stes in Chhattisgarh:

32. Rites connected with the crops. Customs of cultivation

The agricultural year begins on Akti or the 3rd day of Baisakh
(April-May). On that day a cup made of _palas_ [73] leaves and filled
with rice is offered to Thakur Deo. In some villages the boys sow
rice seeds before Thakur Deo's shrine with little toy ploughs. The
cultivator then goes to his field, and covering his hand with
wheat-flour and turmeric, stamps it five times on the plough. The
malguzar takes five handfuls of the seed consecrated to Thakur Deo and
sows it, and each of the cultivators also sows a little. After this
regular cultivation may begin on any day, though Monday and Friday
are considered auspicious days for the commencement of sowing. On the
Hareli, or festival of the fresh verdure, which falls on the 15th day
of Shrawan (July-August), balls of flour mixed with salt are given to
the cattle. The plough and all the implements of agriculture are taken
to a tank and washed, and are then set up in the courtyard of the house
and plastered with cowdung. The plough is set facing towards the sun,
and butter and sugar are offered to it. An earthen pot is whitewashed
and human figures are drawn on it with charcoal, one upside down. It is
then hung over the entrance to the house and is believed to avert the
evil eye. All the holes in the cattle-sheds and courtyards are filled
and levelled with gravel. While the rice is growing, holidays are
observed on five Sundays and no work is done. Before harvest Thakur
Deo must be propitiated with an offering of a white goat or a black
fowl. Any one who begins to cut his crop before this offering has
been made to Thakur Deo is fined the price of a goat by the village
community. Before threshing his corn each cultivator offers a separate
sacrifice to Thakur Deo of a goat, a fowl or a broken cocoanut. Each
evening, on the conclusion of a day's threshing, a wisp of straw is
rubbed on the forehead of each bullock, and a hair is then pulled
from its tail, and the hairs and straw made into a bundle are tied
to the pole of the threshing-floor. The cultivator prays, 'O God
of plenty! enter here full and go out empty.' Before leaving the
threshing-floor for the night some straw is burnt and three circles are
drawn with the ashes, one round the heap of grain and the others round
the pole. Outside the circles are drawn pictures of the sun, the moon,
a lion and a monkey, or of a cart and a pair of