I was wrong. Make it “very wrong”.

Because Dr Amrutur Srinivasan has achieved something remarkable in these 300-odd pages; something that I have not come across before. Without a doubt, this will count as one of the best books that can help someone understand “Hinduism” –particularly someone who is not a “Hindu” or has not grown up in a “Hindu” family or in the Indian milieu.

But even those who are intimate with little-known aspects of this complex philosophical and cultural “way of life” will find this book useful as a reference while responding to questions or to the curiosity of their friends or younger ones in the family.

The Book is divided in six parts, starting with Introducing Hinduism, then moving through the Hindu Pantheon, the Sacred Texts, the Rituals, Rites and Festivals before getting deeper into Hindu philosophical thought. It concludes with the delightful “The Part of Tens” section (Ten Common Questions, Ten Prayers and Ten+ Mandates) .

The sections are fairly stand-alone and therefore navigating through the book does not have to be a straight linear path. Meandering through the different sections and getting a flavor of them would be very worthwhile and enjoyable for the average reader, I think.  The first section “Introducing Hinduism” is probably the best place to start though.

It starts with an excellent introduction. The first few lines are worth quoting (emphasis added):

There are a billion plus Hindus around the world today..Still, Hinduism is not a household word in the West today. Mainstream Hinduism does not proselytize. Hindus have no interest in making you see their way because Hinduism’s fundamental belief is that God has many names. Hindus believe your way must be just as good, and that you and they will meet at the end of the journey. Hinduism lets you be. With such a detached outlook, no wonder the faith remains a mystery to most.

There are delightful nuggets of information scattered throughout the book – for example the “nugget” about Prabhasa, Vasishta and Nandini the Cow and how Prabhasa eventually “suffered” for his crime in the Battle of MahaBharat – as Bhishma – only attaining salvation after the War! Or the nugget about how Somerset Maugham took the title of his best-selling novel, “The Razor’s Edge” from the “Katha Upanishad” – from a specific passage that alludes to the path to salvation being as hard to tread and difficult to cross as a razor’s edge!

Dr Srinivasan has managed to unravel the complexity of “Hinduism” and overlay it in an easy-to-understand and very readable way. I found the explanations simple and lucid in style – particularly well suited to a student of Hinduism or to a young child. And it is worth noting that Dr Srinivasan has managed to do this without losing the essence of our ancient traditions.

Some themes and topics could have been dealt with in greater detail (such as the note on the festival of MahaShivratri) and it would have been helpful if the index was more comprehensive. But these are otherwise minor quibbles in what is an excellent compendium which will prove useful to large number of practicing Hindus – especially those living abroad – who may not have access to “in-house” knowledge that still dwells amongst our elders and in extended families in India.

For those who may not be familiar with his background, Dr Srinivasan is the primary founder and first president of the Connecticut Valley Hindu Temple Society. He regularly functions as a Hindu priest performing a wide variety of pujas (worships), weddings, and other ceremonies. He has written a book on traditions and rituals connected with Hindu weddings and another on the Yaksha Prashna.

Dr Srinivasan deserves kudos for this attempt to explain an extraordinarily complex subject as “Hinduism” in a lightly-worded (in the best sense of the term) 300-odd pages. I found the book engrossing and a delight to read and I am going to pass it on to my daughter after I am finished with it.

*Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book for this review.

Other Book Reviews by me: Nandan Nilekani’s “Imagining India” and Sanjeev Sabhlok’s “Breaking Free of Nehru”

Related Post: Reading the MahABhArat: DharmaRAj and Yaksha Prashna

Let us come back to the subject of Sivaratri, the night of Siva. When you perceive an object, you call it waking. When you do not perceive it, it is darkness. Now in the waking condition – the so-called waking world – you see present before you a world of objects, as you are intelligent. In dream also there is a sort of intelligence. But in deep sleep there is no intelligence. What happens? The senses and the intellect withdraw themselves into their source. There is no perceptional activity, and so the absence of perception is equated to the presence of darkness. The cosmic Primeval condition of the creative will of God, before creation – a state appearing like darkness, or night – is what we call the condition of Siva. It is very important to remember that the state of Siva is the primordial condition of the creative will of God, where there is no externality of perception, there being nothing outside God; and so, for us, it is like darkness or night. It is Siva’s night – Sivaratri. For Him it is not night. It is all Light. Siva is not sitting in darkness. The Creative Will of God is Omniscience, Omnipotence, Omnipresence – all combined. Sometimes we designate this condition as Isvara.

The Supreme Absolute, which is indeterminable, when it is associated with the Creative Will with a tendency to create the Cosmos, is Isvara in Vedantic parlance, and Siva in Puranic terminology.

…On Sivaratri, therefore, you are supposed to contemplate God as the creator of the world, as the Supreme Being unknown to the Creative Will, in that primordial condition of non-objectivity which is the darkness of Siva. In the Bhagavadgita there is a similar verse which has some sort of a resemblance to this situation. “Ya nisa sarvabhutanam tasyam jagarti samyami; yasyam jagrati bhutani sa nisa pasyato muneh”: That which is night to the ignorant, is day to the wise; and that which is day to the wise, is night to the ignorant. The ignorant feel the world as daylight and a brightly illumined objective something; and that does not exist for a wise person. The wise see God in all His effulgence; and that does not exist for the ignorant. While the wise see God, the ignorant do not see Him; and while the ignorant see the world, the wise do not see it. That is the meaning of this verse in the second chapter of the Gita.

…Sivaratri is a blessed occasion for all to practise self-restraint, self-control, contemplation, Svadhyaya, Japa and meditation, as much as possible within our capacity…We can do Japa or we can do the chanting of the Mantra, ‘Om Namah Sivaya’. We can also meditate. It is a period of Sadhana. Functions like Mahasivaratri, Ramanavami, Janmashtami, Navaratri are not functions in the sense of festoons and celebrations for the satisfaction of the human mind. They are functions of the Spirit; they are celebrations of the Spirit.

It is also perhaps the simplest of all “festivals” associated with Hinduism in that it does not need any elaborate rituals and just the “jap” (meditative chanting) of “Om Namah Shivay” is sufficient. On this occasion, courtesy Practical Sanskrit, here is a wonderful interpretation of one of the best known hymns in praise of Shiva:

कर्पूरगौरं करुणावतारं संसार-सारं भुजगेन्द्र-हारम् ।

सदा वसन्तं हृदयारविन्दे भवं भवानी-सहितं नमामि ॥

= karpUra-gauram karuNA_vatAram, saMsAra-sAram bhujagendra-hAram |
sadA vasantam hRidayA_ravinde, bhavam bhavānI-sahitam namAmi ||

meaning: To the one of the complexion of camphor (karpUra), to the avatAra of mercy (karuNA), to the essence (sAram) of the world (saMsAra), to the one with serpent (bhujagendra) garlands (hAram), to the one who always (sadA) resides (vasantam) in the lotus (aravinda) heart (hRidaya), to THEE, with pAravatI – I bow.

And here is a melodious rendering of MahaMrityunjay Mantra in the inimitable voice of Suresh Wadkar

***

***

On a related note, one of my dreams is to visit all the twelve “Jyotirlinga”(s) associated with Lord Shiva and then write a travelogue around that (I have been to six but half still remain)…Someday I hope will manage to do that.

UPDATE: I should “warn” everyone to be careful about this. It could cost you a job! Here’s a mini-quiz for the day (or “Night of the Great Lord Shiva”):

Who said this?

“If Om Namah Shivay is the reason I didn’t become president, then certainly it’s a great blessing…”

Answer: Dr Karan Singh

Praveen Swami after a flying recap of the Salman Rushdie affair, lands upon this: “Few Indians understand the extent to which the state underwrites the practice of their faith. The case of the Maha Kumbh Mela, held every 12 years at Haridwar, Allahabad, Ujjain and Nashik, is a case in point. The 2001 Mela in Allahabad, activist John Dayal has noted in a stinging essay, involved state spending of over Rs.1.2 billion — 12,000 taps that supplied 50.4 million litres of drinking water; 450 kilometres of electric lines and 15,000 streetlights; 70,000 toilets; 7,100 sanitation workers, 11 post offices and 3,000 phone lines; 4,000 buses and trains. Source: The Hindu”

…Lets rewind to these numbers , Rs.1.2 billion for 12,000 taps, 50.4 million litres, 450 kilometres of lines and 15,000 streetlights; 70,000. Let me throw in toilets, fire services, ambulances.

What he forgets to mention, very cleverly, is this: The Maha Kumbh is one of the largest human congregations on earth. Over 60 Million people participated in the event he is talking about in 2001. The crowds of the event could be seen from space. The state is merely providing  PUBLIC AMENITIES as its normal call of duty. The alternative would be to let millions including thousands of foreign tourists die in an outbreak of Cholera, riots, or leave behind a mountain of human waste.

The most jarring part of his essay was this line, which prompted me to write this blog. That isn’t counting the rent that ought to have been paid on the 15,000 hectares of land used for the festival ..

Lets see this from a property rights angle. What he is saying is the Hindus who participate in the Kumbh Mela event, which predates all known formats of the Indian state, have no title over the venues. Which are sand banks, ghats, streets, and nearby spaces.  In such a school of thought, the participants have to pay a fee (a tax) to the state from the proceeds of which the state will “rent these ghats” and provide the aforementioned amenities.   From time immemorial, Hindus have treated these lands as their own, not in the sense of ownership rights but being able to continue ancient traditions such as the Maha Kumbh, Chitirai Festival, and countless others.  If you demand to see title papers (most Christian and Muslim properties DO have proper title papers) then Hindus will have no choice but to create them. Territory, and traditions CONSTITUTE the Indian State. They came with the box.

Obviously, this isnt the only weakness in this piece. The state has Hindu temples under its control, so his sudden puppy love for property rights is dead on arrival. Next, even from an economic viewpoint, the Maha Kumbh is a grand tourist spectacle with millions of people from all over the world arriving and staying for weeks.  The govt will stand to gain by spending on amenities and reaping benefits of orderly tourist activity compared to being burdened with the costs of chaos and disease if it were to listen to Praveen Swami.

Needless to add, the government does not subsidise travel to Kumbh. The amount it spends is on maintaining law and order and to ensure hygiene & basic civic amenities to the tens of millions who congregate for the sacred festival.  A more appropriate comparison to this spending would be the amount the government spends on building and maintaining Haj Houses in various parts of the country – not the Haj subsidy itself. After reading the piece, I decided to dig a little bit more to find the amounts spent on Haj Subsidy. This is what I found.

Last year (2010), the government paid Haj subsidy of Rs 770 crore (i.e. Rs 7.7 billion), in flight tickets and accommodation provided to pilgrims. In 2007, the Haj subsidy paid by the Indian government was 5.95 billion rupees (From “Haj subsidy has Air India fuming” by Shauvik Ghosh, 2008-09-13).

Last year (’07-’08), while 1,10,000 pilgrims availed the subsidy paying only Rs 12,000 each, the amount paid by the government to the carrier was Rs 47,454 per passenger. According to sources, the total cost for Haj operations last year (for 1,10,000 pilgrims) was Rs 727 crore of which the subsidy requirement was Rs 595 crore. This year (’08-’09), in order for the pilgrimage of 1,23,211 pilgrims, the total cost estimated by the government is Rs 847 crore, of which the subsidy requirement will be approximately Rs 700 crore.

I wonder what does Praveen Swami has to say about this and on this which shows how proceeds from ~ 250,000 temples in Karnataka have been distributed over the past few years.

P.S. In case you are wondering about my stance on “religious subsidies”, it is clear and unambiguous: The government should *not* subsidise any religious/sacred pilgrimage for any denomination. Please do not confuse a subsidy with the amount that the government does need to spend on maintaining order and ensuring civic amenities at such sites or on such occasions (thus having extra immigration counters for departing/arriving Haj pilgrims is a justified expense; as is providing drinking water and toilets for pilgrims at Kumbh)

Related Posts: Of Subsidies and Politics of “Secularism”,  Secularism or Politics of Appeasement? and I want a subsidy to visit Bali

VijayAdashami celebrates the victory of Shakti over MahishAsura and of ShriRAmChandra over RAvana. It is celebrated on the tenth day (dashami) of Ashvin (lunar month) and is associated with numerous rituals such as Vishwakarma PujA, Shastra PujA, VyAs PujA, Semmalanghan (Maharashtra), Shami PujA, gifting of aapta tree leaves as “sona” (gold) leavs  etc

In the north, Dussehra (or Dasha-hara) is celebrated by burning effigies of Ravana (along with KumbhaKarna and MeghnAd).  This ritual may have something to do with the intent of purifying the atmosphere and reduce infections that accompany the onset of cold weather (pl also see this post on Athirathram for effect of yagya/yajnam on the environment). Many temples have Chandi (Durga) Homa in the days preceding VijayaDashami.  VijayaDashami is the culmination of the nine auspicious days of “Navaratri”  and considered to be a very auspicious day to start a new venture.  This is also the day of Bisorjan Jatras (“Durga Puja Visarjan“) in the eastern parts of India.

Courtesy Wikipedia, below are some of the stories associated with VijayAdashami (RAvana-vadh, MahishAsur-mardan, Homecoming of Durga MA and Kautsa’s GurudakshinA):

Victory of Prabhu Ramachandra over Ravana

Rama had performed “Chandi Homa” and invoked the blessings of Durga, who blessed Rama with secret knowledge of the way to kill Ravana. On the day of Ashvin Shukla Dashami, Rama’s party found Sita and defeated Ravana. Based on the inferences from Balmik’s Ramayana, Kalidas’s Raghuvans, Tulsidas’s Ram Charit manas, and Keshavdas’s Ram Chandra Yas Chandrika as well as common perception in India, Ram, Sita, and Lakshman returned to Ayodhya on the 30th day of Ashvin (19–20 days after Vijay Dashmi). To mark the return of Lord Ram, in the evening, the residents of Ayodhya lighted their city with millions of earthen lamps (called Deepak). Since then, this day is celebrated in India as Deepawali or Diwali.On this day in the Treta Yug, Rama, also called Shri Ram, the seventh incarnation of Vishnu, killed the great demon Ravana who had abducted Rama’s wife Sita to his kingdom of Lanka. Rama, his brother Lakshman, their follower Hanuman and an army of monkeys fought a great battle to rescue Sita. The entire narrative is recorded in the epic Ramayana, a Hindu scripture.

During the ten days of Dasha-Hara, effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna and son Meghanad are erected and burnt by enthusiastic youths at sunset.

After Dasha-Hara, the hot summer ends, especially in North India. The coming cold weather is believed to encourage infections. The burning of the effigies, filled with firecrackers containing phosphorus, supposedly purifies the atmosphere, while the temples perform Chandi Homa or Durga Homa, with the same intent.

Many people perform Aditya Homa as a Shanti Yagna and recite Sundara Kanda of Srimad Ramayana for nine days. These Yagna performances are thought to create powerful agents in the atmosphere surrounding the house that will keep the household environment clean and healthy. These rituals are intended to rid the household of the ten bad qualities, which are represented by ten heads of Ravana as follows: Kama vasana (Lust), Krodha (Anger), Moha (delusion), Lobha (Greed), Mada (Pride), Matsara (Jealousy), Manas (Mind), Buddhi (Intellect), Chitta (will), Ahankara (Ego).

Some householders perform Yagnas thrice daily along with Sandhya Vandana, which is also called Aahavaneeya Agni, Grahapatya Agni or Dakshina Agni. In addition, the Aditya Homa is performed with the Maha Surya Mantras and the Aruna Prapathaka of the Yajurveda. These mantras are believed to keep the heart, brain and digestive functions in balance in the absence of adequate sunlight in the winter months.

Victory of Durga Mata over Mahishasura

Some of the demons, or Asuras, were very powerful and ambitious and continually tried to defeat the Devas, or Gods , and capture Heaven. One Asura, Mahishasura, in the form of a buffalo, grew very powerful and created havoc on the earth. Under his leadership, the Asuras defeated the Devas. The world was crushed under Mahishasura’s tyranny, the Devas joined their energies into Shakti, a single mass of incandescent energy, to kill Mahishasura.

A very powerful band of lightning emerged from the mouths of Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva and a young, beautiful female virgin with ten hands appeared. All the Gods gave their special weapons to her. This Shakti coalesced to form the goddess Durga. Riding on a lion, who assisted her, Durga fought Mahishasura. The battle raged for nine days and nights. Finally on the tenth day of Ashvin shukla paksha, Mahishasura was defeated and killed by Durga.

Hence Dasha-Hara is also known as Navaratri or Durgotsav and is a celebration of Durga’s victory. Durga, as Consort of Lord Shiva, represents two forms of female energy – one mild and protective and the other fierce and destructive.

Homecoming of Durga Mata

Daksha, the Lord of the Earth, and his wife Menaka, had a daughter called Sati. As a child, Sati started worshipping Lord Shiva as her would-be-husband. Lord Shiva was pleased with the Sati’s worship of him and married her. Daksha was against their marriage but could not prevent it. Daksha arranged a yagna to which everyone except Lord Shiva was invited. Sati, feeling ashamed of her father’s behaviour and shocked by the attitude meted towards her husband, killed herself. Lord Shiva was anguished when he discovered this. He lifted Sati’s body on his shoulders and started dancing madly. With the supreme power dancing with wrath, the World was on the verge of destruction.

Then Lord Narayana came forward as a saviour and used his Chakra to cut Sati’s body into pieces. Those pieces fell from the shoulders of the dancing Shiva and scattered throughout the world. Shiva was pacified when the last piece fell from his shoulder. Lord Narayana revived Sati. The places where the pieces of Sati fell are known as the Shakti Piths or energy pits. Kalighat in Kolkata, Kamakshya near Guwahati and Vaishnav Devi in Jammu are three of these places.

In her next birth, Sati was born as Parvati or Shaila-Putri (First form of Durga), the daughter of Himalaya. Lord Narayana asked Shiva to forgive Daksha. Ever since peace was restored, Durga, with her children Saraswati, Lakshmi, Kartikeya, Ganesh and her two `sakhis` – Jaya and Vijaya – visit her parents each year during the season of `Sharatkal` or autumn when Durga-Puja is celebrated.

End of Agnyatwas of Pandava

In the age of Dwapar Yuga, Pandava – the five acknowledged sons of Pandu (Sanskrit: पांडु), by his two wives Kunti and Madri – lost to Kauravas in a game of dice, and both spent twelve years of Vanawas, or exile to the forest, followed by one year of Agnyatawas. The brothers hid their weapons in a hole in a Shami tree before entering the Kingdom of Virat to complete the final year of Agnyatwas. After that year, on Vijayadashmi, they recovered the weapons, declared their true identities and defeated Kauravas, who had attacked King Virat to steal his cattle. Since that day, Shami trees and weapons have been worshipped and the exchange of Shami leaves on Vijayadashmi has been a symbol of good will and victory.

Kautsa’s Gurudakshina

Kautsa, the young son of a Brahmin called Devdatt, lived in the city of Paithan. After completing his education with Rishi Varatantu, he insisted on his guru accepting Guru Dakshina, a present. The guru said, “Kautsa, to give ‘dakshina’ in return for learning wisdom is not proper. Graduation of the disciple makes the guru happy, and this is the real Guru Dakshina.”

Kautsa was not satisfied. He still felt it was his duty to give his guru something. The guru said, “All right, if you insist on giving me dakshina, so give me 140 million gold coins, 10 million for each of the 14 sciences I have taught you.”

Kautsa went to King Raghu. Raghuraja was an ancestor of Lord Rama, famous for his generosity. But just at that time he had spent all his money on the Brahmins, after performing the Vishvajit sacrifice. King Raghu asked Kautsa to return three days. Raghuraja immediately left to get the gold coins from Indra. Indra summoned Kuber, the god of wealth. Indra told Kuber, “Make a rain of gold coins fall on the “Shanu” and “Aapati” trees round Raghuraja’s city of Ayodhya.”

The rain of gold coins began to fall. King Raghu gave all the coins to Kautsa, and Kautsa hastened to offer the coins to Varatantu Rishi. Guru had asked only 140 millions, so he gave the rest back to Kautsa. Kautsa was not interested in money, considering honour to be more valuable than wealth. He asked the king to take the remaining gold coins back. But the king refused, as kings do not take back the daan (gift).

Finally Kautsa distributed the gold coins to the people of Ayodhya on the day of Ashvin shukla dashami. In remembrance of this event, there has been a custom of looting the leaves of the Aapati trees, and people present these leaves to one another as gold.

Below are some of the rituals associated with this day (some of them dating back to millenia and before):

The ritual of Vidyarambha is widely practiced in South India and sees little children getting ceremonially initiated into the learning of alphabets.

In West Bengal, Dussehra is the final day of the ten day Durga Puja celebrations and is known as Vijaya Dashami. Beautiful clay idols of Goddess Durga and her children – Ganesh, Kartik, Laxmi and Saraswati are set up inside grand makeshift marquees known as pandals and worshipped from the sixth day onwards. On the tenth day, Vijaya Dashami, these are taken out in grand processions through the streets in the accompaniment of songs and loud drumbeats and immersed in the holy water of the Ganges or in the water of a nearby lake or pond. The immersion of the idol of Goddess Durga and her offsprings signify the Goddess’ return to her husband Lord Shiva’s home in Mount Kailash along with her children. Elsewhere in the country, this ritual is known as Durga Nimajjan or Durga Visarjan and is the last and concluding event of Durga Navarathri. It is also the day when married women play with vermilion (Sindur), an act known as Sindur Khela which is observed only in Bengal. It is an occassion when friends and relatives exchange visits thus building up an atmosphere of cordiality.

The Dussehra ritual of Sindur Khela is particular only to the state of West Bengal. It has married Bengali women playing with vermilion (Sindur) among themselves. For the members of the Bengali community, it is an occassion when friends and relatives exchange visits thus building up an atmosphere of cordiality.

In the Southern parts of India, Dussehra is known as Dasara and is celebrated on the occasion of Navaratri. On this day, people worship the idol of Durga with utmost devotion. They pray to the Goddess for peace and prosperity in their families. The puja (worship) is done in the morning in the puja room (worship chamber) and no specific decoration is required, but if one likes, one can make a chowk on the floor.

In some parts of India, it is a custom to look for a “khaujan” or wagtail (motacella alba) on Dussehra day. The search for the wagtail is fraught with omen. If the wagtail is found taken, near lotus flowers or among elephants, cows, horses or snakes, it forebodes conquest and good luck; if however on ashes, bones or refuse, evil may follow and the gods must be propitated – Brahmans must be fed and a medicinal bath taken.

Everyone wears good clothes with zari and gota as on all festive occassions. It is said that if one wears a set of new clothes on this day, one shall get ten sets of new clothes in the coming year. There is no compulsory wearing of the chunri, but there is no taboo on donning it either. A chonp on the forehead is a must.

A well-known Dussehra tradition is to worship all weapons, tools, instruments, pens and pencils, because they are the means of fighting injustice, ignorance and evil. These items are placed in front of the gods. A foolscap paper is decorated all around the edges with ‘aipun’ and a ‘swastik’ is placed on the top of this paper that is reminiscent of the Aryan origin of the inhabitants of India. The eldest member of the family then writes on this paper:

Uttar ka ghoda, Dakshin ka neer
Paschim ka varda, Purav ka cheer

The foregoing couplet is about the famous things obtained from the four corners of India and it focusses children’s attention onto them. The names of all those assembled are then added onto the paper. It would be better if everybody present signed it, as it is a record of the people present during the puja that year. The month, date and year are added to the paper and it is glued on with atta(dough) near the gods.

On Dussehra, usually a big lunch or dinner is arranged for the sons-in-law and the daughters of the family. The daughter brings a ‘teeka’, which is akin to Raksha Bandhan or Bhai Dooj observances except that in Dussehra there is no presentation of money by the brothers. This is a day of family get-togethers and feasting with no restriction on serving meat and hard drinks. It is a time for total, unrestricted enjoyment.

On this day, all articles that are used for progress and prosperity of mankind are worshipped. For artisans across North India, it is the time to polish the instruments of their profession. All vehicles like cars, trucks and buses are also worshipped by the individuals using them. On Dussehra morning, drivers clean and polish their vehicles with great solemnity and patience, and then perform the puja of the vehicles. A symbol of the swastik is drawn with roli, aipun and rice on the already cleaned and polished vehicle. The ritual is observed even in the armed forces, police and paramilitary organisations.

In Northern India, it is widely believed that Lord Rama vanquished the demon king Ravana on a similar Dussehra day about 10,000 years ago and the festival is henceforth celebrated in commemoration of this event. A few of the outstanding events of the epic are dramatized in the form of a pantomime called “Ram Lila”. The performance ends with the burning of effigies of Ravana often along with similar structures of his son Meghnada and his brother Kumbhakarna (stuffed with firecrackers) amidst great cheer and rejoicing. The “Ram Lila” is a highly popular Dussehra tradition observed across the states of North India.

In parts of Uttar Pradesh, the day is associated with the ancient legend of the young Brahmin boy Kautsa’s act of distributing gold coins among the poor people on the day of Dussehra. As a commemoration, people in Uttar Pradesh collect leaves of the apati trees(Banni leaves), euphemestically calling them “sone” (gold) and using them to greet their friends and relatives as a ceremonial gift reminiscent of the actual gold distributed by Kautsa.

In Kullu, the capital town of the Kullu District of Himachal Pradesh, Dussehra witnesses exuberant week-long festivities. The rituals observed at the end of the Kullu Dussehra celebrations consist of the sacrifice of a buffalo, a rooster, a lamb, a fish and a crab.

Here’s wishing you and your loved ones Shubh VijayaDashami!!. Enjoy the day and stay safe. Image Courtesy: Wikipedia

Related Category of Posts: Hindu Festivals

*** Excerpts Begin (from an email by Rajesh) ***

…As a friend, it was hurting for me to read the mail forwarded by you about sabarimala. It is very easy to make fun of religious beliefs and more so when it comes to Hindu beliefs, as Hinduism is not a Semitic faith and an easy target too…will anyone from TN Gopakumar to Sukumar Azhikkode  dare to comment on matters related with other faiths? They wont, as the images of Prof. Joseph from thodupuzha who lost his right hand and his job are still fresh in their minds…..

Moreover they have specific agenda, when they write matters on such sensitive issues….please do consider the following points..

• First of all , though I am not a communist or a leftist, I think it is wrong to blame the Communist govt for propagating MakaraJyothi..On the other hand they are responsible for lapse in security and lack of basic amenities to pilgrims…and should be taken to task for that…this controversy is aimed at deflecting attention from core issues…
• The faith in sabarimala temple and faith in the mystic jyothi are totally different aspects…none of them, the tanthris, poojaris, pandalam family have anything to do with the makaravilakku…but now discussions and articles like this try to present the view that all are involved in a hoax as some may call it…
• The Dewasom board could be blamed for mystifying the event , but it is equally true in the case of media too…Gopakumar’s channel has been doing Live telecast on Makaravilakku day for years now. He should first stop that before blaming others…will he set an example before preaching others?
• Reading Gopakumar’s article, one gets a feeling that the pilgrimage to Sabarimala, the faith in Lord Ayyappa and everything connected with it, hangs on the fate of Makaravilakku. If someone daydreams that Sabarimala pilgrimage can be sabotaged like this, they will be proved wrong in the due course of time. Sabarimala has faced two major physical attacks, and campaigns like Nilakkal in the past, but nothing has affected the temple. The ongoing smear campaign will also have the same fate.

I am not entering into such sensitive issues and beliefs associated with other faiths…(the) world will much more peaceful if such matters are not made subject of ridicule.

I will end this small note with a explanation of what has happened/happening in Sabarimala on Makara Samkranthi day. In earlier days (and even today) on MakaraSankranthi day evening, the Makara Star makes its  appearance in the eastern horizon, much before the other stars appear. No divinity…. It is just astronomy. Then the Thiruvabharanam from Pandalam family arrives after a treacherous journey through the traditional forest paths. Once the star makes its appearance,  all devotees make obeisance and the Samkrama pooja starts at the Sanndihanam.

Once the doors of Sanctum Sanctorum opens and deeparadhana starts, the same deeparadhana is done at Ponnambalamedu by the Adivasis. The Adivasis present at Ponnambalemdu on that day in good numbers wait for the sanctum sanctorum to open and they can clearly see the temple doors even from such a distance. (I  have been to ponnambalamedu and you can draw a straight line from the temple doors to the place where Makaravilakku is lit.) This was happening till a few years ago. Then the number of adivasis in the forests dwindled and remaining where displaced from their settlements in the reserve forest areas.

One year ( may be some 20 years ago) no deeparadhana was done at ponnambalamedu and there was no makaravilakku darshan that year, despite devotees waiting eagerly for the same. From next year onwards, most probably the temple authorities might have made arrangements to ensure that the devotees are not deprived of the Vilakku darshan, and they did not clarify this when the Vilakku gradually achieved mystical dimensions, at least in the minds of devotees from other states. That is all. This has nothing to do with the rituals in the temple that has been in existence for more than 1000 years in the present form. And now some are trying to target the fame and faith of Sabarimala. Very Unfortunate indeed.

As you can understand, Makaravilakku is being erroneously called as MakaraJyothi, esp. by the media, adding to the confusion. MakaraJyothi is the star while MakaraVilakku is the traditional lamp lit at Ponnambalamedu. I am 45 yrs old and have been to Sabarimala 34 times. Only once I was present to witness the makaravilakku. Believe me, you have to be there to feel the positive energy created when lakhs of devotees in one voice raises the sarana mantras. Whether the vilakku is lit by man , machine or god is immaterial and irrelevant there.

The actual point of debate should be the ill treatment of devotes in the hands of the authorities and also the vendors, laborers etc , which is a matter of real concern. There is no verification on the background of people who stay at Sannidhanam, Pampa etc during the pilgrim season. Remember that the same vendors ill treated devotees running for cover during the Pulmedu stampede and also pushed many towards death. Devotes including small children had to wait for 10 to 18 hours in queue for darshan on many days during this season. No one was their to provide them drinking water or other refreshments. And moreover police even beat many trying to come out of the queue for basic needs. Makaravilakku controversy has become handy for those who want to deflect attention from the real issues.

Commercialization of Sabarimala pilgrimage is the core issue in this whole affair. ….(but  is it proper for Gopakumar to compare Sabarimala to a Public Sector Undertaking is an open question. Wherever devotees throng, some element of commercialization is sure to creep in. It is true in the case of pilgrim centers all over the world, belonging to all faiths. But that has to be kept under check.

The attitude of authorities, people of the host state i.e kerala and also attitude and indiscipline on the part of pilgrims coming from other states, need to change. India is a country where 1.5 crore people participate in events like Kumbh Mela. We have triupathi and vaishno devi temple where millions come very year. Such a scientific planning and execution is the need of the hour in sabarimala too. Not slander campaigns…………..

*** End of Excerpts ***

P.S. Please note some commentators draw a false parallel between the duty of the government to provide adequate infrastructure facilities at such locations and subsidies to visit religious centres. The clue is in the word “subsidy” [ link ]