Across Bharat, Hindu traditions and Indic cultural practices have long connected everyday life, religious observances and festivals with animals, agriculture, water bodies and the wider natural world. From offering rice flour to birds and insects to feeding cattle, dogs, fish and elephants, these practices incorporate nourishment and care for living beings into religious and cultural life.
Several traditions combine devotion with acts of feeding and gratitude. Kolam uses edible rice flour, allowing birds, ants and insects to feed on the designs. Sarva Pitru Amavasya and Ghughutiya involve offering food to crows and other birds, linking remembrance and celebration with nourishment. Matsya Jayanti similarly includes feeding fish, connecting devotion to Lord Vishnu’s Matsya avatar with aquatic life.
Festivals associated with agriculture further demonstrate the close relationship between humans, animals and nature. Pongal, Gopashtami, Sohrai and Rongali Bihu honour cattle and recognise their role in farming and rural life. Kukur Tihar celebrates dogs through worship and feeding, while Kerala’s Aanayoottu involves a sacred feast for elephants.
Together, these traditions document a cultural pattern in which feeding living beings, expressing gratitude towards animals and acknowledging the importance of nature form part of religious and social observances. They bring together devotion, agriculture, seasonal cycles and care for animals and other living beings.
1. Rice Flour Kolam: A Daily Tradition That Feeds Birds and Insects
Kolam is a traditional floor art form practised primarily in the South Indian states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Telangana. Women draw intricate geometric patterns, known as Kolam or Rangoli, on the ground outside their homes every morning using rice flour or rice powder mixed with other natural materials. Fresh designs are created daily, particularly during festivals.
Kolam is regarded as an auspicious ritual that invites prosperity, wards off negativity and marks the beginning of the day with beauty and devotion. The practice reflects the Hindu philosophy of living in harmony with all beings and honouring the household deity and guests, including unseen ones.
The use of rice flour also connects the practice with nature. Since rice flour is edible, birds, ants, insects and other small creatures can feed on the powder. In this way, the daily decorative practice also provides nourishment to small living beings, reflecting the ecological understanding associated with the tradition.
2. Pongal: Harvest Gratitude That Nourishes Cows and Nature
Pongal is a four-day festival celebrated in mid-January. The observance includes cleaning homes on Bhogi, offering the newly harvested Pongal dish to the Sun God on Thai Pongal, honouring cattle on Mattu Pongal, and visiting relatives and participating in community gatherings on Kaanum Pongal.
Pongal is a festival of gratitude and thanksgiving that celebrates the harvest season and honours the Sun, nature, cattle and farmers for their role in sustaining life. It reflects the deep agricultural roots of Tamil culture and emphasises prosperity, community bonding, respect for nature and the importance of family traditions. The festival also marks new beginnings and reinforces cultural identity among Tamil communities worldwide.
The festival has a close connection with nature and agriculture. Pongal honours the Sun, rain, fertile land and farmers who make the harvest possible. During Mattu Pongal, people lovingly serve fresh food to cows and cattle, recognising their vital role in agriculture and treating them as sacred partners of nature. The practice serves as an act of gratitude that also provides nourishment to animals while highlighting the bond between humans and the living world.
3. Kukur Tihar: A Festival Honouring and Feeding Dogs
Kukur Tihar is a tradition in which dogs are honoured and fed with special food. On this day, people place a red tika on the foreheads of dogs, adorn them with marigold garlands and offer them food including sweets, meat, eggs, milk and biscuits. Both pet dogs and street dogs are treated with equal respect and affection.
Dogs are regarded as the messengers and gatekeepers of Yama, the god of death. Worshipping them is believed to bring protection, remove obstacles and ensure a peaceful passage for the soul. The tradition also celebrates the deep bond of loyalty between humans and dogs.
The practice reflects a connection with the natural world by honouring animals as sacred beings. By lovingly serving special food to dogs and recognising their role as protectors and companions, Kukur Tihar reinforces the relationship between humans, animals and nature.
4. Sarva Pitru Amavasya: Honouring Ancestors Through Feeding Crows and Other Living Beings
Sarva Pitru Amavasya is observed as a day when families pay tribute to their ancestors through Shraddha, Tarpan and Pind Daan rituals. Vegetarian food is offered to ancestors and shared with crows, cows, dogs and the needy. Charity and feeding Brahmins are also considered important acts of remembrance and gratitude.
The day concludes Pitru Paksha and is dedicated to all ancestors, known as Sarva Pitru, particularly those whose exact death tithi is unknown. Offering food is believed to satisfy the souls of the departed, bring their blessings, remove Pitru Dosha and help them attain peace or higher realms. Crows are regarded as messengers of Yama or as the ancestors themselves, and their acceptance of the food is considered a sign that the Pitrs are content.
The practice also has a direct connection with nature. Food is offered to crows and often to ants, dogs, cows and other birds and insects, expressing gratitude to Mother Nature and recognising living beings as part of the cosmic web. By placing food outside for scavengers and small creatures, the tradition provides nourishment while symbolically connecting human duty with the natural world.
The practice conveys the idea of ecological harmony, in which ancestors are honoured through nature’s messengers, while feeding birds and insects encourages compassion and balance with the environment.
5. Ghughutiya: A Kumaoni Tradition of Feeding Crows and Honouring Nature
Ghughutiya Tyar, celebrated in the Kumaon region during Makar Sankranti, involves preparing sweet ghughute made from wheat flour and jaggery. The sweets are shaped into decorative forms, strung together into garlands and worn by children, who then offer them to crows while singing traditional folk chants. The practice symbolises gratitude and cultural heritage.
Ghughutiya is a children’s festival deeply rooted in Kumaoni folklore. One popular legend tells of a prince named Ghughuti whose life was saved by crows, following which the royal family began honouring the birds every year.
Crows are also regarded as messengers of ancestors, or Pitrs, and feeding them is considered an act of gratitude and remembrance. When a crow accepts the food, it is seen as a sign of blessings for prosperity, health, long life and good fortune for the household.
The tradition has a direct connection with nature through the offering of food to crows and migratory birds. By giving the first share of the specially prepared sweets to birds, the festival sustains wildlife during the cold season, welcomes birds returning to the hills after winter migration and teaches children respect and care for nature.
6. Matsya Jayanti: Feeding Sacred Fish as an Act of Devotion and Care for Nature
On Matsya Jayanti, devotees worship Lord Vishnu’s Matsya, or fish, avatar and perform Matsya Seva by feeding fish with flour balls, grains or other food in rivers, ponds and temple tanks. The ritual is often accompanied by prayers and mantras and symbolises devotion. It is also believed to bring blessings and spiritual merit.
Matsya is regarded as the first of Vishnu’s ten avatars and is believed to have saved Manu, described as the first man, and the Vedas from a great deluge. Feeding fish honours this form of the Lord and is believed to attract wealth, clear financial obstacles, remove karmic blockages and invite the blessings of Goddess Lakshmi. The practice is regarded as a remedy for prosperity, debt relief and overall abundance in Sanatan Dharma.
The tradition also has a direct connection with nature. By offering food to fish in natural water bodies, the practice provides nourishment to aquatic life and expresses gratitude toward water ecosystems. It reflects the Hindu view of all creatures as part of divine creation. Feeding fish, regarded as representatives of the Matsya Avatar, is therefore seen as nourishing living beings in rivers and ponds while supporting the devotee’s spiritual and material well-being and fostering harmony between humans and nature.
7. Gopashtami: Honouring Gau Mata Through Worship and Feeding Cows
On Gopashtami, devotees worship cows as sacred Gau Mata by bathing and decorating them with flowers and ornaments, offering them special food, and performing aarti and prayers. The festival also commemorates Lord Krishna’s transition to becoming a cowherd, or Gopal, symbolising reverence for cows and gratitude for their role in life.
Gopashtami celebrates Krishna’s deep love for cows and his role as their protector. It signifies his spiritual growth and readiness to safeguard all living beings. The festival also recalls the tradition in which Radha Rani and the gopis disguised themselves as cowherd boys to join Krishna in the pastures. By honouring cows, devotees seek blessings of prosperity, good fortune and the grace of Lord Krishna, reinforcing the sacred status of the cow in Hindu tradition.
The central practice of feeding cows with special food directly provides nourishment to the animals while expressing gratitude for their role in the ecosystem and rural economy. Cows are recognised for providing milk, dung used as fuel and fertiliser, and for supporting agricultural activities. Through these practices, Gopashtami highlights the relationship between humans, cattle, agriculture and the natural world.
8. Aanayoottu: Sacred Feast for Elephants at Vadakkumnathan Temple
Aanayoottu is held every year on the first day of the Malayalam month of Karkidakam, usually in mid-July. Dozens of elephants, often numbering 50 to 60 or more, are lined up unadorned within the temple premises. The ceremony begins with priests offering specially prepared rice to the elephants, followed by devotees feeding them fruits and sugarcane. Rituals including Gaja Pooja, Ganapathi Homam and a large annadanam, or community feast, are also conducted as part of the celebration.
Aanayoottu is dedicated to honouring elephants as sacred beings and seeking the blessings of Lord Ganesha, the elephant-faced deity regarded as the remover of obstacles. Feeding and worshipping the elephants is believed to bring prosperity, fulfil wishes and invoke divine favour. The festival also celebrates Kerala’s deep cultural bond with elephants, which play a central role in temple traditions.
The festival is centred on offering nourishing food to elephants and treating them as living embodiments of divinity and strength. Devotees prepare and serve a wholesome meal consisting of rice, fruits, sugarcane and medicinal herbs, providing food to the animals while expressing care for their health and well-being.
9. Sohrai: Jharkhand’s Harvest Festival Honouring Cattle and Nature
Celebrated after the harvest during the Kartik month, Sohrai is a tribal festival that honours cattle, nature and deities. During the festival, homes are decorated with traditional Sohrai murals, cattle are bathed and fed special food, earthen lamps are lit and Gota Puja is performed. The rituals include worship of Marang Buru and Jaher Ayo, offerings of khichdi prasad and community celebrations featuring songs and animal-related events.
Sohrai is observed as a day to express gratitude and affection towards livestock that have worked in the fields. The festival provides rest and honour to cattle after the agricultural season while reinforcing community bonds through shared rituals, traditional art and worship.
The festival has a close connection with nature and rural life. Cattle are bathed, decorated, given special food and honoured through rituals, reflecting gratitude for their role in farming. Sohrai emphasises respect for animals and the close relationship between humans, livestock and the natural world.
10. Rongali Bihu: Assam’s New Year Festival Begins by Honouring and Feeding Cattle
Rongali Bihu is a seven-day festival celebrating the Assamese New Year and the arrival of the spring sowing season. The festivities begin with Goru Bihu, a day dedicated to honouring cattle. On this occasion, cattle are bathed in rivers using turmeric and black gram paste, fed bottle gourd and brinjal, and offered rice cakes, or pitha, in clean sheds.
Rongali Bihu is a festival of joy, with Rong meaning happiness, and welcomes the new agricultural year. Families exchange blessings, new clothes, food and home-brewed rice beer, while younger members seek the blessings of elders. Traditional Bihu songs and dances accompanied by the dhol, pepa and gagana strengthen community bonds and preserve Assamese cultural identity.
The festival also reflects the connection between agriculture, animals and nature. By dedicating its first day to bathing, feeding and nourishing cattle, Rongali Bihu expresses gratitude for their role in agricultural life. Offering fresh vegetables and rice cakes to livestock reflects a tradition that regards animals as essential partners in human survival and recognises the bond between humans and the natural world.
The 10 traditions documented above show how feeding living beings and expressing gratitude towards animals and nature are incorporated into a range of Hindu and Indic cultural observances. Rice flour Kolam provides food for small creatures, while Sarva Pitru Amavasya and Ghughutiya involve feeding birds. Matsya Jayanti extends the practice to fish, and Kukur Tihar honours dogs.
Agricultural festivals demonstrate another dimension of this relationship. Pongal, Gopashtami, Sohrai and Rongali Bihu recognise cattle and their role in farming and rural life. Aanayoottu places elephants at the centre of a temple observance through a dedicated feast.
Taken together, these traditions connect religious practice with nourishment, gratitude and recognition of living beings. They show how animals, birds, insects, fish, cattle and elephants are incorporated into cultural and religious observances across different regions of India.
The continuity of these practices across Tamil Nadu, Uttarakhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Jharkhand, Assam and other parts of India reflects the diversity of traditions through which people engage with animals and nature. From daily household rituals to major festivals, these observances place care for living beings alongside devotion, agriculture, remembrance and community life.
