The full moon of the lunar month Magha is also known as Purnima of the crow. Two
sticks are tied in the shape of a cross and on the open ends of the cross grass is woven to make a
long handled flat spoon. Again after some pooja, yellow rice is served on this spoon to be offered to
the crow. The children sing a melodious song while making the offering to the crow. The song
loosely translated reads thus:
O clever crow;
O, the lover of khichri, crow;
Come to our new house along with your spouse;
Be seated on the threshold of our roof –
And partake of the salty pudding.
This festival is indicative of the love that the Kashmiris have had for the birds and the care they
took of them. It may be worth mentioning that every Kashmiri household will scatter some cooked
rice on a wooden shelf kept outside the house everyday before serving food to any member of the
house. This shelf kept near the top right hand corner of the window is called Kaw paet - a shelf for
the crow. Likewise every person keeps apart a little rice from his or her plate to be fed to the dogs.
This is called Hoonya myet - the roll of rice for the dog. This shows the compassionate nature of the
Kashmiris for the animal world. No doubt the Gita defines a Pandit as one who treats equally a well
read Brahmin, a cow, an elephant, a dog and a downcast chandala who devours dog-flesh.
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