Nagpur's Marbat festival to feature effigy mocking MPSC corruption

Nagpur's centuries-old Marbat festival, a Vidarbha cultural tradition celebrated with great fervour every year, will this time feature a badga aimed squarely at corruption in the Maharashtra Public Service Commission (MPSC). The festival blends folk tradition, social messaging and protest against wrongdoing, and the Nagpur Marbat procession in particular carries deep historical and cultural significance. It is not merely a matter of religious faith but a folk tradition that has long given voice to protests against evil, disease, superstition, injustice and other social ills. The festival is held on Tanha Pola, the day after Bail Pola, and many people outside Vidarbha are unfamiliar with its story.

Marbat refers to a large symbolic effigy. Nagpur follows the tradition of two such effigies, the Kali Marbat and the Peeli Marbat. Both are taken out in procession on Tanha Pola, with people chanting slogans such as "Le ja re Marbat" and "Ida-pida le ja", expressing the hope that along with the effigy, society's troubles, illnesses and negative thinking will also be carried away. Going by recent accounts, this tradition in Nagpur is more than 145 years old.

The history of Kali Marbat is linked to Nagpur in the British era. According to tradition, Bakabai of the Bhosale royal family had allied with the British, and the Kali Marbat procession began as a protest against that alliance, which is why it is regarded as a symbol against injustice, evil and oppression. Various historical accounts place the start of this tradition around 1880-1881. The Peeli Marbat tradition was started in 1885 by the Tarhane Teli community of the Jagnath Budhwari area. The Peeli Marbat is regarded as a symbol of a goddess or a protective power, drawing large crowds of women and children to watch it.

A major feature of the Marbat procession is the badgas, effigies made of paper, bamboo and grass that satirise various issues. Every year, the badgas comment on major political, economic and social questions facing society. After the procession moves through the city, the Marbat and the badgas are burnt, a symbolic message that evil forces, bad practices, disease and negativity should be consumed by fire so that good thinking can take their place. The Marbat festival is thus not just a procession but a unique confluence of faith, history, folk tradition and social awareness.

Young people across the state are currently angry over corrupt and negligent functioning at the MPSC, with candidates in several cities holding protest marches against the commission. That anger will be visible in Nagpur's famous Marbat procession this year too, with a special badga prepared to mock the MPSC's corrupt functioning. Young residents of the Binaki Mangalwari area near Pola Maidan in Nagpur have built the badga, which will be part of the Marbat procession. Youngsters from ordinary families work hard to prepare for examinations like the MPSC, but paper leaks ruin their futures, they say. The badga, targeting corrupt MPSC officials accused of playing with the futures of young people, will appear in the procession to the chant of "Le ja re Marbat".