Sal Gade Utsav 2023 🙏🔥🔥🔥 || Hoi Saiba

Gada means a man who is believed to have been possessed with extra-human energy. The plural form is Gade. The Gade are men charged with such energy. These men perform feats otherwise impossible for ordinary mortals. There are men who vow to become Gade by way of penance and some for the common good of the village. Such men observe rigid rules of purity and self-mortification to prepare them spiritually. This is a phenomenon unique to Goa. People from all over the Goa come to witness this amazing event during Shigmo. The village of Saal, is the venue of an extraordinary event called Saal Gade. People belonging to the Maratha caste, like the Parabs and the Rauts live in this village, only can become Gada. On the full moon day of Falgun, that is, the day of Holi, sixty-four men from this village gather near the site of the ritual as participants. The ritual has its origin in ancient times. The number sixty-four has great significance in ancient literature dealing with spirituality. (Sixty four Yoginis, goddesses connected with yoga or a magic) These sixty-four men are barefooted, bare bodied except for a short Dhoti worn around their loins and a leather belt tied around their waists, gather near Holi. After requisite rituals the Gade, possessed with spirits, run with great frenzy towards nearby forest, the top of the hillock. Traditionally drums are beaten in the background and lend a certain tempo to the ritual. In spite of being barefooted, they have no concern for the thorns and stones lying on the way. People believe that the spirit, called the Denvchar guides these running men by showing a burning torch intermittently. Those who watch the Gade running into the forest claim having seen the burning torches at a far off distance in the hillock. However, no one has ever seen the agency holding these torches. These Gade have to cross a small rivulet on their way to the hillock and it is believed that none of them show any trace of water on their Dhotis or any injury to their feet. This is attributed to the spirit, with which these Gade are possessed. The Gade make a peculiar sound as a means of communication among them and those who cannot follow this mode of communication are separated from the crowd. This peculiar sound is reminiscent of the primordial sound of Om. In the course of this ritual, some Gade do not come back from the hillock. They are lost in the forest and are believed to be hidden by the spirit of the Devchar. These hidden men appear the next day about three hundred meters away from the ritual site. Some Gade are found in an unconscious state and are carried to the temple by the villagers. The bodies of these men become stiff. But they regain their consciousness as soon as the temple priest sprinkles holy water over them.  All these feats are performed under public gaze. Thousands gather to watch the ritual every year. Curious men from the crowd had in the past, attempted to reach the spot with flickering torches, but in vain. Either such curious men have fallen unconscious or were injured on their way to the forest. The ritual is performed on three different days. The second day is the most important among them. On this day, a large crowd gathers to watch the feats of the Gade. The village is full of legends about this annual ritual running. The villagers claim that on more than one occasion, a Gada was hidden by the Denvchar for one full year. This hidden Gada had come back to his village safely after a year. According to another legend, a man who had vowed to become Gada fell sick and was confined to his house. As soon as he heard the drumbeat played on this occasion, he became restive, climbed his rooftop and from there jumped out and ran toward the ritual site to participate in the ritual running. In yet another legend, an old man who was very sick, got up at the rhythm of drumbeat and after having finished his run, fell down and died. The villagers of Saal implicitly believe these legends. A Mahar community always beats the drums-Dhol and Tasha- on this occasion and the rhythm has a peculiar beat. As the drums are beaten, a group of elderly villagers sitting near Holi and continue in singing traditional salutation songs, known as Naman. These songs are sung in a set order and this order is never changed. The songs must go on incessantly during the ritual run lest a running Gada injures himself. The origin of this ritual is very difficult to establish. However, the locals believe the purpose behind this ritual is to propitiate the local deity and ensure their own protection throughout the year. Men who run as Gade are possessed by inexplicable energy. This is obvious to anybody wishing to stop the running Gade. Even an old and frail man running as a Gada, can overpower anyone coming in his way. The power of this Gada is palpable and those who have tasted it never try to cross the path of a running Gada.

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