Reluctant to break from its tradition of worshipping goddesses, the people of Kedaripuram village in Andhra Pradesh had a simple solution when it came to honouring the Mahatma Gandhi. They decided to worship him as a goddess.
The New Indian Express recently reported that villagers celebrate the harvest of the kharif season in a festival called Gandhamma Sambaram, which features Gandhi as a goddess. The father of the nation wields power to deliver a bumper crop, the villagers believe.
"Villagers in north coastal Andhra usually worship goddesses before beginning farm operations. So we consider Gandhi as a goddess who blesses us with bumper yields," K Falguna Rao, sarpanch of Kedaripuram, told the newspaper.
The village prides itself in emulating Gandhi's satyagraha when it came to freeing up 250 acres of land which the farmers had tilled. "Our elders, inspired by Mahatma Gandhi, then staged a satyagrah and got the land freed," said Rao.
The NewsMinute pointed out Gandhamma Sambaram is a non religious festival in which everyone participates regardless of their faith.
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