Koli and Agri Communities Celebrate Narali Purnima Across Navi Mumbai and Uran

Members of the Koli and Agri communities across the coastal belt of Navi Mumbai and Uran celebrated Narali Purnima on Thursday with traditional music, colourful processions, and sea rituals. Celebrations took place in fishing settlements including Sarsole, Diwale, Vashi, Ghansoli, and Airoli in Navi Mumbai, as well as Mora and Karanja ports in Uran.

The festival marks the traditional beginning of the new fishing season as rough monsoon seas begin to calm. Fishermen worship their boats and offer coconuts to the sea, seeking calm waters, safety, and a prosperous catch before resuming deep-sea fishing operations.

In Sarsole village in Navi Mumbai, Koli community members dressed in traditional attire took out processions accompanied by dhol-tasha beats and folk music. A decorated boat was carried in a ceremonial procession towards the creek, where rituals were performed before a ceremonial coconut was offered to the water. Similar processions and rituals took place across settlements in Diwale, Vashi, and Ghansoli.

In Uran, significant celebrations were observed at Karanja and Mora ports. At Karanja, students from the Marathi, English, and semi-English sections of Drongiri High School joined local fishermen in a procession. The participants carried a replica of a golden coconut measuring six feet in length and three-and-a-half feet in height.

A lezim troupe and a musical band accompanied the procession. School chairman Sitaram Nakhwa, the school headmaster, society members, and local residents performed ceremonial worship before the replica was transported to Karanja port.

Later in the afternoon during high tide, the coconut replica was taken by boat into the middle of the sea. Fishermen and community members performed prayers to the sea deity and offered the coconut, marking the traditional start of their fishing activities.