Abstract

Bhadu is a folk festival which is led by women. The deity is a female deity. All rituals of the festival are celebrated by women. Joy, sorrow, wish, love and the glimpses of the entire lives of women are expressed in the Bhadu songs. Though this festival is mainly celebrated by women of sub-castes and outcastes of Rarh Bengal, it has reached the household of upper- caste family also. The difference between other female deities and Bhadu is that women cannot think of other female deities below their divinity, but Bhadu is sometimes their daughter, sometimes she becomes their mother. There is no difference between a common woman and Devi Bhadu. She is the bosom friend of women of Rarh Bengal with whom they can share every thought and they express their thoughts through Bhadu songs.