After allowing holding of regular Kambala in Udupi district, the High Court of Karnataka has now permitted celebration of ‘Sampradayabadha Kambala’, which does not involve buffalo racing like the regular Kambala events held annually across the coastal belt of the State but consists of various traditional rituals involving buffaloes.
Interim order
Justice A.S. Bopanna passed the interim order on a petition filed by Udupi Zilla Sampradayabadha Kambala Samiti which had questioned the Deputy Commissioner’s October 24 order of refusing to permit for celebration of Sampradayabadha Kambala at 40 villages across the district.
Terming Sampradayabadha Kambala as a remnant of community cultivation in vast marshy level ground, the petitioner said that this event is organised in different villages in November and December every year before the commencement of the second sowing season.
Stating that Sampradayabadha Kambala does not involve buffalo racing, the petitioner said the day prior to the celebration, landowners perform ‘Naga puja’ and feed ‘prasadam’ to buffaloes, and the next day they drive their cattle used for ploughing to the marshy field and make them walk on it.
Later, the decorated buffaloes are made to walk on the marshy field with a prayer for a better yield of the crop as the second sowing season does not have the support of rain, said the petitioner and claimed that farmers from all communities and religion join hands for preparing land for celebrating Sampradayabadha Kambala.
