Marbat Morning Ritual: Where the Festival Begins

Before the loud processions and towering effigies take over Nagpur’s streets, the Marbat Utsav begins in the quiet hours of dawn with a deeply symbolic ritual. This walk takes you into the heart of that beginning — the burning of palash leaves and the setting alight of small, handmade clay Marbats at local junctions, shrines, and community spaces.

This act, performed collectively by residents — men and women alike — is a call to drive away evil, suffering, and negativity from the neighbourhood. The chants, the smell of smoke, and the simplicity of the ritual hold a raw emotional power. It is here that the spirit of Marbat truly begins — not in celebration, but in intention.

Walk with us through these old lanes to witness how the festival’s earliest expressions carry folk belief, shared memory, and the collective desire to cleanse society of its unseen burdens — all before…