Sama Chakeva: Bihar’s Festival Where Nature Still Breathes Through Song

As winter starts and the air turns cool over the ponds and fields of Mithila, the women of Bihar gather near the ponds under the soft moonlight. They carry small and colourful birds in basket made up of clay and sing traditional Maithili songs, the songs older than memory. Its Sama Chakeva, the festival that celebrates the bond between brother and sister, and between humans and nature.

The story of Sama Chakeva is very old. According to Legends, the daughter of Lord Krishna, was accused of doing something wrong and cursed to turn into a bird. Chakeva, her brother loved her sister deeply and prayed nonstop for her to become human again. His prayers and love were so strong that it freed Sama from being cursed. This story has been told for centuries and became a symbol of love, care and forgiveness. But beneath its myth lies a deeper message: the unity of all life.

Every year, when migratory birds return to the wetlands of Mithila, people believe that these birds represent Sama’s spirit returning home. It’s a reminder that all life is interconnected. The ponds where people celebrate Sama Chakeva, near the water sing songs and later immerse the idols on the full moon night, they are not just performing tradition, but they are also showing love and respect for nature’s beauty.

The Worship of Nature in Modern Bihar

In the year 2025, where people around the world uses air purifiers to breath clean clear and are worried about air pollution, people in villages of Bihar still hold on to something purer, a festival that teaches to live in harmony with the earth. Sama Chakeva reminds people that the health of the land, water, and air is connected to the health and happiness of families. Farmers here understand the importance of river for their crops and the birds that returns home every winter see as a sign that nature is doing well. When the wetlands dry up or get polluted, people feel sad not only because birds get disappear but because it means nature has lost its balance.

Through these rituals, the women of Mithila keep alive an old tradition that protects the environment. The idols of bird made up of clay dissolve in water safely unlike plastic which harms nature. The songs they sing carry lessons of kindness, patience, and respect. A lesson that the entire world needs to today to keep planet healthy.

A Festival that Teaches Environmental Responsibility

Beyond devotion, Sama Chakeva also teaches us to protect nature and live gently on the land. During the festival, many of the Maithili folk songs are sung and asking people to not cut or burn trees. They remind us that trees are living beings. They give us air to breathe, shade to rest under and life to the planet. One of the songs says, “Don’t burn the forest, don’t cut the green — the earth is your mother, her wounds are yours.”

This simple message makes Sama Chakeva more than just a festival. It becomes a lesson in environmental care. It provokes people to plant more and more trees instead of cutting them and take care of nature instead of destroying them. Each idol made from clay and each leaf used in decoration show a promise to live in harmony with nature. In this way, Sama Chakeva is Bihar’s powerful way of saying that caring for the environment and the sustainability can go hand in hand.

Nature and Humanity: The Eternal Bond

In the 15th century, festivals like Sama Chakeva taught people that nature is family. The nature is not something to be destroyed. In 2025, the message feels even more important as the air is polluted, rivers dry, forests disappear, and birds have stopped returning, the festival reminds everyone: protect what you love, and love what sustains you.

For the people of Bihar, Sama Chakeva is not only about a sister’s love for her brother but it’s also about humanity’s responsibility to protect nature. The migrating birds still inspired the story and still travel faraway from lands every year and reminds us that earth belongs to every living being not just humans.

In every song sung beside ponds or makes a clay of bird shows the silent promise of caring nature instead of harming it. The story of Sama and Chakeva may be ancient, but its message will always be true.