Dharma and Karma were two brothers — Karma went abroad to trade, Dharma farmed at home and worshipped the Karam deity. When Karma returned with his earnings he saw the preparations for the Karma festival at home — everyo… Read the full katha →
Frequently asked questions
When is Karma in {Y}?
This year's Bhadrapada Shukla Ekadashi (Bhado Karam) date is above — in the North-Indian panchang this is the Parivartini (Jaljhulani) Ekadashi; the jawa is sown 7-9 days earlier (Shukla Tritiya-Panchami); the immersion the next morning (Dwadashi); the dates of the Jitiya Karam/Dussehra Karam of some regions differ — match with the village pahan/panchang.
Whose festival is Karma — only the tribals'?
Originally of the tribal communities (Munda-Oraon-Santhal-Ho-Kharia-Baiga-Gond) and the Kurmi-Mahato community of Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh-Odisha, but all village communities (rural Hindus) celebrate together; a state festival in Jharkhand — everyone dances in the cities; being a brother-sister and harvest festival it has the spirit of Raksha Bandhan, open to all.
What is the jawa and how to grow it?
Sowing seeds of barley, wheat, maize, urad and gram in a new bamboo basket filled with river sand-soil — 7-9 days before Karma; unmarried girls give water and turmeric daily after bathing, sing jawa songs, the basket in a high pure place; on Karma night the jawa beside the Karam branch, the next morning the sprouts behind the brother's ear and in the field — the symbol of fertility, prosperity and the brother's protection (like the barley shoots of Navratri).
Which tree is the Karam? What if no branch is available?
Karam = *Adina cordifolia* of the haldu/kadamba family (the Karam/karam gachha) — a tree of the forests of Jharkhand-Chhattisgarh; the young men bring the branch without letting it touch the ground; if unavailable, a branch of shami, peepal, bel or kadamba, or a picture of the Karam deity — the spirit is the same; migrant communities in cities usually plant a shami branch.
What vrat do the sisters keep and what does the brother do?
The sisters (unmarried and married) keep a waterless/fruit fast all day for the brother's long life and fortune, tend the jawa, worship the Karam branch and hear the katha, dance at night; the brother brings the branch, takes the jawa sprout behind his ear from the sister the next morning and gives her a gift — like Raksha Bandhan; married sisters come to their parental home.
What is the Karma dance?
The night-long communal dance of women and men in a circle around the Karam branch — mandar, nagara, cymbals, flute; the Karma-jhumar songs ('Karam Raja…', damkach); the state folk dance of Chhattisgarh, the heritage of Jharkhand-Odisha and the tea gardens of Assam; the dress — a red-bordered sari, flower crowns, the men in dhoti and turban.
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