Belief, Ritual, and Traditions around the Cowshed

The gohali is an architecture, which is held with due respect and reverence. There exist different beliefs and rituals centred around the gohali, which are very interesting aspects of the Assamese culture. The Assamese people are very much concerned with the well-being of the domesticated animals. Therefore, the architecture of the gohali also receives with similar treatment. As mentioned earlier, the chang of the gohali is reconstructed every year. After the completion of the construction and before reusing of the architecture, there arrange a ritualistic ceremony known as golirthagi or golir-nam, prevalent in the Lower Assam region . This is a kind of house warming ceremony, arranged before the first entry of the cowherd. Through this ritual, the village people worship the Go-Laksmi and the Garakhia Gosai (God and the Goddess of Cowherd) for the well-being of the animals. The nam is arranged in the afternoon, and offer a sharai along with bhog i.e. a thick mixture of rice powder, banana, sugar etc mixed with water or milk. The nearby married and elderly women congregate in the newly constructed platform of the gohali, chant nam (devotional song) and carry out the ritual. After the completion of ritual, prasad is distributed among the gathering. After this ritual, the architecture is ready for use (Das & Rajbongshi:2006). There is a tradition to hang a carapace of tortoise in the gohali, and it is believed that if it is kept there, the decease of crack hoof does not occur to the animals. On the first day of the Bohag bihu i.e. on goru bihu, the architecture is fogged, burning different plants like dhekia, hatisuria, dighalati, makhiyati etc. This is known as jagdiya, which marks the ceremonial starting of fogging for the year.

Traditionally, the gohali is the place, where different agricultural implements are kept when they are not in use. During the daytime, when the architecture remains empty, it becomes a place of play and entertainment for the kids. It is usual that the young members of the family often use the hollow bamboo posts of the architecture as the piggy bank. The holes below the kan of the posts, which is easily reached by the young members, through which coins are inserted to the internode. Usually, this saving is done aiming the yearly festivals , on which money is brought out by cutting a small hole just above the node.

The ritualistic ceremony is not only prevalent among the Assamese community but also among other communities. One such instance is the prevalence of the gohali or gohal puja or Laksmi puja among the Adivashi. They provide ceremonial bath to the cows and give new rope on the day of dewali or kali puja. There is another elaborate tradition in which ancestors are worshipped with wine and fowl sacrifice below the middle post of the gohali. The cowherd is given new cloth on this day.