Hindu Fasts and Feasts

HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS

B Y A A BH Y H U KE RJI M . . A O A RA N M , ,

P R O F E S S R M l R E N T R A L O L L L L L O , U C C L

A LL A H A B A D .

i r f a d a n O ld s ste s o y go e by,

G ra u rses lo v in n oth in n ew y n , g g Wh y sh ou ld they miss their year ly due ’ B fore eir ime ? T e too will di e th t h y e.

—T e so nny n .

S E N D E D T I N " CO I O . )

ALLA H A BA D

T H E I N D I A N PRE S S

1 91 8

l r i : r enew a l A l ght " Pr ice " Re. 1 . P ri ed an d ublis ed b ur v a K ris a B os e at th e I n dian P ress nt p h y Ap hn , ,

A llah ab ad . P RE FA CE

i i b ook ublic I f In ntroducing my l ttle to the p , eel that my ﬁrst word should b e a word of sincer e ’ h B u M r Jen n in s M . A . gratitude to t e o ble . J . G . g , , D of P c i B irector ubli Instruct on , ihar and Orissa , to whom I owe not on ly the idea of writin g on such a b u t kin d b r in l subj ect , also his colla o ation the actua production of no fewer than seven of these essays . The kindness with which he gave me h is valued assistance and encouragement in the mids t of his

v oﬁi cial P M hea y duties as rincipal , uir Central l is r i a ckn o wled Co lege , ce ta nly worthy of a higher g ment than the mere formality o f a w ord of thanks in P f the re ace .

' I n i fi f m r the r rst or , these essays appea ed as in Lea e P i n eer f articles The d r or The o , rom time to i 1913 1914 I h n ow time , dur ng the years and . ave r e - w i ritten them , w th larg e additions , and arranged in i h v i in them chronolog ical order , w t a iew to g v g if f r m of them , possible , a more permanent o . Two — them S itala S aptami and D asahra or Gan ga P uj a i for fi i are appear ng here the rst t me . N 0 one can be more sensible of the shortcomin gs of i l f M i fi i this l tt e book than mysel . y d f cult es were

i in i m . ser ous , and many cases almost nsur ountable I n ﬁ i i i i r i a l the rst plac e , t s mposs ble to w te on socia 2004 702 ii P R E F ACE or religious subj ect with absolute fairness and in the case of the H indu society and religion this ” f is i in — airness imposs ble another sense , the subj ect itself is one wh ich lis utterly incapable of any exhaust i v e n . F or S ir M i or eve adequate treatment , as on er Williams says in h is R eligio u s Life a n d T h o ugh t in ’ I n ia R i i n is H i d , el g o ever present to a ndu s mind. I t h i i I t colours all s deas . runs through every ﬁbre of h is i I t is m f h i be ng . the very Alpha and O ega o s whole

h . H e is b i i i i i eart ly career orn rel g ous , and d es rel g ous . H e is i i in i i in h is rel g ous his eat ng and dr nking , a n d in h is i n i in sleeping waking , dress ng and u dress ng , h is i i i in h is r s ng up and s tting down , work and amuse N a i i h im in cer emo ment . y, rel g on attends antenatal

i h is i h im in n es long before b rth , and follows endless ” fi rin s for h is f o e g the good of soul long a ter death . E very word of this statemen t is as true to - day as it ’ was in S ir M onier Williams time ; and the r esult is that to wr ite an exhaustive account of th e H ind u fasts and feasts is r eally equivalent to writing a com plet e history o f the H indu people from the Aryan immigration in to I ndia down to the present day ; and such a task would be as stu pendous as the famous H indu legend about the Churning of the Ocean by the gods and gian ts in the earl iest infancy of the l —a f fi tl wor d, task , there ore , that can y be undertaken i by one who is either a god or a g a nt . I n i I n the second place , had to co tend aga nst the difiiculty caused by the absence of written au thorities on a vast number of points touched in these pages . i i m Where written author t es exist , they were so e i l i fli in s times inaccess b e, somet mes con ct g , ometimes P RE F ACE iii

u i I f b una thent c . have , there ore , been o liged to rely ﬂ i l i a n d chie y on trad tion and persona exper ence , I f ll where even these have failed , have had to a back upon that last resort of all w r iters on F olklore con r j ectu e . M l in P m l ﬁ y ast word the reface ust , ike my rst , — be a word of gratitude o f respectful gratitude to the H b S ir J m S M u Li onora le a es corgie esto , eu

- of th e U i P a n d tenant Governor n ted rovinces , to

H r F . l F M . . a M A . D i the onorable C de osse , . , rector o f P ub I i i i lic nstruction , whose k nd apprec at on of some o f these essays in th e P ress has greatly eu co uraged me in my task of republishing them in k f boo orm .

M U LE GE H B M I R COL , ALLA A AD A . C. .

A i l th l o 9 16 . p r , 1

CO NT E NT S

P A o n

—M K S A N K I . A ARA R A N T I — I L GAN E S H A CH A T U R T H I — I I L B A S AN TA P AN CH AM I

I —S H IVA R A T R I V. — V. H ou — VL S IT ALA S A P T A M I — VI L RAMA N A VA M I

— H n P VII I . DAS A RA o GAN GA UJA

I —N A G P N CH M I X . A A

X —R A KS H B N B H . A A AN

XL—KR I S H N A S H T A M I

—A R D HI XII . NAN TA CH A T U A S

III —M A H A L YA A M A VA S YA X . A

—D G P J XI V . UR A U A

—KOJA GAR A L K H I XV. A S M P UJA

I —D W LI os D IP M L K XV . I A A I A

II JA M GHA T OR B n n u m DW T Y XV . I I A

I II —A KS H A YA N A VA M I XV .

XI X —Dw ar f s ": E KA D A S HI

X -K K1 P U B N A M A S H I X . ARTI

M a ka r a S a n kr a n ti

S a n kr an ti Kh ich r i M akara , popularly called ,

’ is a festival held in celebration o f the sun s northern

o f course in the heavens . This bending the solar course takes place exactly at that point o f time when

o f M o r the sun enters the sign akara Capricorn .

The precise moment varies from year to year . In

1 9 1 4 o f the year , for instance , the exact time the

’ o f 12 8 1 8 sun s change course was hours , minutes , seconds , Calcutta time . The Sanskrit term

’ M akara , however, does not signify what the Latin

’ : Capricorn does it means an alligator . But this is o nly a difference in nomenclature which is h immaterial , for bot names stand for the same M section of the astronomical heavens . akara is also the Sanskrit name o f the month which

’ commences with the sun s entrance into the sign

—a of the zodiac called by that name , month which

o M a is comm nly called gh in these provinces .

’ M akara S a n kra n ti is thus a kind o f New Year s

’ o f festival , marking the sun s attainment the most

th e southern point in ecliptic , and the commencement 2 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS o f o r h r ase the northerly course , what in religious p o "

U tta ra a n a . logy is called y Astronomically , it is a

’ u tw o new year s day indeed , and it occ rs within

’ weeks of the conventional New Year s Day o f the civilised world ; for M a kara S a n kran ti invariably falls between the 1 2th and the 1 4th o f J anuary each A ’ f year . new year s day is a day o rejoicing every

in where the world , and the Hindus have always

o w n o w n observed their in their customary style , by a bath in the Ganges , followed by sober feasting . M akara S a n kr a n ti originally became a day of rejoicing as marking the termination of the in a uspi cio us o f P a u s o r P os o r month ( o ) which , in India, at

o f e c u least in certain parts it , is regarded as a p

- liar l . y ill omened month For this reason , sacred

o f ceremonies all kinds , and even the undertaking of journeys o r shifting abode from o n e house to another, are forbidden in this month . Hence the

o f o r last day this month , more precisely the ﬁrst f day o the next , is celebrated as a festival of good

’ cheer , notably in Bengal and in Southern India , in both o f which places the day is observed by free

indulgence in the eating of cakes , sweets , puddings , and other vegetarian delicacies , in the preparation H o f which the indu matron is a renowned specialist . These excellent dishes are known by a multiplicity

o f be of culinary names , but many them have now come as mythical as their origin , and survive only MA KARA S A N KA R A N T I 3

U P in their names . In the nited rovinces , the fes

’ tiv a l u Kh ich r i - is pop larly called , after a well known Indian dish consisting of a mixture o f rice and

’ d a l r i r some kind of , and this a t cle of food fo ms the

’ u r c stoma y dish of the day . The Indian Kh ich r i

o f has many grades quality , from the humblest to

. r u the highest , to suit all ranks The Empero A rang zeb is said to have been particularly fond of o n e

’ Kh ich r i U variety , called Biryani . ncooked khi

a o chri is also given aw y to the poor , and ffered to f priests and Brahmans , accompanied by presents o

. to o cash and sweets These sweets , , are of a pres c r ibed order : they must contain an ingredient o f

o f is sesamum , the eating which in some form espe cia ll o f M y recommended in the month agh , probably as a preventive against chills . M akara S a n kr a n ti is o n e o f the g r eat bathing

A c o n ﬂ u days in the Hindu calendar . bath at the ence in P r aya ga (Allahabad) o n this day is believed t u r o be fra ght with incalculable spi itual merit , and this belief is perpetuated in an o ld saying On the

o f B o n day an eclipse , bathe at Kashi ( enares) the

M P r a a a day of akara , at y g and on the day of

R a m N av a mi , at Ayodhya these three baths being

- M pre eminently the holiest in the whole year . akara S a n kra n ti is the Opening day of the annual religious f M M fair at Allahabad , o ﬁcially called the agh ela , which lasts for a whole month , during which the 4 H INDU PASTS AND FEASTS orthodox bathe in the Tribeni every morning before

i sunrise , abstain from grain food dur ng the day time , and reside in the close vicinity of the Ganges in thatch - built huts erected especially fo r this

’ a r e purpose . These huts built as near the water s M edge as possible , and the whole month of agh is ’ often spent in camp life on the river s bank, which is piously known as Kalpa The length of residence is reduced in special cases , such as that o f

f o people who cannot a f rd , owing to pressing duties , to spe nd a longer time o ut o f home ; and three days are in such exceptional cases held to be as

o o f M good as thirty . The wh le month agh is a

u bathing season , but particular days are marked o t

e s e c iall im o r ta n t . above the rest as p y p These are ,

S a n kr a n ti l A ma v a s a o r n e w besides the , ( ) the y

f M 2 B a sa n ta P a n ch a mi moon o agh , ( ) , or the ﬁfth

f o f 3 A h a day o the light half the same month , ( ) c la

S a ta mi o f p , or the seventh day the same fortnight ,

4 E ka d a sh i ( ) the , or eleventh day , which is always a

5 M a h i P u r n a ma s h i sacred day , and ( ) the g , or full moon , after which the assemblage of bathers begins to break up . The religious Observances connected with this great bathing festival at P r ayaga are laid down in

P r a a a M a h a tm a an ancient work , called the y g y , which is supposed to be a part of the M a tsya P u r c ma , a work dealing with the life and adventures MA KARA S A N KR A N T I 5

o f the Fish Incarnation o f Vishnu . The bath must

be preceded by an equally obligatory rite , the

— co n si shaving of the head and face , hair being dered an unclean excrescence of the body which must be shaved o ff before a purificatory bath can be

M e n o f complete efﬁcacy . who have their father alive a r e exempted from the necessity of shaving o ff d the moustaches , and women who have husban s , o r u maidens who are still unmarried , are not req ired

to have their heads shaved . The same exemption

appea r s to have been granted to persons who are

s o f be permanent resident Allahabad , presumably

o n cause their hair , whether cut at home or

o f fi the banks the holy stream , is sure to nd its way into the waters of the Ganges sometime

P r a a a o r other during the rainy seas o n . The y g M a h a tmya promises release from ten thousand r e birt hs fo r every single hair ab o ve the chin w hich t ﬁnds its res in the Ganges . But the thousands and tens of tho u sands who annually assemble at A llah a M bad to bathe in the Ganges in agh , hardly ever h e a r the idea of spiritual merit as a distinctly consci o u s end in their minds ; they traverse miles and miles

o f u u u ro gh country , cheerf lly enduring h nger,

fatigue , and cold , plodding on their path from

u s nrise to sunset , for weeks together, lying down by the roadside o n the bare ground to pass the chilly night under a tree , with no clothing but a coarse 6 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

o r r eza i u country blanket a tattered (q ilt) , not because they can accurately measure the quantity or value of the spiritual good they are to reap from these toilsome marches , or from the bath which is

to come at the end of them , but only because they — reg ard the whole as a simple duty a duty that

o w e u to they to their neighbo rs and their religion , and from the performance of which , therefore , they

n o o r expect remuneration or reward , here here after . Ask any individual among the surging multitude as to why he has to come to bathe , and ” he will tell you because he ought to bathe . This word ‘ ought ’ possesses a solemn meaning in the

o f t mind a devout Hindu , to whom a duty is a du y, the why and the wherefore o f which it is not his

o r business to inquire into discuss . His whole duty ,

in the case of a duty , is to do it , without looking

n within for the motive , or without for the c o s eq ue n

o r o r ces , even around for the approval disapproval

u r of the world . Let a Hind be told by prope

auth o rity that such and such a thing is his duty

(d h a r ma ) , and nothing will shake his resolution or

D - mo r tiﬁ daunt his Spirit . ifﬁculty , hardship , self — cation these act as a llu r emen ts on the pious Hindu heart and to be convinced of this paradox o n e has only to witness a M agh M ela and study the attitude of the myriads that flock to P raya ga by every

available route , defying hunger and cold , disease A N A MA KARA. S KR N T I 7

to and accident , for no other business than bathe at the conﬂuence and to visit the shrine o f Bhara dwaja . For the one is held to be incomplete without the other, and hence throughout the bathing season one can see an unceasing stream of pilgrims pa ssing between the Tribeni and the temple of

’

P r a a a s B h a r adw a a . y g presiding sage , j U tta r aya n a is also commemorated as the day on

B h ish ma which , the octogenarian leader of the

u r M a h a bh a r a ta K ru fo ces in the , after discoursing fo r many days o n the duties and mysteries o f Life

D - h and eath as he lay wounded on the battle eld , pierced by innumerable arrows , emancipated his f soul from the thraldom o f ﬂesh by an act o will . This does not mean that he committed what in law is called suicide . The Hindus believe that , while the hour of death is unalterably ﬁxed by Fate in

o f the case of the majority men , the pious soul that has all through life been in communion with its

God , acquires the power of releasing itself from the

a t mil — o f bondage of the body k that is , prolonging

u to o f te r min at life p any limit it chooses , and also ing it at any point and cases o f voluntary surrender of life (d eh a -tyaga ) have been witnessed even in this sceptic age , among men who were neither saints

‘ ’ nor sages , but humble householders who did their ’ in life s duties like other men , and , while living the

a bov e world , lived always it . ll

Ga n e sh a Ch h i a tu rt .

Ganesha Ch atur th i is o n e of those H indu festivals

u that are not honoured by a p blic holiday . Ganesha

o n e o f o f is the most popular deities the H indus , so much so that he is worshipped before every import ant d o mestic occurrence and before every imp o rtant

o r H is public private worship . name is also invoked at the beginning o f every book i n the simple stereo typed formula S r i Ga n esh ai N a ma h I bow to

with which every Sanskrit book opens . The name of Ganesha is also uttered in pious

o r veneration at the time of starting on a journey ,

o r n ew launching a new venture , building a house , o r even drawing up a list o f articles to be purchased for a happy ce r emony that may be in prospect . The character in which Ganesha ﬁgures most con S picuo usly in Indian legend is that o f Vigh n a - n a sh a k (o r remover o f untoward impediments) ; and he is j ust as often invoked by another title , which only avoids

o — o f S iddh id a ta the negative f rm , namely , that

’ o r bestower o f success . These two epithets have been so frequently associated with the character lo H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

’ H is is the rat . elephant s head has a full trunk

coiled artistically about the throat and shoulder, but

o n e f only tusk , the other having been lost in a scu ﬂe that he had had with P a r a s ur a ma . This P a ra s ur a ma was a fanatic Brahman who became the deadly

Ksh attr i as enemy of all y , and who in his racial wrath made no less than three wholesale massacres o f Ks h attr i a the y race in India .

o f Every little detail in the ﬁgure Ganesha , such

o f as we ﬁnd placed in the niche of a temple Shiva , has an emblematic meaning and a storied origin that can be traced in o n e o r other of the P u ra n a s . The legends that cluster round the personage of Ganesha

r are many and va ied , and the most important of them are recorded in the Ga n esh a K h an da (the chapter on Ganesha) o f the B ra h ma Va iva r ta

P a r a n a . The same events are often differently ff described in di erent legends . Even the account of his birth varies in essential particulars in various authorities . One legend represents that he sprang ’ P from the scurf o f Parvati s body . arvati was S married some years to hiva , but had no issue , and her heart began to yearn for a child . One day , as Shiva had gone o ut to gather ﬂowers on M ount

Kailasa , and Parvati was left at home , she wished to have a bath . Before plunging into water , she r o il ubbed her body with , and from the scurf that

o ff dropped her skin , she made a little human ﬁgure GAN E S H A C H A T U RT H I 1 1

into which she breathed life . The doll , thus animated , became a handsome boy , and she named him Ganesha . She then asked this creation of hers to guard the door of the house until she

ﬁnished her bath . It so happened that Shiva him self turned up at the door the very next moment .

’ Ganesha s orders were to guard the entrance , and he took this to mean that he was not to allow

o anybody to enter , whoever it might be , with ut any further reference to his mother . He knew not S hiva ; he never suspected that it was his own father seeking to enter his own house ; nor did Shiva either suspect who this strange boy might C be . Shiva at ﬁrst tried to oax the little door keeper, and then mingled threats with cajolery ; but

Ganesha was quite clear about his orders . Shiva was ﬁlled with wrath at this boyish obstinacy and

’ in his rage he cut o ff Ganesha s head and made a

o ut forcible entry . When Parvati , coming of her bath , saw Ganesha lying murdered , she was filled with grief and dismay , and in her sorrow she refused to speak to her h usband , insisting that the boy should be restored to life . S hiva promised to bring her son back to life , and with that end he despatched his spirit - messengers to all parts o f the earth with orders to bring the head o f the first living creature (no matter of what species) that should be found sleeping with his head turned 1 2 H INDU PASTS AND F B A S ’I‘ S t S ’ owards the north . hiva s aerial messengers roamed about hither and thither for a long time , but were unable to find any human creature s leeping with head turned northwards . They at last found an elephant lying in that position , and they instantly cut off his head and brought it to Shiva w h o fo r to , fain to find a head a head , fixed it ’ b Ganesha s ody , and Ganesha sprang forth to life a gain , half man , half elephant . The above legend accounts fo r the superstition that forbids H indus to — sleep with their head towards the north a pr o h ibi tion that is binding to this day . There is , however , a second reason fo r this avoidance o f the n o rthern — aspect in sleep namely, that in this position the feet o f the sleeping pe r son would be pointed towards

o f l the regions the dead , and this wou d be an act f o irreverence to departed ancestors . The name ‘Ganesha ’ is sometimes etymologically

a n a cash a o f split up into two words , g and lord the spirits and this derivation has led some E u ropean scholars to think that Ganesha is only a tutelary deity, a vulgar intermixture of the divine and the demoniac . This notion has become corroborated in some minds by a strange verse from an ancient

r o M to ve si n of anu , which purports lay down that

o f Shiva is the god the Brahmans , Vishn u of the

Ksh attr i a s Va is h a s y , Brahma of the y , and Ganesha ” r o f the S udras . The e can be no doubt that this GANESHA C H A T U R T H I 13 division and distribution is absolutely fanciful there

is nothing in present - day religious practice to show

that any such allotment of gods , based on the fourfold

o f r division the Hindu people , was ever made o

followed . Brahmans and all other castes are as

o f much worshippers Ganesha as the Sudras , whose

special deity he is supposed to be . Ganesha derives his popula r ity from the fact of his being the son o f

r the g eat god Shiva ; and his mother, Parvati , is

no other than Durga , the goddess of victory , the

M o f U mighty other the niverse , the grand personi ﬁcatio n of the principle o f P ower or Fecundity in H Nature . ence Ganesha is an object of de vout S S — adoration for haivas and haktas alike all those ,

fo r o f in fact , who care the acquisition wisdom and

o r a d learning , who , wanting in these themselves ,

mire the same in others . The character in which Ganesha appears most frequently in Hindu myth o

o f logy is as the god of wisdom , the patron letters , and the bestower of success in difﬁcult and hazard

’ H is o us undertakings . elephant s head is an em

f - blem o all comprehensive wisdom , and even his

- va h a n . , the rat , is well known for its sagacity There is a beautiful myth illustrating Ganesha ’ s precocious

wisdom . Ganesha and his brother, Kartik, had once a boyish dispute as to which of them was the elder

o f the two , and the dispute was referred to Shiva

for decision . Shiva did not know what to say ; for , - 1 4 HINDU p as rs AND FEASTS

u in truth , the q estion was hard to decide , Ganesha

’ being a boy not born in the ordinary way at all . He gave his decision most impartially by ruling that whichever of the two boys would make a tour round

r r the wo ld in the shorter time , would thereby p ove

’

r . Ka r tik s v a h a n himself the elde Now , is the pea

u cock , and this gave him a decided s periority over

- the rat mounted Ganesha . S itting o n the back o f

a t his winged carrier , K r ik ﬂew off immediately to make a circuit of the world , and in a short time dis

r appea ed from view . But Ganesha , instead of

o n r u setting out the tour , quietly made a ci c it round

o his parents , and bowing bef re them claimed the prize of victory . But you never went round the ” ” S . b u t globe , said hiva No , replied Ganesha , I went round my parents who represent to me all

‘ ’ r that is comprehended in the te m world . This bit o f well - timed philosophy clinched the question in dispute , and Ganesha was thereafter acknow f ledged as the eldest son o S hiva .

Ganesha Ch atu r th i is the day sacred to Ganesha . It is observed o n the fourth day of the waning moon o f M agh . By the common people the day is known S ’ as akat , which is a corruption of the S anskrit

’ r k d ifﬁ S a n a t c ult . wo d , meaning y Ganesha Cha t u r th i S Ch a tu r th i is also called ankat , in allusion to o f u o f o f one the chief attrib tes Ganesha , that r o f emover difﬁculties . The festival is , at least in the GAN E S H A C H A T U RT H I 1 5

U P nited rovinces , observed almost exclusively by

- w h o the women folk , chieﬂy those have sons , as the observance o f it by a mother is believed to bring long life and prosperity to the son . As Durga is the ideal o f o f mothers , so is Ganesha the ideal sons , and by worshipping him , therefore , mothers hope to earn for their o w n sons a fair measure o f the sterling virtues

which distinguish Ganesha among the gods . The way in which women observe this festival is by

w o r keeping an absolute fast for the whole day, and

a t th e shipping Ganesha night , j ust at moment when the moon is seen rising above the eastern 9 1 0 ’ horizon . This takes place between and o clock ff at night . The worship consists i n o ering to the god a kind o f dry pudding made o f sesamum and unreﬁned sugar, loosely piled upon a brass tray so

o f o f as to be the shape a miniature mountain , while

o r o f o n a wooden board low stool , placed alongside this tray, are ranged together a number of conical

o f co wd un o f ﬁgures made g. The pile sweetened sesamum in the tray is supposed to be a ram o r w o lf represented with a big head , which is then

o f d ra ma severed from the trunk with a blade grass .

This is usually done by a priest , who gets as his fee the sesamum head of this emblematic ram or wolf,

u a together with a small cash present . The p j being

r o f over , the women and child en the house sit to

ath e r o f g , and the oldest matron the family then 1 6 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

o r recites the Katha , the legend appropriate to the day, and the others listen . The tale of Ganesha Ch a tur th i has varying versions like eve ry other traditional story handed down from mouth to mouth for countless generations . One version , which the present writer has listened to year after year in his o w n family runs as foll o ws There was once a poor Brahman householder who made a precarious living on the charity of his neighbours , without making any attempt at earning a surer livelihood by other means . When the

f C h atu r th i festival o Ganesha came near, his wife scolded him for leading an indolent life at home , and not making any effort to seek a living by g o ing

abroad . We have not enough even for daily

bread , said she , how is it possible for me to keep the observance of our sacred festivals I cannot become so irreligious as to dispense with the cus to ma ry p aj a s enjoined by o ur S h a str a s : I would much sooner dispense with a meal occasionally than abandon our family gods . I must celebrate the

f e o n worship o Gan sha the appointed day, but have — not the wherewithal to perform the ceremony not

o r o f even a handful of sesamum a pinch sugar .

Yo u must therefore leave home instantly, and get ” me the requisite articles of worship anyhow you can . The Brahman calculated that the handiest way o f

’ procuring these would be by breaking into a B a n ia s

HINDU PASTS A N D FEASTS

f to o . stu f, came home his wife with j y And his wife worshipped Ganesha therewith , and through

o f the blessing the god , the Brahman was made a happy and prosperous man . There is another popular story connected with

Ch atur th i the festival of Ganesha , which , though somewhat vulgar in colouring , seems , in the lessons that it teaches , to have had a cultured origin . It

o n e tells us that there were once two neighbours ,

- - well to do and the other poor . One day the poor man was discovered to have suddenly become rich , and his rich neighbour came to him and asked him how he had grown so wealthy all at once . He replied that his wife had worshipped Ganesha on the night o f the Ganesha Ch atu r th i by offering to

o d o f ur the g j ust a handful sesamum and g , and that the go d had become so pleased with the b offering as to visit his ut personally . He and his

wife were sleeping in a room , when they were awakened by a voice speaking in the little closet where the p uj a had been held but an hour o r so ago : I am very pleased with you W h o is that

r o ut c ied the wife in alarm . It is I , Chauth

” “ ” w o Gosain , replied the voice . Well , said the

S h e man . what do you want suspected it was some thief o r rogue that had broken into the house , and she therefore wakened her husband , and

o n the two stood their guard , keeping , however , G AN E S HA C H A T U RT H I 1 9

inside thei r room The voice spoke again , I want

to u n o ease myself. There co ld be mistake now it must be a lunatic that had entered their house and the poor co u ple though t it best to humour the — S o r W fellow . the woman eplied , ell , there are

o u four corners in the room where you are , and y may ease yourself in one of those A few minutes

later , the same voice Spoke again , I want to make

water ; and the woman gave the same reply . It

was now past midnight . All possibility of sleep

was gone , and man and wife kept broad awake , expecting to see worse and worse forms o f the same

o f madness . In the third quarter the night , the ” voice cried again , I want to weep . The same

r eply was of course again given , as it had at least satisﬁed the s u pposed lunatic so far as to prevent him from showing his madness in a more a ggr e s

sive form . I n the last quarter of the night , the ” fo r voice spoke the last time , I want to laugh .

But the same reply was again given , although a

ff o n e di erent could have been tried , considering that

d a w n w as the z already breaking in the east , and help could be more readily proc u r ed in case the madman

attempted violence . But before it was quite dawn ,

the madman had taken his exit , and daylight reveal ed a miracle in each o f the four corners o f the closet where the supposed madman had played his supposed

pranks . The little room was heaped with gold and 20 m N D u FASTS AND FEASTS

gems , and at the sight of these the poor man and

his wife burst into tears of repentance . The god

Ganesha himself had visited their humble dwelling , and how discourteously they had treated Him who had in o n e night co nverted their little b ut into a

- treasure house . Now, the rich neighbour listened to r o this tale with eager interest , gaping with p found wonder at the thought of a poor man ’ s rising to such a fortune in the course of a single night . He questioned him in detail as to the exact procedure he had adopted in the worship of Ganesha on that f blissful night , the exact kind of o fering he had

d so ma e , the exact quantity of each article , and

to on , determining in his mind do the same on

' u a the next occasion of the p j . He told all this

’ to his wife , and the wife , too , visited her neighbour s

o f th e wife , and personally veriﬁed all the details

ceremony that her husband had reported to her . And then she impatiently awaited the arr ival of the sacred day . The days seemed in her impa tien ce to pass most languidly . Of course , she was

u r f in no needy circ mstances , but rathe su ﬁciently rich to have no hankering for more . But still the sight of her upstart neighbour gave rise in h e r heart to the ambition o f outshining him in wealth and splendour ; hence the keen longing , the restless impatience with which both she and her husband

n o w looked forward to the auspicious day . And GANESHA a T U a i 21

fo r the auspicious day had come , and preparations the puj a were made in rigid conformity with the de

tails that had been followed by their neighbour . Just

a f o f u r handful o sesamum , only a little grain g were offered in the worship the smallest room in

w a s the house chosen for the ceremony and , after

- the carefully studied rites were over, man and wife

betook themselves to sleep in the next room , choos

o n ing to lie down the bare ground , because their

o f neighbour had done so . But neither them could summon a wink o f sleep in expectation o f the

blessed visitation . They had not to wait long . The expected voice was heard at the expected hour ;

a n d , truly enough , it spoke the same words . N aturally , the same reply was given which the

woman had so carefully conned . Everything hap

to pened exactly as had happened her neighbour ,

the s ame voice speaking the same words , at the

o u same h rs , and receiving the same replies in the

- F o r o f same semi sarcastic tone . even the tone the reply had been studiously copied by a year ’ s

rehearsal . The last reply was given j ust as the

dawn was breaking in the eastern sky . Every thing was now indeed complete : no detail w a s

’ wanting , and the woman s heart was leaping with j o y as at daylight she Opened the door o f the

o o f little ro m to gather the heaps gold and gems . But there was another kind o f miracle awaiting H INDU FASTS A N D FEASTS

her eyes . Instead of the gold and gems she

o r had expected to find , the wh le oom was ﬁlled

r with human excrement , ﬂooded with u ine , and giving forth a horrible stench "The woman was

u horriﬁed , and fell back in her terror . Lo dly she denounced her innocent neighbour for having , as she thought, deluded her with a concocted lie . The next moment she blamed herself for putting faith in a n

’ u pstart s words and the next moment stormed at her neighbour for practising such a villainous trick upon her . The news soon leaked out , and her neighbours

r came , some to sympathise with her othe s to

o n e laugh at her folly . But there was among them who saw through the meaning of the whole comic tragedy . She explained that the fault was neither in

n o r the god , in the neighbour who had told the truth ,

’ but in the silly woman s o w n heart that had yielded

r to temptation when it should have esisted it , that had fallen a prey to avarice when it should have

rested in contentment , that had entertained the vile ambition o f outshining a neighbo u r in wealth instead of trying to excel him in piety . She was already rich

- - h e r w o r and well to do , and the proper way for to ship the god would have been in a style beﬁtting her wealth and position . Instead of doing that , she had blindly followed the humble style of her humble neighbour she had even had the audacity to speak to the god , knowing that it was a god she was GANES H A C H A T U R T H I 23

- addressing , in the same semi sarcastic tone that had been used by her n e igh bo ii r in ignorance and she had therefore well merited the punishment which had visited her . III

Basa n ta P a n ch a mi

Basanta Panchami is the ﬁfth day of the light - half o f M agh , and is so called because it is regarded as the ﬁrst day o f the Indian spring Basanta being S the anskrit name of the spring season . The great

n o t spring festival of India is , however, the one that

b ut bears the name of spring , another which comes

‘ - o ff . some six weeks later, namely, the Holi But the Holi is a spring festival in the sense that it is a

o f day popular rej oicing , following closely upon or immediately preceding the harvesting o f the spring crops ; whereas Basanta Panchami marks the com me n ce me n t o f the spring season from the a stro n o f mical point o view . Why the advent o f the spring season should be a festive occasion in a tropical country , is not quite

n f obvious , for in o part o the plain regions of India , where this festival is honoured by some kind o f

observance , are the rigours of the winter season at any time so severe as to make the a pproach o f

- spring a looked for event . The mild Indian winter

n o has terrors fo r even the poorest Indian peasant,

26 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

The presumption that it is the ancient S anskrit poets who have actually founded the Basanta festival , is corroborated by another custom which prevails in

‘ ’ those parts o f the Province where families o f B h a ts

B h a ts are still found . The are a class of indigen ous bards , who at one time possessed such poetic skill that they could sing extempore songs on any subject given to them , and could also carry on a long dialogue in verse with a member o f their o w n fraternity . The custom among them is to present sprays o f mango bloom to one another and to their friends , on the morning of Basanta Panchami . This friendly present is Sometimes accompanied by short poetical recitations in praise of Spring , or as a compliment paid to the friend himself. The B h a ts are by caste Brahmans whose ancestral occupation was in ancient times to compose songs and odes , and recite them on ceremonious occasions before public and private gatherings . Some of them still uphold their ancient calling , but have adopted other pursuits in addition , to serve as a

’

. f means of livelihood For the poet s o ﬁce , which was in ancient India a highly lucrative one , in

o f consequence of the patronage princes and nobles , has now ceased to be an avenue to wealth o r fortune .

It is probably our Indian poets , again , who have connected Basanta Panchami with the worship ‘ B ASANTA PAN C H AM I 27

o f Saraswati , the goddess of speech and learn

ing , the goddess most invoked , most adored , by S ancient writers . araswati is often styled the M inerva of H indu mythology ; but this designation is really too narrow ; she combines in herself th e

M o f functions of all the nine uses Greek mythology ,

presiding over the whole domain of letters , arts , h and sciences , which Hindu p ilosophers have divid

- ed into sixty four branches . Some E uropean scholars have been led into a n other error in trying to understand the true cha r acte r of S araswati they have confounded the river S araswati of Vedic literature with the goddess

S o f araswati Brahmanical writings . They speak as

o ut o f though the latter had evolved the former ,

and their only reason , besides the identity of the

two names , seems to be the fact that the goddess is

- D r . M a latter conception than the river deity . uir has even endeavoured to furn ish an explanation of how the river Saraswati became gradually trans figured into the goddess o f speech and learning . “ He says : When once the river had acquired a

S h e divine character, it was quite natural that should be regarded as the patroness of the ce r emonies which were celebrated on the margin of her holy waves , and that her direction and blessin g should be invoked as essential to their proper pe rformance

w as and success . The connection into which she 28 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS thus brought with sacred rites may have led to the further step o f imagining her to have an inﬂuence o n the composition o f the hymns which formed so

o f important a part the proceedings , and of indenti ” f in y g her with Vach , the goddess of speech . The above is no doubt a very ingenious e xpo s i tion of the origin of the goddess S araswati but the H indu people still regard the two S a r a swa tis as

S o f absolutely distinct . The river araswati the Veda s and the goddess Saraswati of the P u r a n a s have nothing in common save the name , nor did

o u t o f the latter evolve the former , except in so far as we may say that the P a ra n a s were evolved

Ved a s out of the . That the river is frequently

spoken of as a goddess , is no proof that the river deity was beginning to undergo transformation into

o f - the goddess learning . Even if the river deity is invoked by the authors of Vedic hymns , this is little evidence to show that she is being metamorphosed into another goddess . The river Saraswati is still revered as a goddess , only she has been relegated to the same rank to which the Godavari o r the

N o r arbada , the Krishna belong . Almost every

Indian river is regarded as a sacred stream , and

r r pe soniﬁed as a god or goddess . The e is no doubt that to the early A r yans the river Saraswati was what the Ganges is to their descend ants ; her waters were instinct with divinity in every inch o f B ASANTA PAN C HAMI 29 her course and her inﬂuence must have inspired the composers of the Vedic hymns . There is also no doubt that she is often invoked as the goddess of Speech and the patroness of science but this may

th e be only language of poetic personiﬁcation . The Saraswati o f the P uranas is a distinct personage S from the araswati of the Vedas , and the con founding o f the one with the other only reminds

one of the historic confusion made by Burke , in one of his speeches on the impeachment of W arren H Hastings , between aﬁz Rahmat Khan , chief of the

o R hillas , and the Persian poet Haﬁz . The river deity is now no longer recog nised as a goddess

n entitled to practical adoration , amo g other reasons

because the stream itself has practically dried up .

o r Like other Vedic deities , such as Indra , Agni , o r

Vayu , she has long become too classical to satisfy the modern demand for more and more personality and less and les s abstraction in the gods and H goddesses of the indu religion .

Thus aro se the conception of S araswati a s a

r v personal goddess , a goddess p esiding o er speech and letters , and patronising every branch of litera

S h e ture , science , and art . is represented as a maiden of snowy white complexion , arrayed in a cloth o f - Spotless white , and Sitting on a white full blown lotus . Everything about her is white . Even her va h a n th e o f , the swan , is famous for white purity 3 0 H INDU FASTS A N D FEASTS

n o s u e r ﬂ uit o f its feathers . She has p y limbs , such a s o f D , for instance , the ten arms her mother urga , b ut is pictured in every way like a human maiden

h e o f S o f pee r less bea u ty . S is the daughter hiva

D u . and rga , and the wife of Brahma , the Creator

o n e c in a o r In hand she holds a book , in the other a

fo r o f . harp , she is also the goddess music Every thing white is pleasing to her ; hence the ﬂowers used in worshipping her must be white , as also the

u a r e r e sandal paste . I n the p j , she is sometimes p sented by a clay image , and sometimes only by a diagrammatic ﬁg u r e depicted o n the side o f a brass o r o f copper j ug ﬁlled with water, in front which

- are arranged in neat order , books , pen , ink stand ,

o n e o r and other writing materials , except ink ; two musical instruments like the guitar o r tambourine

h ir a h ee o il a lighted c g , burning g , not , etc . Ink is not placed among the writing materials offered to

o f the goddess , because ink is generally a black

to colour, and black is repulsive the goddess . The pen offered in the worship of S araswati is the o ld

Indian pen , cut from a reed , and not the imported

o f o ur o w n steel pen day . The offerings are made

w o r to this emblematic j ug , and the prayers of the shippers are likewise addressed to it . In some

u houses , of co rse , a clay image is set up , and the worship is consequently on a much grander scale . The offerings Special to S araswati are unripe ears B ASAN T A PAN CH AMI 3 1

o f o f of barley and grains gram , and sprays mango

bloom , plums , sweets prepared from white sesamum ,

m a and other edibles . After the j j proper , comes

P u sh a n a li what is called the p j , a ceremony which consists in the offering o f ﬂowers to the goddess by

f w h o a group o worshippers , stand in a semicircle

o f in front the image or the consecrated j ug , and recite a prescribed prayer in chorus to the leading voice of the priest o r the head o f the family who

F o r o f may be conducting the worship . the head

m a the family himself sometimes performs the j j , if he is a Brahman but if he is not a Brahman , he h as o fﬁcia te e to call in a priest to at the cer mony . The worship o f Saraswati is not conﬁned to any

u partic lar caste , though originally the Brahmans alone had this privilege for , as is well known , all learning was in former times conﬁned to the

r p iestly caste , perhaps more strictly in India than in

r E urope in the dark ages . No reading o writing is

o n permissible this day, and athletic sports , gym nastic exercises , concerts , theatrical entertainments ,

&c . o h , are considered in order . Strict fasting is

in served by every one the family , until the worship o is completely over, and this is generally ab ut mid

f r day . Even little boys o seven o eight join in the fasting , and do so most cheerfully, hoping in this way to propitiate the goddess , and to reap ,

s u as their reward , a uccessf l career at school . 3 2 H INDU FASTS A N D FEASTS

Saraswati is now the favo urite goddess of the Hind u student community , and of all others who are engaged in the pursuit of knowledge . She is like

o f wise the chief goddess schoolmasters , and in Bengal it is the practice of every Pandit who keeps a school to set up an image of Saraswati and invite his patrons and friends to witness the worship and do honour to the goddess . The attendance at these ceremonies is large or small , according to the

’ o f a Pandit s circle p trons and friends , each of whom makes a cash offering to the goddess at the time of bowing to her ; and the money thus collected fo r ms

’ an important part of the Pandit s annual revenue . A very curious superstition connected with this

m a j j prevails among Hindu boys , who regard plums as absolutely forbidden fruit until after the S araswati — puja is over , that is , until some time after plums have begun to ripen on the tree and to be sold in the bazaar . The belief is that if any boy eats a plum ,

o n e or even bites , earlier than the Saraswati puja , he incurs the severe displeasure o f the goddess and

o f this displeasure , in the case a schoolboy , is inter pr e te d to imply failure in examinations and all the

o n e nameless evils that follow in its train . When

’ has passed the school stage and has boys o f one s ow n o n e , comes to know better what this prohibition means ; but alas "by that time the temptation for plums has ceased to act . Plums are a kind of fruit

3 4 m N D U FASTS A N D FEASTS any o n e whose festival happens to synchronise with the season for any particular crop o f fru it o r vege table o r grain . Saraswati puja is also the day o n which Hindu

~ boys begin their alphabet, and quite a little cere mony is made of the matter , the ceremony being

‘ ’ a s Vid a rambh a to known y . The boy is made

e o f repeat the lett rs the Sanskrit alphabet , as

to correctly as he can imitate the sounds , and trace o n e tw o o f o n or them the ground , with a piece of

o r chalk , his hand being guided by the priest , by

o r o f bo d the father guardian the y . This is one

o f o f e re o r in front the image the goddess , j ust b fo j ust after or during the intervals of the worship . The Vidya r a mbh a ceremony is usually performed

’ a e o r e in the ﬁfth year of the boy s g , , in cas

e that is , for any reason , render d impracticable , then , in the seventh year, the even n umber six,

r as , in fact , all even n umbers , being conside ed u nlucky in all auspicious ceremonies , marriage ,

U a n a a n a o f p y , tonsure included . With the revival education and learning a n d the growth of knowledge

that is taking place in India under British rule , the worship o f the goddess Saraswati is becoming more and more universal , and in Bengal , at any rate , she

o f is worshipped in every Hindu household , which even a single member has r eceived a smattering o f some kind of education ; IV

S hiv a r a tri

S h iva ratr i is a religious fast kept on the four tee n th day o f the dark fortnight o f the lunar month o f P h al u n g . Literally , the name means the night

’ c e to o f ons crated Shiva . Shiva is one the highest

o f gods the Hindu pantheon , and he is distinguished

m o f M o r fro the lesser gods by the title ahadeva ,

‘ ’ the Great God . He has countless other names

o r corresponding to his countless attributes , derived

from his equally n umerous exploits . Outside India he is known as o n e o f the three gods composing

ee H what has b n erroneously called the indu Trinity , " in which Shiva ﬁgures as the destroyer . But this c on ce ption o f S hiva has now become pale and faded in the light o f brighter conceptions that arose

ben e ﬁcen t later, these representing him as a deity ,

’ o n e o f the eternally blessed , and the causer ’ blessings . His personality is also made more intere sting by his being represented as a human householder, dwelling with his wife Parvati , and — re arin g a family o f four children two sons and tw o d aughters , the sons being Ganesha and Kartik , and

da t s h a . the ugh er , Laks mi and S raswati 36 H INDU FASTS A N D FEASTS

Shiva is a god transcending all the other gods in S the multiplex character of his personality . ome times h e is regarded as the divine impersonation of the disintegrating powers of nature , the forces that

—in make for disruption , decay , and death , short , as the dread Destroyer, who takes pleasure in

o w n . destruction for its sake In this character, he

- is believed to be fond of haunting burning grounds , of playing with the skulls and bones of the dead ,

f th e and of af ecting society of ghosts and goblins .

In this character, too , he is represented as extremely irascible in temper, prone to killing and slaughter on the slightest provocation , and having a wildness and ﬁe r cen e ss about his manners that inspires his worshippers with more awe than reverence . On one occasion , the sage Daksha held a great sacriﬁce to which he invited all the gods , but omitted to ask

a n d Shiva and his wife , the god became so enraged at this that he cut o ff the head of the sage and

o f . replaced it by that a ram On another occasion , he burnt up a number of gods by a ﬂash of lightning w darted from his third eye , and after ards smeared h his body with their ashes , whence probably t e rubbing of ashes o n the body has become the f distinctive mark of a devotee o Shiva . S ometimes Shiva is pictured in a different

- o f character, as the divine agent the reproductive

a power of n ture , whence he derives his names of S H I VA R A T R I 37

S - S ada Shiva , Shankara , and hambhu . It is in this character that he is represented by the familiar , f ’ t o . but of en misunderstood , symbol the Linga

Sometimes , again , he is regarded as the grand type o f an ascetic wh o has attained the highest per fe c tion by prayer, penance , and privation . In this character he is pictured as an ordinary human being in the garb of a holy anchorite , with ash besmeared body and matted locks gathered into a

o r knot about the forehead , wearing a strip of bark

- leopard skin about the loins , and sitting in rapt meditation in the shades o f a tr ee . It is in this character o f an invincible ascetic that Shiva

to o d o f scorched ashes the wayward g love , Kama deva , who once endeavoured to seduce him away

f - T h n f r from his course o self mo r tiﬁcatio n . e ce o ward Shiva gained complete emancipation from the

o f bondage passion , and by his example taught mankind the way to gain the height o f bliss by

o f f voluntary torture the ﬂesh , by the subjection o

turbulent passions , and by undisturbed meditation . Shiva is sometimes represented with ﬁve faces and then he is known by the name o f P a n ch an an a ; and he has always three eyes , the third be ing

located in the centre of the forehead . These three eyes are supposed to typify the god ’ s omniscience

o f his knowledge the past , present and future . He

- is said to have a blue coloured throat , whence his 3 8 HINDU FASTS A N D FEASTS name of Nil - Kantha and he is said to have derived the hue from his having drunk up the poison

r - th e which foamed forth f om the sea surface , at

o f —a churning the ocean primordial occurrence , very frequently mentioned in Hindu mythology as the originating cause o f a number of objects th a t

u va h a n ﬁgure in s bsequent myths . His is the bull , and hence an image of this creature is to be ' seen in every temple dedicated to Shiva . The month specially sacred to Shiva is S ra va n (J uly- August) the titki (phase o f the moon) favour

T r a o d as h i o r able to his worship is the y , the thir tee n th day of the dark fortnight ; and the day o f th e week that is picked out for the keeping o f vows made

to M . S h iva r a tr i him , is onday is a sort of extra

o f w h o is ordinary occasion for the worship Shiva , commonly worshipped every day in a very simple

— r form namely , by the pouring of a j ug of wate

Lin u m o r over the g set up in the nearest temple , ,

l e simp er still , by bathing in water any smooth ston boulder that might have be en placed by any pious minded rustic at the foot of a peep u l tree anywhere on the roadside o r in the middle o f a village grove . The exact origin of the S h iv a r atri fast is lost in

e the dimness of the past , but the festival happ ns to

r be mentioned in the M a h a bh a r a ta . This of cou se by no means furnishes any clue as to the date o f its l origin , for, apart from the fact that the chronologica S H I VA R A T R I 39 val ue o f the epic is greatly lost by a m ultiplicity o f a d later interpolations , the festiv l is escribed in — ’ o n e o f the concluding books of the poem the S h an tz

P an za , which some authorities believe to be wholly

a . o f poc ryphal As it i s, a pretty detailed exposition the M a h a tmya (or religious efﬁcacy) o f the Shivara

i v o w o f B h ish ma tr is put into the mouth , the octogenarian leader o f the Kuru forces in the great

Ku r uks h etr a B h ish ma ba ttle of . is lying wounded

-ﬁe ld b o n o f o n the battle , his ody resting a bed

r o a rows , and in this p sture he discourses to a circle

f o n o f o mourning kinsmen the principles duty , the truths of philosophy and the eternal mysteries o f life

and death . According to the legend thus put into

o f S h ivaratr i the mouth the dying hero , the fast of

w a s ﬁrst publicly observed by King Chitra Bhanu ,

o f I ks h v aku to the dynasty , who is said have been a

o f - D wi a king ruling over the whole Jambu p , the — most ancient name o f India a name even older

- than Bharata Varsha , which is derived from King

Bharata . Chitra Bhan u was a king as renowned

fo r for his piety as his power, helping the poor ,

th e . protecting weak , and honouring Brahmans

o n Now, once upon a time it so happened that the

o f S h iv a r a tr i day , as the king and queen were

- acco m keeping this holy fast, the sage Ashta Bakra ,

a n ied o f o n p by some his disciples , came a visit to

an d s the court . The king gave them food gift 40 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS

beﬁtting their position . When the sage was pre paring to depart, he discovered that the king was

so abstaining from food and drink that day, and he asked , What sorrow has come upon thee that thou hast not taken thy meal to - day Why art thou putting thy soul to further torture by thus abstain ing from food and drink ? Know that the human

o n e G o d to soul is with , and it is by giving pleasure

o n e e oneself, and not by inﬂicting pain , that can b st ” . wh o please God The sage , by the way , was as famous for his learning as for his deformity o f ” ff body, being crooked in eight di erent places

o f - (whence his name Ashta Bakra), was an

Epicurean in faith , and held pleasure to be the path

F o r to piety . , as in Greek philosophy, there are two distinct schools o f thought in Hindu philo sophy , corresponding broadly to the Stoic and the

o n e - e Epicurean , the advocating self indulgenc , the

- r o other self denial . Chitra Bhanu , thereupon , p ceed ed to explain why he was keeping a fast that day,

to o f o f and to do so , he had recount some the events his former birth . He told the sage that in his pre

c S usw a r w h o vi us life he was a hunter, by name , made his living by killing game birds and animals , and selling them in the bazaar . One day, as he was

o f wandering through the forest in search game , he was overt aken by the darkness of night , and

bilva being unable to go back home , climbed up a

42 HINDU FASTS AND F B A S T S the man to abstain from meals o n that particular day , but that he shall not take any food even on the next , until he has ﬁrst fed a Brahman ; and then only is the fast considered complete . This sequel

P a r a n to a fast is called its , as its preparatory rites

S a n u t o f are called the j . The hunter , course , knew nothing of the fast o r of the P a r a n beyond the fact that it was a day o f painful starvation to him and

o o f to his family , br ught on by one the inevitable

u n fo r e accidents of his calling . But through this seen mischance , as he certainly took it to be at the time , he had unconsciously earned not only the

o f P a r a n as merits the fast itself, but those of the well , The hunter lived for many years after, with o ut o f any idea his spiritual gains , until , when the

o f - hour death came, he beheld two spirit messen S gers from the god hiva , sent down for the express purpose of conducting the soul o f the pious hunter

o f K a ila sa to the abodes the blessed on mount . And there it was that he learned for the ﬁrst time that he had been so richly rewarded for his o bse r

o f o n o f S h iv a ra tr i vance a fast the day , and that , too , by an accident , as much beyond his control as that swift sunset which had overtaken him in the

o n depths of that dark forest , where that distant day he had been obliged to spend a night o f hunger and tears among the d ry - dropping leaves o f th e bilua tree . S H I VA R A T R I 43

The M a h a bh a r ata legend adds that the h unter

o f lived in the abode of Shiva for thousa nds years , at th e end o f which he was t r anslated to a highe r

I n d r a Loka heaven , called , the home of Indra , ruler o f the skies , where , too , he spent an enormous

length of time in the enjoyment of ineffable bliss .

He was then promoted to a higher heaven still ,

B r a h ma L ka o f th e called the o , the abode Brahma ,

b e Va iku n th a Creator and ﬁnally was elevated to ,

o f the highest heaven , the celestial mansion Vishnu

s himself. After living in these other blissful region

o for ther long ages of time , the hunter was born

o f I ksh v a ku again on earth , as heir to the kings the

h e a r dynasty , and then he came to his present name

f B o f o Chitra hanu . By special favour the god

Shiva , Chitra Bhanu retained the memory of his

past life and , in his new kingly guise , the hunter had

made it his rule to observe this annual fast , by the unconscious observance o f which he had reaped such a rich harvest o f both earthly and spiritual

felicity . The S h iva ra tr i fast is obse rved to this day in the form in which king Chitra Bhanu is believed to

have kept it . Those who undertake it abstain from

r food and drink du ing the day , and at night they

S o w n worship the god hiva , either in their house

r o f o in some neighbouring temple the god , them

selves o r through the medium of a priest . T h e 44 H i N D U PASTS AND PH ASI‘ ’ S poor content themselves with pouring water o n the head o f an image o f Shiva ; the rich accompany their elaborate rites with costly offerings to the go d f and substantial gifts to Brahmans . The o ferings

bilva dh a tura that are deemed essential are leaves , ,

o r a rice and water, preferably Ganges water, , f iling that , water from any other running stream . At the c o f onclusion the worship , wherever it is conducted

o r o f with some ceremony, the priest the head the family recites to the assembled company of wor s hippers the above legend o f the hunter wh o became

o f a king , and the hearing this tale is believed to be fraught with blessing . V

H o li

f Holi is the gayest o Hindu festivals . It is cele br ated on the day of the full moon concluding the

o f P h a l u n lunar month g , which roughly synchro n ises M o f with arch . It is a festival unmixed rejoicing , and commemorates , in its mirth and

o f gaiety, the innocent frolics the youthful Krishna m with the erry milkmaids of Brindaban . Krishna is believed by Hindus o f all castes and creeds to

a h ve been a divine incarnation , who appeared o n — earth in the D w apar a age the third o f those grand cycles o r aeons into which Hindu thinkers have

to divided Time in its relation the mundane drama .

Some followers of Krishna , who are generally known as th e Vaishnavas , do not reckon him as one of

A va ta rs or manifestations of the Supreme Being , but as the Supreme Being Himself in human form . Intense faith in a person a l god is the distinguishing

o f feature the Vaishnava creed , which is broadly contrasted with its rival creed , Shaktism , or the

P o r worship of ower personiﬁed in a goddess ,

a the conception of the Divine Being in female form . 4 6 H INDU PASTS AND FEASTS

The Vaishnavas and Shaktas represent two sects between whom there is still a great deal of a n tago

o f nism , not in matters faith only , but extending

ff o f into the practical a airs life as well . The Vaish navas , for example , are vegetarians and teetotallers the S hakta creed does not forbid the use o f meat and wine . Holi is the most important Vaishnava

o f festival , and ranks equal to the greatest Shakta

— ‘ festivals the Durga Puja, which , like the Holi , is a

r time of unive sal rejoicing . But these two rival

o ld an d festivals have now forgotten their rivalry, Vaishnavas and S haktas join each other in c ele bra t

t so ing bo h with the greatest friendship and amity , far at least as the exterior forms o f the worship an d the social aspects o f each festival are c o n c e r ned .

o f th e Holi is the great spring festival India , celebration o f it not being conﬁned to any particular

o f . parts the country , but extending all over the land D In this respect , it even excels the urga Puja ,

o f which is the great autumn festival the Hindus . And spring and autumn are the tw o great harves t seasons in India , the time when the barns and

s o f th e granarie are full , and when the hearts a gricultural population o f India are for a time s uﬂi c ie n tly relieved from the pressure o f anxiety fo r bread to permit them to give themselves over to s feasting and merriment . The harvest sea on HOLI 47 is a festive season n ot only among the rural po pula

n f o f tio o India , but presumably among farmers

every country , and , ﬁguratively , among other

r o fes communities as well , and even among the p s io n a l classes . The only religious element in the Holi festival is

o f o f the worship Krishna . An image Krishna as a

r babe is placed in a little swing c adle , and decorated — with garlands o f ﬂowers and painted with gu la l a

o f a beer o f kind crimson powder , also called , the use

ed which by men , women and children is a mark fe ature o f the H oli celebrations e ven in their social

e fo r e asp ct . The swing cradle accounts the oth r — name by which the Holi is sometimes known D o"

’ u tr a D ol j , the word literally meaning a swing .

But the religious element in this festival has , at

a least in these provinces , disappe red altogether H from the external observance , and oli has now become a purely secular festival characterised by f mere rout and revel , with not even the mention o

’ s Krishna s name , except in amorou ditties also

o f called Holi , relating to the gallantries that go d

o is o f with the g p Brindaban . Probably the mos t ancient custom connected with the Holi celebration is the lighting o f a bonﬁre

a o r e rly in the morning , an hour so before sunrise . B o n fire s are in every country associated in the m o f h i inds men wit pr mitive times , and the Holi 48 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS has the distinction o f being the only Indian festival honoured by a bonfire . These bonfires are lighted

- in every village and at street crossings in towns . The exact origin of this custom o f lighting bonﬁres

cannot now be traced with any degree of certainty . There are two or three o ld legends purporting to indicate the origin , but they only help to lead the inquirer deeper and deeper into a maze for not only are these legends humanly incredible , but they ff f have di erent versions in di ferent localities .

According to one legend , the bonﬁre represents the immolation o f a ruthless R a ksh a si (or female

H o lika ﬁend), named , from whose name the festival

R aksh asi derived its name of Holi . This used to carry o ff and devour the children of the surround ing country, and so great was the havoc she caused among the j uvenile population of the neighbourhood o f her home that the people formed a plot against her, and caught her and burnt her to death . The legend , however, does not tell us either the name or

o f - the geographical situation this ill fated district .

R aksh as i ff N o w , since the burning of this a orded immunity especially to children , it is the younger folk who are especially enjoined in the S h astr as to make merry during the Holi season . Another legend says that this female ﬁend that is burnt in emblem o n the morning of the Holi

was o f H ir an n a Kash a u festival , the sister king y y p ,

50 H i N D U FASTS AND FEASTS but it may also be true that some Vaishnava com me n tato r o f o ur religious books may have found an excellent origin fo r the Holi bonﬁre in this story o f

P r ah lad to , which is this day a household tale in

India . S ome authorities give a third explanation of the bonﬁre , which in their Opinion represents the death o f o ld o f the year and the commencement the new .

F o r to , according an ancient legend , the world was

o n o f h a itr a created by Brahma the ﬁrst day C , that is , the day following the Holi . It does not appear probable that the custom o f burning a bonﬁre o n the last day o f the year has been in existence since the d a r to y when Brahma , the Creator, gave bi th the world : more probably the custom originated in the

o f Vikrama ditt a R U time y , aja of jjain , the reputed

f a m a t S a mva t founder o the S v era , for the year

H S a mva t terminates with the oli . The era , which

o f is 57 years in advance the Christian era , has still a very wide currency among the Hindus of the

o f U nited Provinces , and the Benares publication astrological almanacs is still based o n the S a mva t

r e re era . This hypothesis that the Holi bonﬁre p

o f o ld S a mv' a t sents the passing away the year , gains some weight from the fact that the bonﬁre is as often called the burning of Holi as the burn

o f S a mv' a t ing . If this conjecture be true , we may extend o ur guess a little further and say that H OLI 5 1

it was probably Vikr amadittya himself who ﬁrst

o f instituted the bonﬁre , either as a mere token

o o r p pular rejoicing , as a state measure designed in the interests of public health ; fo r the ﬁre provided a ready receptacle for consuming the year ’ s accu

m ulate d o r rubbish in every populated area , large

. F o r n o t small , we must forget that the ancient Hindus well understood the hygienic and sanitary

ce r emo virtues of a blazing ﬁre , as in all important

o r nies , domestic otherwise , in which there is

o f likelihood any overcrowding , they have invariably i prescribed a sacriﬁc al ﬁre , into which are thrown

i o f ff various k nds o erings , the resulting smoke being held to be extr emely efﬁcacious in purifying the at mo sph e r e and thus ensuring a measure o f pr o tec tion to public health .

o f to r There is no end course conjectu e , and where the ﬁeld o f inquiry happens to be a depart

o f ment Folklore , and the folk concerned , a people o f H such ancient origin as the indus , it easily affords

o f N o scope to the wildest play fancy . doubt , fancy is the only resort where fact is hard to get at ; but fancy , once let loose , is very unwilling to furl her wings . One learned writer o n the Folklore o f

Northern India feels inclined , after comparing the

a in Holi bonﬁres with simil r Observances Europe , to think that they are Sun charms o r magical ceremonies intended to ensure a proper supply o f 52 HINDU FASTS AND FE ASTS

sunshine for men , animals and plants . He admits that the climatic conditions of Northern India do

o f not , as a rule , necessitate the use incantations to produce sunshine but he cautions us to remember that the native o f the country does not look on the ﬁer ce n es s o f the summer sun with the same dread as is felt by E uropeans ; and he also gives to the common Indian villager the credit o f knowing that seasonable and sufficient rainfall depends o n a due supply of sunshine . It is not quite obvious ,

u o f however, why the Hind originators the Holi bonﬁre should have been so anxious to ensure a due supply o f sunshine in that particular part of

o f the year, or in this particular part the country , to which the custom is almost exclusively conﬁned ,

o f seeing that , of all other provinces India , these have always been most favoured by a plentiful sup

o f o f ply the brightest kind sunshine .

The Holi bonﬁre is regarded as a sacred object .

Every family, residing in the neighbourhood of the site of a bonﬁre , considers it its duty to contribute

o r — Something either in cash in kind that is , by pre senting logs o f wood or basketfuls of co w d u n g cakes

imme mo for fuel . By prescriptive right , based on

o r rial usage , boys are allowed to seize pilfer fuel of any kind for the sacred ﬁre , such as the wood

o f o ld work deserted dwellings , stakes and posts , broken furniture , and the like ; and the owner of H OL I 53

o f t these , when cognisant such thef s , feels it his

to duty keep quiet . When the ﬁre is blazing , those present walk round it in token o f reverence ; and when it has died down , they pour water over the embers , and , before leaving the place , streak their

to foreheads with the ashes , bring them luck during the coming year . The most important function o f the day is the

ru n kh eln a playing with coloured water ( g ) . "uan

o f - tities red coloured liquid , made by mixing some

o f sort red pigment in water, are poured by friends u an d pon friends , in friendly merriment ; there are

to o f visits from house house , at each which this o f mutual exchange the Sportive liquid takes place .

Sometimes , the jovial ﬂuid is dispensed with , and a

u la l o r a beer dry red powder , called g , often mixed

o n with talc , is smeared the face as a more reﬁned

f r substitute o the coloured water . But the smearing o f the face is permissible only among equals , j uniors in age o r inferio r s in rank being only allowed to place a little of this d ry stuff on the foot o f the e r o f lder o superior, as a mark respect . The elder o r superior , in return , streaks the forehead of the o o f f ther with a pinch the same stu f, as a symbol of

. u his blessing Among the v lgar , however , such niceties o f etiquette are quickly forgotten in the

o f o n e n o t excitement the hour . No is spared , e ven women and children even domestic animals 5 4 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

th e are not exempted . As the morning advances

o f merriment increases , and the companies merry makers swell into crowds . In the face of o n e of these riotous crowds , it is as hard to escape a drench

’ ing as to save one s life before a pack o f hungry

o r wolves . It is no use praying for exemption ,

o r rendering tender apologies , making angry pro tests such attempts only help to bring on the drenching all the more quickly, and with a venge ance . Among the vulgar, too , muddy water freely takes the place of the coloured liquid , and is squirted through bamboo syringes , right and left , in merciless

o f a bso fashion . Coloured water some sort is deemed a l tely essential by the illiterate masses , and since pig

- f ments and dye stu fs are rather expensive luxuries , a solution of street dust is held to be a lawful sub eti

P r un tute . eople of varied taste prepare g in all b the colours of the rain ow, though , strictly , only

w h o red or pink is orthodox . The only people abstain from playing with rung ” are widows and those who are in mourning for the death o f a rela

tive within the year . Hindu widows are prohibited

o f v for the rest their li es from wearing any colour,

o n either in their garments , or their skin ; and mourners must , similarly , dress in spotless white

th e o f . from head to foot , during period mourning

- The merriment . reaches its climax at mid day, when the folks go home and bathe , have their breakfast H O LI 5 5 and take some rest before beginning the functions o f the afternoon . These consist in visits to relatives

and friends , and during these visits it is customary

for parties to embrace one another . Old quarrels

r are fo gotten , old friendships are revived , new

acquaintances are created . Hindus do not object

M o h a me d an to embracing even friends , j ust as ,

’ M o h a me da n o f M o h amed a n s during the festival I d , do not scruple to embracing their friends among

the Hindus . The ignorant consider it a sin to

change their red - stained Holi garments for a week

at o f after the festival , the end which another little festival is held in some parts o f the pro vince as a

o r sort of sequel epilogue . A curious custom has come to be associated with the Holi festival , the custom of singing obscene — songs in public places a custom that would certainly be more honoured in the breach than in the o bse r

to vance . These obscene songs are supposed be addressed to the same female ﬁend that is burnt in

emblem in the bonﬁre ; but , unfortunately , they have been diverted from their original aim and are n o w ﬂung at any young woman that might be passing by the spot where a rude fellow happens to be in a musi

ka beer cal mood . These songs are known as , probably after the name of their author ; but this discreditable composer could not have been the famous reformer o f

the same name , the religious follower of Ramananda , 5 6 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS w h o conceived the bold idea o f uniting Hind u s and

M usalman s o f o n e in the worship common God . b Whoever this debauched bard may have been , e well

o f H o lika deserved to have been a kinsman Dame , in whose honour he ﬁrst employed his metrical skill . Holi is not only a day of Sportive merriment and of ribald song , but also a day of good cheer , the choicest dishes o f Hindu cuisine being prepared and

o n partaken this day . Even the poorest must have a tasteful meal o n the day o f Holi and those who can n t o n e o o afford to cook for themselves , will g and beg it at the houses o f the rich rather than go

o n without it such a sacred day . For the meal taken o n the day o f the Holi festival is really a ’ new year s banquet , and the belief is that , if they

o n o f have a hearty meal the ﬁrst day the year, they will have a continuity o f such meals through

o f M a bso the rest the year . eat food is , however, l l a n o t ute y forbidden , even mong those who are vegetarians , and sweets prepared from milk and curd are held to be in keeping with the dignity o f

da the y.

58 HINDU FASTS A N D FEASTS

S r - itala is popula ly the goddess of the small pox , and the season in which her worship begins synchro n ises therefore with the beginning o f the small - pox season . It is well known that this dreadful epidemic visits India just at the commencement of the hot weather , and carries on its ravages all through the summer season , subsiding ﬁnally when the rains have well set in . It is therefore that the summer months from Ch a itr a to S r a va n (M arch to J uly) have been

e made sacred to Sitala . Her worshippe rs b lieve that if the goddess is properly propitiated by prayer

ff - and o erings , she will avert small pox ; whereas if f she is o fended , she will cause it . The goddess is sometimes identiﬁed with the disease itself ; hence the particular solicitude with which a patient suffer

- ing from small pox is humoured . Any food that the patient may call for is readily given , regardless whether it is likely to do him harm o r good anything that the patient may say in his delirious raving is reverently attended to , as an utterance inspired by the goddess ; any par ticular kind o f service or nurs ing which the sufferer may demand is unhesitatingly

ff o f o ered , as betokening a command the goddess . No medicine is allowed to be administered to the

w h o o f patient , is left completely to the mercy the f t goddess . M edicines are believed to be o fensive o

i to the goddess , as implying an agency cla ming counteract the divine agency o f the goddess . The S I T LA S A P ’I’ A M I 59

utmost cleanliness is observed not only in the sick

r u room , but eve ywhere else in the ho se , as ﬁlth and dirt are likely to anger the goddess . Leaves o f the N eem tree are spread in abundance all ove r

o f and under the sick bed , and all about the ﬂoor

- the sick room , not in reference to any medicinal

N eem properties of the tree , but because the

r N eem tree is especially sacred to S itala . Eve y village boasts o f traditions relating h o w individuals afﬂicted with small - pox were cured by the special

o f intervention the goddess , who dictated through the lips of the patients themselves the special forms of propitiation that were necessary in those special

o f - cases and hence , whenever a case small pox

o f a occurs in a family , the female relations the p tient at once make a v o w to S ita la to offer such and such forms o f worship to her when the sufferer should recover and these vows are audibly repeated before the patient constantly during his illness . S ometimes the goddess is believed to communicate her wishes to some near kinsman o f the sufferer in a dream and strange as it may seem , such dreams are often mandatory , and in such cases they are

o f literally fulﬁlled . Some cases cure are , indeed ,

u so wonderf l as to seem miraculous , and these are invariably taken to be the result of sudden and direct

o n o f intervention the part the goddess , who is b elieved to effect an instantaneous cure whenever 60 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS

a she ple ses to do so , simply by passing her hand f H over the body o the sufferer . ence a deeply e motional woman sometimes professes to see an airy hand moving to and fro over the bed of an unconscious victim and bringing him back to life and health . It is this popular belief identifying the goddess

S - fo r itala with small pox , that is responsible the

o f practice , prevailing in some parts , not burning

o f o f the bodies those who die this disease . It is also an expansion o r corollary o f this same belief that the goddess Sitala has been made the presiding

o f 189 7 o f deity cholera , and , since , the Plague as

- well . There are very few brick built temples raised to this goddess , and those that do exist are unim posing structures , low, narrow , and with no archi tec tu r al pretensions o f any kind . Her shrines are

o f generally found outside the bounds a village ,

N eem o r mostly under trees , in shady groves where a mud platform and a tall bamboo , bearing a blood red banner ﬂuttering forlornly in the wind , mark the sacred spot where the village women gather together during seasons o f sickness to offer ﬂower a n d grain to appease the wrath o f the angry go d d ess .

’ ’ al The name Sitala literally means cool ,

in th ough her character she is anything but cool . She is believed to delight in blood ; and hence a SITALA S A P ‘I‘A M I 6 1 goat- sac r iﬁce is often vowed to her by her worship pers . Hence , too , she is represented as wearing

- o f blood red garments , although the complexion her

o f face is a pale yellow . She carries a bundle reeds in her hand and she is mounted on an ass . The ass

va h a n o f is the Sitala , but strangely enough , this animal is despised as an unclean beast , and the higher castes of Hindus disdain even to touch it , and feel it necessary to purify themselves by a bath if accidentally they come in contact with an ass . Probably the reason why the donkey is called the v a h a n - of the goddess of small pox , is that the milk

- of a she ass is , by Hindu physicians , declared to be

- a speciﬁc remedy in cases of small pox .

Sitala is known by other names as well , such as M Devi , Bhawani , and ata . The last name means

’ —a n f r o simply a mother, a fectionate name given p

o r bably to win her favour, alluding to her being a S f manifestation of hakti , the divine mother o the universe . Every town and village of Northern M ’ India has its local other , who is worshipped M regularly twice every week, generally on ondays and Fridays ; and o n these days there is always a

meta o r little local fair at every local shrine . The M local other of Allahabad is the goddess Alopi , a name literally meaning the o n e that never disa p

. S h e pears is not represented by an image , but only by a stone slab on which the o ﬁer in gs of 6 2 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS

o f worshippers are made . One remarkable feature — the worship o f Alopi and this is pe rhaps true o f — o ther local M others is that M o h a me dan bh istis o r

water - carriers are employed by H indu worshippers to pour down a ma sh a k o f water in front of the

u a i o f shrine , when the p j is over . This pour ng water o n the ground signiﬁes the cooling o f the ” earth , the cooling being probably an emblema

to o f tic reference the name the goddess Sitala , and also a token of her v o uch saﬁn g domestic peace and

q uiet .

f to S The of erings special itala are betel leaves ,

o f ﬂowers , preferably a red colour , and some varie

o i ori u l u la o r ties cooked food , such as po and g g ,

o nly parched grain . It is another distinctive pecu

lia r it o f o f ked y the worship Sitala , that coo food

o f forms part the offerings at a temple . The rule

o f o f is that cooked food , carried out the bounds the

ka i s ac t un ch ow or cooking place , becomes p o f o

fo r clean , and unﬁt even respectable mortal taste ; hence n o cooked food is ever offered in worship at

th e any public temple , priests alone having the privilege o f supplying the dei ty with his usual meals

at the usual hours , during which the public are shut o ut from the temple and visits are disallowed . But

o f in the case the goddess Sitala this rule , which is rigidly enforced in all other cases , is relaxed , and cooked food from the hands o f a ll castes is freely SITALA S A P T A M I 63 allowed to come within the very sanctum of the S f temple . ometimes the ood is cooked at home and b r ought to the temple and offered sometimes it is cooked o n the grounds adjoining the temple and offered to the goddess and then partaken by her worshippe r s but this latter course is adopted only f in cases o a special vow to that effect .

It must be pointed out that M other - worship in these rather gross forms is conﬁned exclusively to f M the female folk o the lower castes . These other goddesses are the most popular local deities o f

Northern India , in the sense that they are publicly worshipped oftener than any other gods o r go ddes ses . The only other deity that approaches them in

S h ash th i popularity is the goddess , the goddess o f f maternity and o fspring , whose sacred day is the sixth day o f the bright half o f practically every month . Their immense popularity is probably due to the fact that they are goddesses , manifestations o f the divine mother . When the human mother is

o f venerated as a kind divine personage , the rever ence due to the divine mother must be proportion ately greater . Another reason probably is that

they are believed to be easily propitiated by prayers , f vows , and o ferings . But the real reason is that

’ a r a ta - they are believed to be j gg , wide awake , ready at all times to listen to human prayer, and n o t like

the Epicurean gods lying beside their nectar , 64 HINDU FASTS AND FE ASTS

in careless of mankind , or smiling secret , look ing over wasted lands

B i h an d amin e a ue an d e ar h ua e r oar in ee l g t f , pl g t q k , g d p s, an d fie r s an s y d , n n fi h s an d flamin own s an d s in in sh i s an d Cla gi g g t , g t , k g p , ” n s p r ayin g h a d .

66 HINDU PASTS AND FE ASTS the wicked throve and pr ospered ; those wh o honoured neither their parents nor their gods lived

o f in the enjoyment fortune . The Earth was dismayed at this piteous persecution o f everything high and holy ; and the mythological account o f

f - the birth o Rama says that the Earth mother,

o f co w feeling helpless , assumed the shape a , and

to with tears made her plaint the gods . The gods

to sympathised with her distress , and asked her go to Brahma , the Creator , for redress . But Brahma

n sent her o to Vishnu , and the lesser gods joined

o w n fo r their entreaties praying speedy relief.

Vishnu heard their prayer, and acknowledged it by means o f a divine voice announcing his will thus “ I will myself descend from heaven , with my

’ o f eternal spouse , and lift the whole earth s ” burden . At this assurance , the Earth forgot her woes , and the gods danced for very joy . They too hastened down to the world and took shape as mon

o keys , awaiting the divine advent with bounding j y .

M D asa r ath a eanwhile , had succeeded to the

o f Ko sala throne , a powerful ancient kingdom o f

Northern India , situated in what is now called

o f Oudh . He was a scion the illustrious solar race who claim descent from the S ungod . The poet of the R a maya n a has eulogised the virtues of this m on arch in a style heavily laden with oriental orna ment ; but even after making due allowance for poetic RAMA N A VA M I 67

u exaggeration , we m st admit that, historically , he was a most benevolent ruler , a father to his people a sage and saint in private life , a defender of the

. Ka usal a faith He had three queens , y being the eldest and the queens to o were as pious and godly as the king . But at heart this great king was an unhappy man , because he had no issue by any of the three queens . One day the king repaired to

S Va sis h th a u r u aint , his g or religious preceptor, and spoke o f the sorro w he felt at his continued childlessness . The saint advised him to perform a sacriﬁce , such as was prescribed in the holy f books for the birth o a son . In the midst of the

- sacriﬁce the Fire god appeared in person , with an “ ff D a sa r ath a o ering in his hand , saying to , Take 0 this oblation , king , and divide it among thy

u q eens , in such proportions as thou pleasest .

- When the Fire god vanished , the king sent for his wives , and distributed the sacred oblation among

- to Ka u sal a them , giving a half share y , the senior queen , and dividing the other half equally between

o the ther two . Thereafter were born the four

La ks h ma n a S a tr u brothers , Rama , , Bharata , and

h n a o f g , of whom the ﬁrst, Rama , was the son the

o f eldest queen , and so was recognised as the eldest the princes .

o f r Full delight was all c eation , animate and ina nimate , when Rama was born . On the ninth 68 H INDU FASTS AND F B A S T S

o f h aitra day the holy month of C , in the bright

A bh i it u lunar fortnight , under j , his favo rite constella

e n o r tion , on a s asonable day, neither hot cold , a holy time of rest for all , with fragrant breezes blowing , amidst the delight of gods and rapture of

o f the saints , while the woods were full blossoms and every river ﬂowed with nectar, God took birth a s o w n —h e a man , in a body formed at his will who is beyond all form , or quality, or perception of the

’ R a ma a n a senses . It is in these words that the y

B B a l- K a n d a ( ook I , ) describes the birth of Rama , and it is the birth of Rama that is commemorated in all parts of India by this annual festival , called

ava mi the Rama N . The subsequent history o f Rama is recorded in the same work which furnishes us with an account o f R a ma a n a his divine birth . The y is , as its name ﬁtl y denotes , a metrical biography of Rama , and not merely an immortal epic I t records every event of h is life , down to the minutest detail it reports eve ry utterance of his lips with the strictest faithfu lness ; it celebrates every exploit of his arms in strains of poetry that frequently soar above the sublimest heights ever attained by

. uninspired human composition The seven Books ,

- the ﬁve hundred cantos , the twenty four thou sand couplets that belong to this mon umental — piece of writing , have but a single theme Rama R A M A N A VA M I 6 9

the three thousand years during which this colossal

literary fabric has stood , have not touched a Single

o f o f leaf it with the fading hue decay . The R a maya n a still forms the basis o f a living faith

- a faith deep drawn from the storied past , infused with fresh vigour at many an intermediate stage , and palpitating with the breath o f life as warmly to - day as it did through the centuries left behind . This is because the ideals o f character depicted in the story are the ideals ‘ that have ever appealed

o f most forcibly to the mind the Hindu people , who p r ize the quiet domestic virtues far more deeply than those uproarious qualities that are often so proudly paraded before the public . The ﬁlial

o f f k obedience Rama , the brotherly faith o La sh

- sacr iﬁce o f mana , the sincere self Bharata , the

o f wifely devotion Sita , the unswerving loyalty and

o f s — f allegiance Hanuman , these are ideals o imperishable worth penetrating deeply into the minds o f a people that have retained the primitive

o f purity human virtues , unalloyed by the later virtues o f a later civilisation .

’ Every event o f Rama s life is fraught with an undying lesson for the pious Hindu . Rama is a born prince , and then a king but in their adoration for his character his w o r s h ippe r s fo r get his kingly position they take every deed o f his as done with th e express object o f holding up a model before 70 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS their eyes they interpret every word of his in the l ight o f a gospel ; and in their eagerness to do honour to the hero they have accorded a due measure of honour to the he r o - worshipper as well — ” the saint Valmiki , the original author of the

R a ma a n a h is y , and even to worshippers , those who have translated the S anskrit epic into the different

. M e n vernaculars of India like Tulsi Das , whose translation is the great classic of Hindi literature , are not believed to have been ordinary mortals ,

but men divinely favoured , the elect of God . For the popular belief with regard to such religious writings is akin to the M iltonic conception of the

o f — vocation a poet , that no one can dare to write o n such sacred themes unless he is especially inspired by “ that Eternal Spirit who can enrich with all utterance and knowledge , and sends out his seraphim with the hallowed ﬁre o f his altar to ” o f touch and purify the life whom he pleases . The importance of the Rama N av ami festival ca nnot be properly gauged unless we take account of the veneration with which the Hindus regard the — R amaya n a a veneration which is only a reﬂection o f that devouter sentiment with which they regard the very name of Rama . One curious practice , common among ignorant Hindus , will illustrate the blind fervour of faith which they repose even in the bare name of Rama . They write the simple R AM A N A VA M I 71

o f a name Rama , or get it written by a priest , thousand o r a hundred thousand times o n a sheet o f paper , which they afterwards cut up into as many h its o r , and insert each bit into a little ball globule o f ff kneaded ﬂour , and then cast these stu ed globules into the waters o f the Ganges or some other holy stream , to feed ﬁsh . This is sometimes

o f done only as an act piety, but more often it is done in fulﬁlment o f a vow m ade in some season o f

iﬂi lt o r A o f d c u y distress . sort magic virtue is also sometimes attached to the name of Rama , which

e eﬂ ectiv e is b lieved to scare away evil spirits , more ly than any exorcism . There is no name more constantly o n Hindu lips ; even the common form o f salutation among the uneducated consists in

o f repeating the name Rama twice in succession , and the salutation is returned by a fresh repetition o f the same name . The same name serves as a pious invocation at the commencement o f every work , and at its close the name is again uttered in

o f o f token pious thanksgiving . An instinct rever ence for this name is inherited at the very birth o f H a indu infant , and the instinct grows stronger at

o f each step its life onward . The story of Rama is o n e o f the earliest tales that the Hindu child hears in the nursery ; when he goes to school he reads the same story for himself in some popular versio n

’ o f o f the great epic ; in youth , the narrative Rama s 72 HINDU FASTS AND FE ASTS

/ exploits stimulateshis imagination and elicits his

r eﬂectivel admiration ; in manhood , he ponders y over the great truths that he draws from that

S cripture ; in age , he de rives spiritual consolation from telling the name o f Rama o n his beads ; and

o f last , when his lips are sealed by the hand death , it is the same holy name again that is whispered into his ears and chanted in a chorus as his body is

- carried to the river bank for cremation .

74 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS sacred day is the tenth day o f the moonlit half o f

a isth a M a - o n f J ( y June) , which is , accordingly, e o the

- greatest bathing days of the Hindu calendar . There are several legends describing how the river Ganga ﬁrst came down to earth . There was S once a king of Ayodhya , named agara , who had two wives but no issue . Childlessness be ing o n e o f the greatest curses that can ever fall to the lot o f a Hindu , Sagara performed many a penance and offered many a sacriﬁce with the desire o f begetting

ff . o f o spring Thereafter, one the queens became

o f A sh w a man an the mother a single son , named j , and the other bore so many as sixty thousand . In his j oy the king proceeded to celebrate the A sh w a medh a o - sac r iﬁce ceremony , or the H rse , in order to declare his suzerainty over the neighbouring king

. o f H doms and principalities But I ndra , king eaven ,

o ut stole the sacred steed of jealousy , and caused a most inauspicious interruption to the holy ceremony . The sixty thousand princes proceeded in all dir ec tions to search the stolen steed , but found no trace of it on the surface of the earth . They therefore pro cee ded to dig down below the surface , each prince

o f digging for the depth a league , until they should reach the centre o f the globe . But before they could accomplish their task , they were consumed by a ﬁre by the sage Kapila , whom they found sit ting in a deep underground cell , with his eyes closed G P J 75 DASA HA R A , OR G AN A U A

in meditation , and with the stolen steed standing behind him . Without making any inquiries as to h ow the steed had come to be there , the princes

o f . w h o accused Kapila theft The sage , did not

o f t know anything the thef , fell into a rage at this

o f unj ust accusation , and burnt the entire company princes to ashes with the ﬁre of his wrath . King Sagara was overwhelmed with grief at the loss o f his sixty thousand sons , and in his distress he went

o n e about from sage to another , seeking advice and consolation . He was told that his sixty thousand sons would come to life again and ascend to heaven , provided the river Ganga could be brought down to — o n . B h a ir a th a ﬂow earth g , his grandson the son o f A s h wa ma n an — his surviving heir, j thereupon undertook a cou r se o f prayer and penance with the object of bringing down the goddess Ganga and

w h o his prayers were at last granted by Brahma , directed the celestial stream to descend from the

o f Himalayas . The descent the river was so tre men do us in force that the earth would have been swept away had not the god Shiva broken the fall of the waters by allowing them to ﬂow through his matted locks , which caused the river to split into

. F o r S seven streams this service , hiva has received

’ o r U the title of Gangadhar , pholder of the Gan ges . When the waters o f the Ganges reached the

r ashes of the sixty thousand slain princes , thei 76 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS spirits r ose to heaven and were admitted to eternal bliss . But there was still o n e rude interruption to

f n the peacefu l course o the Ganges o earth . T h e sudden on r ush o f waters disturbed the sage Jah n u as he was performing a holy sacriﬁce , ﬂooding

r o r the sac ificial site , wetting drowning many of f the sacrificial o fe rings , putting out the sacrificial

r a h n ﬁ e . J u thereupon drank up the whole stream b ackma n o f —a kma n , y making an her c being the sipping o f holy water ju st before a religious rite .

But the sage afterwards relented , and allowed the river to ﬂow o ut of o n e o f his ears hence the Gan

e s a o f Jah n av i g is lso known by the name , the f ’ daughter o Ja h n u .

Just as the name Dasahara , which properly

o f applies to the birthday the goddess Ganga , is

i a given to the V j ay Dasami by a popular confusion ,

e o f in the sam way , a similar chance resemblance names has connected the little island (or rather

o f S a o f eyot) agar , situated at the mouth the Gan

e s S o n o f g , and called agara no doubt account its proximity to the sea , with King Sagara , this legend ary king o f Ayodhya . This island is invested with great sanctity and is the seat o f an annual pilgr i mage o n the day of Dasahara . The legends that cluster round the person of the goddess Ganga are mostly illustrative of her wonder fu lpower of cleansing a man fr om sin . The extreme DAS H R G N G 77 A A A , O R A A PUJA case of her exercising such power was that of Raja

T r isan ku , who had committed the three deadly sins

co w of killing a , disobeying his father, and eating u nhallowed meat . But even he was absolved from his sins by a bath in the Ganges . There was

T r isan ku another sinful king , who might be or some

r othe , who had committed the inexpiable sins of

o w n murdering a Brahman , and marrying his step mother and he , too , was similarly saved from the

fﬁ a effects o f his Sins . A bath in the Ganges is e c c i us o not only as a propitiation for past sin , but also for the pu r pose o f gaining a store of spiritual merit that remains to one ’ s credit through many births and serves to counteract the evil effect o f other sins incurred in the same or other lives . S ome legends represent the godd ess Ganga as M the daughter of Himavat and ena , and as the wife

S a n ta n u o f of King , a descendant the illustriou s

S u S a n King Bharata , son of the immortal ak ntala . tanu was , according to some legends , the father o f

B h is h ma , the aged chief who fought as leader of the

u M H K ru armies in the ahabharata war . e was a king regarding whom it is said that every decrepit man whom he touched with his hands became young " - . also sa t a ba di again He was famed as y , the ’ u - a fo r tr th teller, and was remark ble his devotion ,

charity , modesty , constancy, and resolution . Every Spot washed by the waters of the Gange s 78 HINDU FASTS AND F B A S T S

is believed to be holy ground , and some o f the holiest places of pilgrimage are situated o n the f banks o f this river . Every inch o the ﬁfteen hundred miles of her length is believed to be instinct with divinity ; her waters are credited not only with spiritual absolution from sin , but also with medicinal and hygienic properties , and modern chemistry has added to her ancient glories by declaring that her

a n f waters are e fective germicide . The temples that line her banks are countless in number, and fresh additions are made year after year . These temples are not raised in honour of the ff goddess herself, but belong to di erent deities ; the goddess Ganga is not worshipped in any temple

S h e reared by the hand of man , nor is represented by any image o f brass o r stone her temple is her

o f majestic home waters , and her best image is the

o f image heaven she reﬂects on her broad bosom . L ike other gods and goddesses , Ganga has her

Ga n a - u tr a s o w n special priests , who are known as g p ,

’ o f r sons the Ganges , and these priests form a ve y exclusive fraternity , who are found in numbers wherever a place of pilgrimage is situated o n the

M o f in banks o f this river . any them earn large

s o r comes at each bathing season , and , eason no

o ut season , they always manage to make a living o f the daily gifts they receive from customary bathers . D S HAR G N G 79 A A A , OR A A PUJA Ganges water is needed daily for the everyday f H ’ duties o a indu s life . It is required for the morning and evening worship ; it is needed at the celebration o f every domestic ceremony ; it is indis ~ pensable fo r every pur iﬁcato ry rite ; it is equally

o f d essential at the moment eath , when it is dropped o n o f the lips a dying person as a sort of viaticum . Even those who do not live in the neighbourhood of the Ganges take care to keep a bottle o f its water

o f for use on occasions emergency . They either obtain a supply from a trader—for there is a regu la r trade carried o n in despatching Ganges water in small bottles to all parts of India ; o r they care fully preserve the remnant o f a supply they them selves o r their friends had brought from some W pilgrimage . hen , however , Ganges water is not procurable by any means , any water, such as that i from an ordinary well , can be sanct ﬁed by means o f appropriate ma n tr as ; and this is actually done by most people living far from the Ganges , in the

s case of the water they use in their daily wor hip . M any other Indian rivers are regarded as holy

o f streams , the chief these being the Jamuna , the

Godavari , the Saraswati , the Narmada , the Indus , and the Kaveri . Of these , the Narmada is by some people regarded as equal in sanctity to the Ganges , if not superior . These people say that according to the B h a vishya P a r an a (a sacred book containing a 80 H INDU P AST S AND FEASTS

record of sibylline prophecies) , the sanctity of the

o f Ganges will cease , by ﬂux time , on a certain date

K a li Yn a during the g (the present age), whereas the sanctity of the Narmada is everlasting . This cer tain date is said to be ﬁve thousand years from ” o f K a li Yn a the commencement the g . According

u to certain occ lt calculations , this date was put down 1 895 as the year of the Christian era . About that time there was some commotion in religious circles

d o over what they feare to be a nati nal disaster . But twenty years have elapsed since that dreaded date , and the Ganges still retains her ancient sanc tity without the slightest abatement . One curious fact about the goddess Ganges is that the best o f all the hymns ever composed in her

M oh ameda n honour, is said to have been written by a

—a M worshipper , named Darab Khan Bengali oha medan in all probability , for the above tradition is current only in Bengal .

8 2 H INDU FASTS AND F E ASTS

’ still in existence , living deep down below the earth s

‘ ’ P o n e surface , in a region called atala , tract of which is for that reason called ‘ Nag Loka ’ (the wo r ld o f Nags) . They evidently lead a civilised

fo r life , they are represented as ruled by kings , the most renowned and supreme o f whom is S esha

- Nag , a thousand crested monster who supports

“ ” the ﬂat di sc o f the ea r th u pon his thousand

-u heads , and whose coiled p body forms the couch

’ o f Vish n u during his four months spell o f sleep

u o f within the bowels of the earth . The waking p the god from sleep forms the occasion o f a Hindu

D ev o tth a n E kada sh i festival , called .

r Serpent wo ship , as the practical part of a

e o ld human cre d , is as as the human race itself, and much res earch has been made into the subject o f ophiolat r y with a view to determining its exact

origin . The only certain conclusion which scholars have arrived at se ems to be that the real origin of S this practice must ever remain uncertain . ome authorities are inclined to think that S nake -worship was the earliest form of religion prevalent among

men , not only in India , but in every country in which snakes at all inspire the human heart with

dread . The reason they give for this opinion is

that primitive man , unarmed as he was with any

ffi o f e cient knowledge medicine and surgery , natur

“ ally felt the greatest horror fo r a mysterious NAG PAN C HAMI 8 3

creeping creature , silent and stealthy in its move ments , apparently quite unprovided with the most f ordinary means of o fence and defence , yet found to have at its command the most deadly o f all known destructive weapons , and able to cause almost instantaneous death by merely pricking the S skin of its adversary . uch seems at least to be M the Opinion of Sir onier Williams . But , so far as

a be his st tement may taken to apply to India , it is inapplicable in the case o f the primitive Aryans of the Vedic period . For there is no mention , not

o f - even a signiﬁcant hint , serpent worship any

ln e where the Vedas . The V dic deities are the powers of Nature , the four Elemental Beings , earth ,

s water, ﬁre and air, per oniﬁed under various names t S and represented with various a tributes . erpent worship must be taken to mark a stage later than the Vedic form o f faith . Whether this later stage rep r esents an advance o r a decline in the life o f the

im o s Hindu religion , is a point upon which it is p sible to arbitrate ; but it seems that veneration for snakes (n o t o f course pushed to practical adoration) mar ks that stage in the development o f the Hindu

‘ ’ religion when it ﬁrst became fully catholic ,

o f tole r ating all creeds , admitting all manner

o f — a doctrines , acknowledging all sorts deities th t form o f Hinduism which still subsists , and which shelters under its protecting wings all shades o f HINDU FASTS A N D FEASTS

human belief, rational and irrational , from the grossest form o f fetishism to the sublimest mono theism . S erpents are inseparably associated in all minds with fear ; but there is some ground for believing that the worship o f serpents did not wholly arise

- from fear . Serpent worship , so far as it is not merely a popular superstition , enjoys some measure o f scriptural sanction in addition to what impetus

o f it derives from the instinct fear . The common people o f course are in their worship actuated by fear alone ; but this is so n o t only in the case o f

- serpent deities , who are legitimate objects of fear

- to believers , non believers and disbelievers alike , but even in the case o f the most benignant gods .

Others regard serpents as worthy of veneration ,

S o n e because the great god hiva , who heads o f H the most numerous cults among the indus , is represented as wearing a serpent round his neck , with many others dangling along his breast and

o r back , coiling gracefully around his waist , these serpents symbolising to the eye of faith the endless

o f cycle recurring years , the eternal revolution

r - of ages , the neve ceasing whirl of atoms bringing o n the perpetual dissolution and regeneration of the races of mankind and all else of life or matter h w that dwells on this planetary system . This is o serpent - worship has intertwined itself with Shaivism N A G p A N CH A M I 8 5 and thus found favour among a numero u s class o f

H indus , literate as well as illiterate . It has also penetrated its way into Vaishnavism through a very

c e dark hannel , for Va ish n av it s say that their chief

’ g o d is in th e habit o f enjoying a fou r months spell o f o n - u S d sleep the coiled p body of esha Nag , eep down in the centre o f the earth ; and blessed must this pro ud creature be to render this service to the f o . great Preserver the universe At the same time , we cannot help believing that the worship o f Nags is not absolutely unmixed with fear , even in the case o f staunch Shaivas and enth u siastic Vaish

a n o f r navas , if they have y idea the fo midable statistics o f mortality by snakebite published in

India every year . It wo u ld be unnecessary to r efer here in any detail to th e part played by snakes in Indian

r a r e - r to folklo e . There well known myths elating

n o f snakes curre t in every village India , and these sto r ies are as popular among the yo u nger folk as

o n e ghost stories . There was in village a snake who used to present a Brahman with two gold pieces every night . There was another in another that kept g u ard over a buried treasure lying u nderneath such and such tree . There was a third that had a tongue of ﬂame with which he set ﬁre to whole

u ﬁelds , and sometimes his ﬂaming tong e was seen shining th rough the darkness away o n some lonely 8 6 H IN D U FASTS AND FEASTS

heath scattered over with the bones of dead cattle . A fourth would bite a man to death one night and

th e d i bo v e r lick the poison back next morning , on s ing that the man was innocent . A ﬁfth had the power of changing his form myste r io u sly/a n d of ﬂying through the air with the same ease with which

ﬁshes swim in water . These wonderful stories a r e obv iously fairy tales invented by some village genius

r to amuse village u chins , and also pr to set limits to their endless peregrinations t gh the h village ﬁelds and groves , whic are just places most haunted by snakes on summer hts and

le throughout the rainy season . Not the wonder fu l of these snake stories , but havi a more r ealistic basis , are stories of snake armers or

‘ ’ a s t , as they are sometimes calle who effect miraculous cures of patients dying fr the poison

- of snake bite . These cures are sometimes merely by means of magic but some .

’ times by the magician s s u to his pre sence the very snake that caused the bite , and ( compelling it, by appropriate spells , to suck back the poison from its victim ’ s body through the puncture caused by the bite . E at this day there are people in all parts of ln di ho can cure cases of snake - bite without the of a Single drug , and without even making an sion into any ’ o f o part the patient s skin . They d this only with NAG PAN C H AMI 87

aid ma n tr a s the of , and as a labour of love they charge no fee , they accept no remuneration , they

ma n tr a s expect no recompe nse . For these are ge n er I lly learned from the lips of holy devotees who t oin the practice of this healing art as a

n religio s duty upon their disciples , so that if the

sl ld latter o u accept any repayment for such services ,

' to they fea incur the displeasure of their preceptor , and lose the efﬁcacy of those ma n tra s into the bargain . Some cures are obtained by the use of

a n d r o o ts H herbs , and every indu physician of the

o f old schoo possesses a knowledge these , and in simple cas s effects successful cures without the a o f ssistance any surgical appliances . There are others in w ilch accessory aids supplement the magic of man tr as I remember to have witnessed a holy

e r fo r rin sage p g such cures long ago . A turban cloth was w ete d and then twisted twofold or fourfold

mke so as to a sort of thick lash , and with this

’ m o f lash the pal the patient s hands , the soles of t his feet , and he crown of his head were struck , at

, a ll ﬁrst gently then more and more briskly, until , in severe case s consciousness returned ; and then

ma r: fted the was up to a sitting posture , and his

, smila r l back , too was y treated with the lash , the strokes co n timn g in the case of all these parts of the body until the man began almost to cry for pain and then h e “ s made to stand up and to suffer 88 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

l o f w a s another round lashing ; and ﬁnally , he made to walk up and down , under support , for abou half an hour, receiving at intervals a few f the

ie d lash still . The whole cure , in bad cases , a couple o f hours . The only directions

’ given to the patient s attendants , when t was ﬁnished , were that the man must not allow

o r ed to eat drink anything for at least twe hours , and that he must on no account fall into e p fo r the same length of time . Incantations u sed at infreq u ent intervals during the lashi they were pronounced inaudibly , and all that tator saw or heard was the almost ceaseless n g and an occasional breath forcibly blown o u ro ugh the

f o t n ec e s lips o the sage towards the patient , ’ s a r il y touching the patient s body .

- S erpent worship has not yet died m India , and though there is reason to t at o n e

o u time it was pretty common , the hing ab t

' it is that there are few o r no temp d ica te d to serpents anywhere in Northern except at

Allahabad , where , in Daraganj , far from the

o f le banks the Ganges , there is a te containing an actual stone image o f a s This snake

Va s uki o f god is , a king t whose sister, M anasa , is the only Nag deity ed in Bengal , — bu t not o n the day o f Nag P a n which is a festival u nknown in that presi There is

9 0 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS

the day is gram soaked in water, which is called

h u h ri r aw g g , and is eaten sometimes and sometimes

‘ ’ fried in mustard o il or ghee . G h ugh r i is also pre sented to Brahmans and given to menials .

’ a The popular name of the festival , G riya , alludes

to one of the ceremonies performed on this day , j ust

o f at about sunset . A number of rude dolls , made

r rag and dyed in a solution of turmeric , are th own down into a pit , and the village lads beat these with sticks amid much boyish merriment . This cere mony is probably emblematic of the destruction of

‘ G u r i a the whole brood of serpents . The term y ,

’ u however , only means a doll , and it is this c stom o f beating dolls with sticks on the evening of Nag Panchami that has given its popular name to the

h a t u ri on me a . festival , G y X

Ra ksh a Ba n dh a n

’ B a n dh a n S alo n o is Raksha , popularly called ,

o f S ra va n a the full moon , and thus occurs exactly P ten days after Nag anchami . S alo n o is a cor

S a l-i-N a u ruption of the Persian term , the new year and it is a name given to the full moon o f

S r a va n a o f be , because it marks the point transition tween the o ld and the new F a sli o r agricultural year .

B an d h a n The classic name , Raksha , is derived from — the principal ceremony of the day the tying o f an ornamental silk cord or cotton string round the

’

. o r wrist This silk cotton cord is called the Raksha , because it is intended to serve as an amulet guardin g the wearer from all kinds of evil . These sacred

a us i strings are usually dyed in yellow , the most p c io us colour among the Hindus but sometimes they are blazoned with a variety o f gaudy colours and ornamented with tassels , to suit individual tastes .

U co n secra t sually , it is the family priest who , after ing a bundle of Rakshas by offering th em in w o r

o n e o f ship to Vishnu , ties round the wrist every

‘ ’ a r ticula r l h e member of his client s family , more p y t 9 2 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

children and the principal earning members . But in Brahman households the priest ’ s function is often performed by the head of the family who ties the R aksha round the wrists o f his dependants with a p pr o pr iate blessings . Among some Brahman com m un itie s R B an dh an , notably those of Gujarat , aksha is a festival in which the active part of the celebra tion is performed by females , who tie the sacred amulet round the wrists o f their brothers and give them o r receive from them presents o f cash and o f

o r clothing , according as the brothers are younger

—a to older than themselves , ceremony analogous

B h r D atr i witiya .

n o tio n R aksh a B a n d h an According to a popular ,

o f is a distinctively Brahman festival , the privilege observing it being conﬁned to Brahmans alone . This notion is based on an ancient saying , which enu me rates four chief denominational festivals , corres ponding to the four chief divisions of the Hindu

a n dh a n race . Thus Raksha B is the festival for

Ksh a ttr i as Brahmans , Durga Puja for y , Diwali for iﬁ Va ish as H S . c la ss y , and oli for udras The above

a o n e cation is no doubt very ingenious , founded as i t is o n a superﬁcial similarity between the essential nature of a festival and the distinctive character o f the caste whose special privilege it is declared to be .

R B a n dh an Thus , aksha is unquestionably a Brah man festival , inasmuch as Brahmans alone have

9 4 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS notion that Raksha B a n dh a n was originally a dis tin ctiv el o r i y Brahman festival , and whatever the

in al o f g mode celebrating it might have been , there is n o doubt that the present fashion of o bse r v ing it is little short o f a regular system o f levying

- blackmail . It is treated as a great harvest day by

r B ahmans of the priestly order , and the mendicant class , who wander about the town all day , from

’ u o f sunrise to s nset, carrying a bundle Rakshas ,

- - visiting the houses of the rich and well to do , tying a Raksha round their wrist , wherever they

o n can , hanging until they have received a cash

r p esent , and then departing to repeat the same performance in as many more places as they can g o to . If they happen to meet any of their

o n clientele the road , they waylay him there , and

o n v insist t ing a Raksha round his wrist, however unwilling he may be to be manacled in this manner

o f in the public streets . The merest chance an acquaintance , the most casual contact, the r emotest connection is enough to establish a bond o f relationship between you and a Brahman o f this

o f class , entitling him to the privilege tying a ’ Raksha round your arm , wherever he may happen

n . to catch you o this day Discharged cooks , whe ther of your o w n house or of that of a friend at whose place yo u have once dined ; post and tele graph peons , who happen to be Brahmans by caste R A KS HA B AN DHA N 9 5

Brahman constables attached to the Police station under whose j urisdiction you live now o r ever lived in the past ; neph ew s o f a former Ch a ukidar o r Chaprasi o f your ofﬁce ; not to speak o f a ll Brahman members of your present domestic and — ofﬁce establishment , all these have a strong claim u pon your wrist and your purse , a claim that they

o f exercise not only by right their Brahmanical blood ,

’ but also on the strength of their or their ancestors

o r present past connection with you , in your private o r o r o n e o f o w n a n ces public capacity , with your

h is . tors , in private or public capacity I once order ed a pair o f boots from a well - known local ﬁrm o f

. o f S shoemakers This was in the month eptember ,

t B a n dh n some six weeks af er the Raksha a festival . The boots were delivered at my house by a Chaprasi f o . t t the ﬁrm Nex year , eleven months af er the boots were made , and when I had half worn them o t th —o r u , e same Chaprasi at any rate , he claimed to be the same , and I think truly, else he would never have known that I once committed the indis cretion of ordering a pair o f boots to be delivered — at my house by a Chaprasi well , the same Chap r asi presented himself before me , with a most

o n ff amiable smile his lips , and o ered to tie a

r o H e Raksha und my wrist . felt a little surprised at my bad memory when I stared blankly at his face ; and then he proceeded to remind me o f the 9 6 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS happy circumstances u nder which I ﬁrst made his

o f acquaintance . Neither us had time that day to

o u r u make acq aintance any deeper , and so I bade

- good bye to my friend with a small cash present , which , whatever pocket it might go into , was , in so far as it went out of mine , so much added to the o riginal cost of my boots . T h e fees which form the customary receipts of

o n Brahmans this day are always paid in cash , r anging from a pie to a rupee , according to the

o f means the giver or the rank of the receiver . The act of tying the R aksha is always accompanied by

be n e dic d o n a classical , which , in the mouth of

mis r illiterate Brahmans , is often unintelligibly p o n o u n ce d , and which in its correct form r u ns as follows an as? as? mu emit-f a? w as : I ma m m nm : II a II The meaning of this stereotyped blessing is

R r — Thus I tie the aksha round your w ist , the same which bound the arms of the mighty Bali ,

o f D M a ff king the anavas . y the protection a orded by it be eternal " The reference in the foregoing formula to Raja Bali would appear to give to Raksha B a n d h a n a

o f most ancient origin , the exact date which cannot now be determined ; but probably the name of this legendary king is intended to serve no other

9 8 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

worlds , the upper , nether, and surrounding air .

u Thereupon the gods , who were th s dispossessed o f their realms , appealed to Vishn u for redress .

Vishnu listened to their appeal , and infused a

o f o f portion his essence into the body a dwarf, and

o n Va man a o r appeared earth as the Avatara , the

N o w Dwarf Incarnation . Raja Bali was in the habit o f giving away anything to any o n e wh o came

fo r it —a o f c n si to ask , form charity which is still o d ered the highest ; and Vishnu , knowing that the

v o w R aja had bound himself by such a , appeared

o f before the king in the shape a dwarf, and begged as much land as he could step i n three paces . The king thought it was quite a triﬂing gift that — o f u the dwarf had solicited three steps gro nd ,

ut measured o by the tallest man , was not at all a

fo r considerable gift any king , much less , when f measured o u t by a little dwarf. Bali o course granted th e gift , but felt rather amused at this insigniﬁcant petition which came with such a con trast after the mu n iﬁce n t gifts to which he had become accustomed . J ust as his boon was granted , the dwarf swelled himself into a giant ’ s bulk and

two stature , and in mighty strides stepped across f the whole o heaven and earth , and then asked Bali in what region he was to ﬁnd the third step o f gro u nd that he had been promised . Bali replied , I have n o more land to give than yo u have legs RA KSHA B AN B HA N 9 9

to measure it with . At this , Vishnu miraculously shot forth a third leg from his navel , and Showing it to Bali demanded the unpaid balance . Finding himself quite vanquished , Bali placed the th ird foot upon his head , and Vishnu pinned him down into the interior o f the earth . The gods were n o w free

’ to r e -enter their realms ; bu t Bali s last act o f

u charity , although it brought abo t his disappear

u ance from the world , did not go absolutely u re

fo r o f r warded ; Vishnu made him King Patala , o

x r the nether world , where he is believed to be e e

h is cising sovereignty to this day . XI

Krish n ash ta mi

Kr is h n ash tami o r Krishna Jah ma Ashtami is

o f the birthday Krishna , and is hence regarded as o n e o f the holiest days in the Hindu calendar , for

A va ta ra Krishna is worshipped not as a mere , or p ersoniﬁcation of a single divine attribute , but as God H imself who appeared o n earth in human shape

D w a r H i in the ap a Yuga . s birth in mortal form took place o n the eighth day o f the waning moo n in

B h a dra u the dark fortnight of , j ust at the ho r of

’ midnight , and at the precise moment of the moon s entrance into the asterism Roh in i . The event is celebrated as a religious festival by H indus of all

o n e sects and creeds , though only of them , the

Vaishnavas , regard the identity of Krishna with the Supreme Being as pa rt of their forma l articles of

— H r e faith , formal , because in practice every indu cognises and worships every god and goddess , be

o r i S o r o n e he a Shaiva a Va shnava , or a hakta , uninitiated into any special sect . The customary f mode o observing this sacred birthday is a fast ,

’ partial or total . A partial fast consists in a

102 H INDU FASTS AND FE ASTS

gay procession was passing through the city, a voice

’ from heaven smote Kansa s ears , saying , Beware , for the eighth child born to the princess in the ca r that thou art driving now, Shall be thy Slayer

- Kansa started to hear this ill omened prophecy , and his ﬁrst impulse was to put his sister Devaki to ins

o f tant death , and thereby preclude all possibility danger from that quarter . But Vasudeva paciﬁed his impulsive rage by a solemn promise to deliver into his hands all the children that might be born to Y Devaki . ears elapsed , and when Devaki was ex

ected p to be conﬁned of her eighth child , Kansa

o w n removed the mother to his palace , and placed the strictest guard over her person , lest an attempt should be made to save the child by stealth . Now Vasudeva had been forewarned by a divine message

o f that the eighth child would be an incarnation God , and that he would be divinely favoured in every attempt that he might make to have the child secret

’ ly transferred to a neighbour s house to spare it from

co mme n c the wrath of Kansa . The pains of Devaki ed j ust before midnight . The utmost precaution was taken to keep the news from spreading beyond

f . the walls o her chamber Happily , the sentinels

’ placed to guard evaki s door were plunged in Sleep , — D a -n iara yog , as the sacred historian puts it , that is , a kind of enchanted or hypnotic sleep induced by supernatural agency . Rain was pouring in K R I S H N A S H T A M I 1 03

o f torrents , and lurid ﬂashes lightning were cleaving the sky , when at the hour of midnight Krishna came

o f into the world , in the shape a human infant of dark

o f complexion and o f uncommon beauty form . It was in allusion to his dark complexion that the child

o f received the name Krishna , the word literally

’ meaning black . Now Vasudeva had come to learn th at a fe male child had j ust about that hour been

o f born to his neighbour, Nanda , the cowherd king

Gokul , whose palace was situated at a short distance from M athura o n the other side o f the Jamuna . a With the inf nt Krishna in his arms , Vasudeva boldly stepped forth into the midnight , and wading through the ﬂooded streets came to the bank o f the river Jamuna . The river was in ﬂood the heavy monsoon rain had made the ford impassable no boat could be thought o f o n such a stormy night and for o n e moment Vasudeva stood in silence o n

- the river bank , plunged in thought . S uddenly he noticed a jackal wading through the river to the other side , and Vasudeva , encouraged by this un ex

e cted o f p discovery a ford , stepped into the water, guiding his way by the gleams of lightning which s till ﬂashed across the scowling sky . J ust as he was

- in mid stream , says the story , the J amuna felt a maternal longing to clasp the infant god once in her arms , so that the little child accidentally slipped into the water, but was immediately picked up again , 1 04 H INDU FASTS AND FEASTS

f and taken safely to the house o Nanda . When Vasudeva reached the place he found the whole house

’

. u hushed in sleep Nanda s wife , J asoda , who had j st

a was before been delivered of a d ughter , lying in a

- a e u semi unconscious st t , and Vas deva had there fore n o difﬁculty in gaining entrance into her room ff and in e ecting a secret exchange of the two babes , placing the infant Krishna be side the breast o f

’ a so da s Jasoda, and carrying J daughter in his arms all the way back to M athura and during the whole of this time not a living creatu r e knew anything of wha t was ha ppening . It was not until the change ling baby began to cry in Devaki ’ s room that the r oyal guards came to know that a babe had be en

n o born , and they lost time in sending a report to

h a ff their master to t t e ect . That very night Kansa D ’ repaired to evaki s room and seized the infant ,

u o ut witho t suspecting anything amiss . Coming

r of the room into the courtya d , he dashed the babe against a stone slab , and thought himself now safe But j ust then a bo diless voice cried

' o ut o W b u from ab ve , hat oots it , cr el Kansa , thus to slay a helpless babe on the belief that thou hast destroyed thy enemy ? Thy enemy — a o n e . still lives , mighty among the gods Now

’ Jaso d a s daughter , she that was born synchronously with Krishna , was no human creature at all , but

Jo ama a o f g y , the goddess illusion , who had taken

1 06 H I N D U FA STS AND FEASTS frustrate the boy ’ s ingenious devices to get at these tempting viands , whenever he was minded to do so .

One day Jasoda was churning milk, and the boy repeatedly toddled up to her, attempting to seize the butter, and the mother as repeatedly caught hold o f the boy and seated him away in another room , until she felt obliged to resort to stronger

’ measures . 8 0 she bound the child s hands and feet

o f with a piece cloth , and tethered him to a 1 pillar . But 0 the very next moment the child had freed himself from his fetters and was toddling up to the churn with a triumphant chuckle .

o n e o f This was , however, the pettiest of his miracles . There was a monstrous serpent in the

o f o f neighbourhood Gokul , known by the name

bo Kaliya , and the youthful Krishna , then only a y f o six or seven , boldly seized its crest , and mounting its head danced upon it with the gleeful air o f a child . On another occasion , when Krishna was M about ten years old , the people of athura and

o f Brindaban were visited by a plague rain , sent

o ut o f down by the god Indra , spite for the growing homage which Krishna was receiving at the hands of those people , who were gradually renouncing their worship of the older gods . The rain poured u for seven days and seven nights in succession , ntil the whole locality was threatened with a serious

. a deluge Krishna lifted up mount Gobardhan , KRI S H N A S H T A M I 107

small hill which still stands in the neighbourhood o f

M o n athura , and held it aloft the tip of his little

ﬁnger to protect the affected area from inundation . An earlier miracle relates to a fearful R aksh asi of

the time , named Putana . This sorceress crept into

’ o n e Krishna s room day , when the child was asleep

in his cradle , and with the intention of killing the

child , she proceeded to suckle it with her poisoned

milk , which was so deadly that a single drop was

enough to kill the healthiest babe . But Krishna drew her breast with such force that he drained o ff

her very lifeblood , and the wicked woman died on the spot amid shrieks o f agony . But his most important miracle was the one he M — performed shortly before leaving athura , namely , the slaying o f Kansa in a personal combat within the precincts of the royal palace itself—the lion in

o f his own den . Kansa was holding a reception princes and chiefs in his great audience hall , and he had deliberately excluded Krishna from invita

n to tion . Krish a felt this as a grave insult , and clear his honour , he marched up to the palace , but could not enter , because the gates were guarded by a lordly tusker, who swung his head and trunk backwards and forwards , barring all ingress . Krishna had therefore to knock o ff the head of this

’ huge sentinel , and then entering the king s recep tion room , challenged him to a private encounter 1 08 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS

then and there . It was not long before he over

o f powered his adversary, and with one sweep his

o ff o f hand cut the head the hateful tyrant , whose d eath had been the purpose for which he had

’ a ssumed mortal form . Krishna s mission was now

M u accomplished , and shortly after that he left ath ra

o f and migrated to Gujarat , which place he became

be o n king . There ﬁxed his capital at Dwarika , the

r . seacoast , and conve ted it into a ﬂourishing port D warika is now a famous place of pilgrimage on the west coast . The subsequent history o f Krishna is interwoven

M a h a bh a r a ta with the story of the . Worshippers o f Krishna draw a distinction (without a difference)

bo between Krishna , the cowherd y of Brindaban ,

d o f a n Krishna , the king Gujarat , the friend and

o f P kinsman the andavas , the counsellor and

o f o f Ku r uksh etr a charioteer Arj una , in the battle ,

o f B h a a va d Gita the preacher the g . According to particular sects , it is the boyhood of Krishna ,

o f extending up to the age twelve , that constitutes a ﬁt object o f contemplation and worship for the

’ o f devout soul ; the latter part Krishna s career is , they say, intended to present an ideal of manhood to those who set action above contempl ation , who r egard character as a more needful asset than

a spirituality, in a word , those who seek God long

o f t h e the broad highways life , and not through

1 10 HINDU FASTS AND FEASTS There is a curious superstition that the Hindus

- have derived from the birthday of Krishna , namely ,

o f that as Krishna , who was born in the asterism

’ R h im o f o , proved to be the slayer his maternal

o f uncle , Kansa , so the birth any male child in that conj unctio n o f planets forebodes evil to the maternal uncle o f that child ; and tradition says that there were instances in the o ld days where such ill - fated children were secretly put to death . As Rama N av ami is the chief festival o f the

o f S h iva ratr i votaries Rama , and as is the most S sacred day among the followers of hiva , so is Kr ish n ash ta mi the principal celebration u tsav' a

u among the Vaishnavas , tho gh , in these days , since the revival o f the Hindu religion after the decay o f

Buddhism , the festival is observed as solemnly by other sects as by the most zealous members o f the

Krishna cult . It is o n e o f those few festivals that are observed all over India , because it is associated with a name that is revered in every district and every province of this large continent . If we were

o ut asked to pick two names that are most revered , from among the three - and - thirty crores o f names H held in reverence by indus all over the world , those two names would be Krishna and Rama , f Krishna ﬁrst , and Rama second ; the priority o K r ishna in popular estimation being due to the

o f posteriority his date of appearance among men , K R I S H N A S H T A M I 1 1 1 fo r the rule in religion , as the Hindu understands

o f it , is the same law nature which makes the fresher seed produce the healthier crop . XII

A n a n ta Ch a tu r da sh i

C h at u rd a sh i Ananta , popularly called Ananta ,

- if o n e ﬁtl is a festival of the second order, may y call it a festival , and if it be not heresy to arrange

a the Hindu festiv ls in a hierarchical series . It is held every year o n the fourteenth day of the moon

B h a d r a in the light half of , that is , three weeks after the Ja n ma sh ta mi. It is more o f a p uj a (a form of worship) than a pa ro a (a festival) that is to say, there is nothing social or corporate about the observance o f it ; it is only a day set apart for the

o f worship Vishnu , Ananta (or the Eternal) being o n e o f o f the numerous names the Preserver . The true origin o f the observance cannot be stated with certainty, any more than we could in the case of

S h iva r a tr i. S h iva ratr i the Like the , the present

M a h a bh a r a ta festival ﬁnds a mention in the , and in

— h n i the same apocryphal book the S a t P a ro a .

S h iv a r atr i Like the , it was ﬁrst publicly inaugurated by a king of the lunar race . There is a resemblance even in the names o f the two kings who ﬁrst

h i ar atr i instituted the S v and the Ananta festival ,

1 1 4 HINDU FASTS AND FE ASTS

Hindu world . One can easily fancy this clever Vaishnava bard saying to himself Is Vishnu the Preserver to be beaten by Shiva the D estroyer No

Ch atur dash i if S hiva has his Shiva , Vishnu shall have his Ananta Ch atur dash i if Shiva receives his yearly homage in spring , Vishnu shall have it in ’ autumn if S hiva s vra ta was ﬁrst promulgated by

’ king Chitra Bhanu of the lunar race , Vishnu s worship shall also have roya l sanction from a king of the same dynasty , and a queen too , and the king shall — be one bearing nearly the same name w e shall call

h itr a n ada o f him C g , and give to his queen the name Chitra Rekha and if Shiva ’ s holy fast is worthy of commemoration in scripture , I will not be back ward in ﬁnding for Vishnu ’ s holier fast a place in ” the very same chapter and verse . This is probably the correct origin o f the Ananta fast . There can be no doubt that if we believe one to be modelled after the other , we must take Shi v a ratr i to be the original and Ananta the copy , because , historically, Vaishnavism is a later phase o f the H indu religion than Shaivism . There is one other possibility—that both accounts may have been evolved o ut of the same head and inserted by the same hand in their present place . For the M a h a bh a r a ta , in its present form , is not the work of a single author , but a work that went on growing f with the growth o centuries an d as the l ate M r . A N A N T A C H A T U R D A S H I 1 15

. . f R C Dutt says , every generation o poets had something to add every distant nation in Northern I ndia was anxious to interpolate some account o f its

deeds in the o ld record of the international war ; every preacher o f a new creed desired to have in the o ld Epic some sanction for the new truths he ” inculcated . The customary Observances connected with the

o f Ananta festival are the simplest kind , consisting

o n chieﬂy in wearing the arm , just above the elbow

joint , a holy thread , usually dyed in yellow, and made of cotton o r silk yarn twisted ornamentally into fourteen knots —the fourteen being emblematic o f the fourteenth day o f the moon o n which the festi val is held . This holy thread , which is also called

Ananta , is , previous to wearing , duly consecrated by offerings o f tu la si leaves (tula si o r holy Basil

being a plant sacred to Vishnu , and being itself

f o f worshipped as a deity) , o ferings ﬂowers and

f acc m an i libations o Ganges water , made to the o p

ment o f proper ma n tra s . In the case of females

o r (for females are not excluded from this holy fast , from the S h ivar atri either), the holy thread is tied

o f round the left arm , whereas in the case males it is fastened round the right arm . The fast observed o n this day is n ot a total fast the only restriction that is made in the m atter o f food is that salt

dd n o t is absolutely forbi en , but grain food is H INDU FASTS A N D F E ASTS

disallowed . In this respect the Ananta fast is far

S h iv ar atr i be less rigid than its rival , and this is cause it is a Vaishnava fast . For the Vaishnavas discountenance the practice o f those hard austerities that the Shaivas regard ' as the only path to salva tion . Vermicelli boiled in milk and sugar is held to be the special dish o n the day o f the Ananta festival .

o n e Of course , only meal is taken during the day, ff shortly after noon , and this is ﬁrst o ered to the god o f the day and then partaken by the members o f the family as p ra sa d (o r sacred remnant o f any food which is believed to have been ﬁrst tasted by

o d —b wh o a g ) , y those members are keeping the fast as well as by th o se who are not . Orthodox Vaish

o n navas keep the Ananta thread for a whole year, that is , till the next season , when they discard the o ld o n e and put o n a new . The M a h a bh a r a ta legend giving the origin o f — the Ananta festival runs as follows There was ,

D wa a r a Ch itran ada in the p age , a king named g , of the lunar race , who was unequalled in piety , save by his wife , Chitra Rekha . The king and queen once received a direct commandment from Vishnu to observe the Ananta w a ta . Straight the king

to ordered a magniﬁcent temple to be raised Vishnu ,

and when the building was completed , he cleared it

o w n a n f with his hands , and placed image o the go d

therein , and had the shrine and idol both duly

1 1 8 H INDU FASTS AN D FEASTS

. Vish akar ma Creator to operation He summoned w ,

o f : M the sculptor the gods , and said unto him ake me the image o f a maiden o f such beauty that she ” may indeed be peerless among earthly creatures . Vish waka r ma at once complied with the wishes o f

D wa ara o f e p , and made a maiden peerless b auty, whom he named M o h in i the captivating o n e and M when obini , after being endowed with life by the

D wa ar a Creator, presented herself before p , the latter

o o f asked her to g down to the world mortals , take

o n M D ib a her stand ount y , and there hold Raja

Ch itr an ada sh e g in remembrance , and , when saw

vr a ta him , dissuade him from observing the Ananta , n o t o r by threat persuasion , but by cunning stratagem .

The maiden did as she had been commanded . As the

- Ch itr an ad a fates had pre ordained , g happened just

o n then to be a visit to the same mountain , in the course o f a hunting expedition . S eeing a lovely

o n to o f maiden the p the hill , the Raja was captivated by her beauty , and he stepped up to her and said ,

o u o f Who are y , fair maiden , and what high line age Where is your home Tell me truly, O Y chaste o n e . our beauty is simply ravishing ; it is

ﬁt to win the heart of Indra and the other gods . — But let me ﬁrst introduce myself M y name is

h i an ada o f . C tr g , and I am a king the lunar dynasty

M h a y heart s been ﬁlled with love for you . I pray ” o u . y , do consent to be my beloved queen ANANTA C H A T U R D A S H I 1 1 9

n o n o The maiden replied , I have father ,

- mother, being self created , and this same mountain

. M M is my lonely home y name is obini , and I

ff o u — o n o n e am willing to o er my hand to y , but condition , namely , that you make a solemn promise

o u always to do whatever I tell y , and never to say ” me nay , even if the three worlds were in jeopardy . The Raja made a solemn promise to that effect

’ without a moment s delay , and the maiden then gladly consented to be his queen . The same night the Raja was wedded to this maiden o n the hill -to p by the ancient priest of the lunar kings , named

Kan kayan . Next day the king brought his newly wedded wife to his palace , and made her his chief

. D o n o r senior queen ays passed in happiness , and when the Ananta season came round in due course ,

o ld the king and his queen , Chitra Rekha , kept their usual fast , and observed the yearly rite in the

o f customary style , by making gifts land and kine to o f to Brahmans , and doles grain and cash the poor . Suddenly it ﬂashed upon the mind o f M obini

— r ea ted that she had been specially commissioned c , — ’ in fact to cause a violation of the king s o bse r

o f a vance the Ananta fast , and she at once p

r o ach ed p the Raja and said to him , Why are you keeping a fast to - day ? What is the good o f per forming such an austere form o f penance ? Let

o u to to me ask y renounce it , and take your meal 1 20 H IN DU FASTS A N D F E ASTS

o u in the usual way , for, I tell y , the greatest sin is ” to perpetuate a sin . These words fell upon the Raja like a bolt from the blue he was ﬁrst struck aghast at the blasphemy , and then fell into a rage , his eyes ﬂaming with wrath and his lips quivering with emotion . But he

- exercised his wonted self control , and regaining

Yo u his coolness he replied , women are a simple

n o t minded race , gifted with any capacity to under stand these occult truths . This is the Ananta

Vr a a t , famous all over the world , observed by high — ? and low alike , and do you ask me to violate it

r o Well , women are an ignorant herd , ra ely p ssessed o f o u reason , and I do not know how to convince y f o the rightness and wrongness o f things . By e obs rving this holy fast , all trace of sorrow and sin vanishes for ever , and the bliss of heaven becomes assured . Now listen to the story of my life in my previous birth , so that you might know why I have undertaken a vow to keep this fast every year . In

r my fo mer birth I was a Sudra , addicted to vice , hardened in sin , a shameless villain , a conﬁrmed drunkard , a habitual slayer of beasts and birds . M y evil life led my brethren to turn me out of their fold . In a ﬁt of rage I betook myself to a dark forest where I soon began to die o f hunger and thirst . S uddenly I came upon a temple dedicated to Vishnu , within which I sought shelter for the

1 22 H I N DU FASTS A N D FE ASTS

replied , Lady , it shall never be my lot to break an

v o w o r o wn . ancient , to prove false to my word I shall much rather give up my life .

So saying the Raja summoned his eldest son , a n d making over the sceptre o f sovereignty to him , said , I am going to sacriﬁce my life at the

a o f . ltar Truth The palace , the throne , the kingdom

n o w . are all yours Rule j ustly, reverence the gods , ” a n d pay due honour to Brahmans . With these words the king placed himself in a posture of deep meditation (yoga ) and passed away

e into ternal bliss . After his death , a proclamation was made throughout his territories to the effect ” that no man should make a promise to his wife . XIII

M ah ala y a A m av a sya

A ma vasya is the last day o f the dark fortnight o f a lunar month , and is in every season considered by the Hindus to be a day especially set apart fo r the performance o f religious ceremonies in honour o f the spirits o f departed ancestors . Of all

mav s as o n e A a y , the that is universally observed as

fo r the chief day the worship of the dead , is

M ah ala a o r o f y , the ﬁfteenth last day the moonless fortnight of the month o f K u a r o r A swin (Septem

- o f ber October) . The whole the fortnight preceding

M ah ala a e y is collectiv ly called the Pitri Paksha , o r the fortnight sacred to the memory o f departed

. o f ancestors Every day this fortnight is sacred , and witnesses the observance o f various ceremonies in honour o f the dead by thousands o f Hindus in

r o f - eve y part India . A well known Sanskrit text says , Each day of this holy fortnight is equal in ” o f to — point sanctity a day spent at Gaya , Gaya being the place regarded as holiest for all kinds o f f religious rites in memory o the dead . Whatever f ’ the actual date o a man s death may be , his 1 24 H I N D U FASTS A N D FEASTS

S r a ddh a (or annual worship o f his departed spirit) must be performed on o n e o f the days of this parti

’ c ula r fortnight . If a man s father died , say, on an

E ka d ash i (the eleventh day of the moon , waxing or

E kadash i o r waning) , the eleventh day of this holy fortnight is observed as a day of specia l religious

en er a l o f rites in his memory , the g worship his spirit being , however , continued throughout the fortnight .

And since there are only ﬁfteen days of the moon , every day of this fortnight is a day of S r a ddh a for some individual or other . S ometimes the day of the full moon (P u r n a ma sh i) immediately preceding the commencement of the dark fortnight is included in the

Pitri Paksha , which is thus extended to sixteen days in order to give a chance o f performing S r a ddh a to those who may have lost o n e o f their ancestors o n the day of a full moon .

One day of this ancestral fortnight , namely, the ninth , is set apart for the worship of dead female ancestors , especially the mother ; and hence this day

‘ ’ is called M atri N ava mi. The annual oblations to all female ancestors must be off ered on this ninth day of

titki . the moon , irrespective of the of their death — The ﬁrst half of the month o f Ku a r the Pitri Paksha—is considered sacred to the memory of deceased ancestors in accordance with a belief, which

a s ﬁnds mention in the Hindu scriptures , that soon as

o f the sun enters the sign Kanya or Virgo , the spirits

1 26 HI N DU FASTS A N D F E ASTS

Hindus as a preliminary even to the worship o f the

gods . The principles of ancestor - worship are perfectly

intelligible . The dead ancestor is de iﬁed into a

household god , and is believed to be still protecting his o w n family and receiving worship and reverence

d o ld from his escendants as of ; indeed , from his s present position among the ble sed spirits , he is regarded as wielding greater authority and entitled

to greater veneration that when he dwelt o n earth .

Ancestor- worship is o n e o f the earliest attempts made by the Hindu mind to solve the problems o f

life , death , and eternity , and the old solution is none the worse for being so old ; for ancestor worship still forms a living part o f the daily faith

o f the whole Hindu world , the only exceptions being those few who in their headlong zeal for reform have not scrupled to transgress the barriers o f

society and religion alike .

- Ancestor worship , such as it prevails in India ,

a ll does not , however , mean that the ancestors of a Hindu are worshipped by him during the ancestral fortnight . It is only those who have lost their father that o we this sacred duty those wh o have their father still alive are exempt from this

so - obligation . This shows that the called an castor -worship is really the worship of the spirit

a th er a of the deceased f lone , though as a matter M A H A LA YA 1 27 o f fact the grandfather and the next ancestor also come in fo r their share of the offerings and

oblations . But these latter only derive their right

r m e a ter f o the father , and are worshipp d f the

father . The father is in H indu households regard ed as the earthly representative o f G o d ; he is the

— o f present God the visible , living incarnation the

o f Supreme Being , and is therefore an object daily d worship ; and the same father , when eparted from

o f the world , continues to be the prime object

so n n worship as long as the lives , even after the so

himself has become a father o r grandfather .

The ceremonies customary i n this season are o f

S r a ddh a o n two kinds ( l ) the , which is performed

o n e o f day this fortnight , the day corresponding to

titki o f 2 T a r an a o r ff the the death ( ) the p , o ering

r of water , which is continued eve y day throughout

the fortnight . The term S raddha literally sign i ﬁes a gift offered with faith o r simply a pious f — o ferin g not necessarily to an ancestor, but to

to any dead relation whom this honour is due . There are twelve kinds o f S r addh a enumerated in

S ra ddh a the Shastras , in addition to the annual

performed during the Pitri Paksha , which , though

f e a o yearly recurr nce , is in no way less elabor te i n ceremonial than the obsequies performed o n the

o f eleventh day after the actual death an ancestor , the only difference being that the latter function is 1 28 H IN DU FASTS A N D FEASTS

o f accompanied by multifarious gifts food , clothing and utensils , which are dispensed with in the case

f r d r o this annual S a dha . In all forms of S a ddh a the chief act is the offering of p in d a o r balls o f cooked rice and libations of water to the acco mpan i ment o f proper prayers . The term ‘ Tarpana ’ literally means refresh

’ ‘ o r ment , more precisely a refreshing drink of

’

a . as w ter It is divided into three parts , the

ff r libations are o e ed ﬁrst to the gods , next to the

r ish is o r . sages , and lastly to the ancestors The i gods spec ally named are Brahma , Vishnu , Rudra , and Prajapati ; the sages too are mentioned by name , and they are the principal sages honoured

—B h r i u by the whole Hindu world , g , Narad , Atri ,

Va sish th a A n ir as M &c . , g , aricha , The ancestors too must be mentioned by name , the father being the ﬁrst to receive his share ; next comes the

- grandfather , and then the great grandfather ; then come the mother, the grandmother , and the great — grandmother, making up six in all in the paternal line . Then come the maternal ancestors , three

— o f male and three female , the females the latter group receiving only a single libation , whereas all others receive three each . After these come the

n o t collateral ancestors , and all others ( speciﬁed by

h o name) w have died childless , and who have there fore no direct representative to offer obl ations to

1 30 H I N DU FASTS AN D FEASTS These strict rules furnish the Hindu with the well known argument for the necessity o f marriage and the procreation of male issue . The annual cere monies o f S r a ddh a and T a rpa n a are to be continued until the departed spirit , in whose honor these are

beatiﬁcatio n performed , attains , which usually takes place after three generations , and then the soul passes into a state o f blessedness and ceases to inﬂuence the descendants for good or evil . The sacred grains used in the S r a ddh a and the T a rp a n a are barley and sesamum seed . Shaving or cutting

o r o n the hair, even paring the nails , is forbidden the

r a ddh a day of S , but some people abstain from these

o f during the whole the Pitri Paksha , deriving this practice from one popularly attributed to a legend ary king , named Karna . The story goes that Raja Karna made a vow that he would not break his fast daily until he had given a maund and a quarter of gold to Brahmans . After his death he went to hea

o f ven , where he was lodged in a palace gold , and was given nothing but gold for his food and drink, for in his life his only gift in charity had been gold . In his distress he asked as a boon to be

fo r allowed to go back to earth ﬁfteen days . T h e boon was granted , and he occupied himself during his time o f grace in giving away large quantities of food to the hungry , and was so busy all this time that

o r . he neglected to bathe , shave wash his clothes M A H A LA YA 1 3 1

The place which is held to be specially sacred f r S r addh a t o purposes of is Gaya , a town about six y

- miles south west o f Patna . The object of the annual S ra ddh a is to hasten the progress o f the soul through the various stages of spiritual existence ; and if the ceremony is performed at Gaya it is be liev e d that the length of these intervital periods is cut short considerably , and the soul passes at a

ik n h a f Va u t o . bound into , or the paradise Vishnu The P h algu river at Gaya is a stream sacred to the

Spirits o f departed ancestors . It is o n the banks of

o r Vis h n u a da this river, at the p Temple , that the

r a ddh a u S at Gaya m st be performed , and it is said that at the conclusion of the ceremony, when the cakes are reverently deposited in the river, the spi r its of the ancestors are actually beheld in bodily

o ﬂ e r in form , receiving the pious g with a smile o f satisfaction . The sacred portion of the same river is said occasionally to ﬂow with milk, but the milk never appears to the eye o f unbelievers o r those who are wanting in the necessary degree o f rever

S r a ddh a ence . Even when the is performed else

f o f where , the o fered cakes are , at the end the cere mony , directed towards Gaya by appropriate holy texts . Illusions like the above may not be mere illusions after all it depends upon the spirit o f the age and upon the faith o f the individual h o w these state 1 32 H IN DU FASTS AN D FEASTS

in vi ments are interpreted . If all the visible and sible phenomena o f the universe be reduced to mere

o f M M manifestations atter and otion , ancestor worship is indeed futile ; b u t if M ind be an agent working unseen behind the scenes , then probably ancestor -wo r s h ipzmay be taken as a powerful source o f o f f divine inspiration in moments di ﬁculty, dark

n f ness , and doubt , and as o e o the most potent factors in bringing about peace , and purity , and holiness in human life

H o w ur e a t h ea r an d so u n in h ea p t d d , W ith w h at div in e aff e ctio n s bo ld S h o u ld be th e m an w h o se th o u gh t w o u ld h old

’ A n h o u r s c o mm u n io n w ith t h e de a d .

I n v a in sh a h o u o r a n a lt t , y , c ll

T h e s ir i s r o th e ir o e n d a p t f m g ld y ,

E x e i e h e h o u too a n s sa c pt , l k t m , t c t y ,

ir i i at ea i h all M y sp t s p ce w t .

Th e h a un t h e s i e n e o f th e b r eas y t l c t ,

in a io n s a an d a ir Im ag t c lm f ,

h e o r i e a o u e s s air T e m m y l k cl dl , T h e co n s cie n ce a s a s ea at r est

h n th e h ear is u o f d in B u t w e t f ll ,

A n o u b be s i e th e o r a w ai s d d t d p t l t ,

T a n b ut is en a t t h e a e s h ey c l t g t , ” i h in A n d h ear th e h o useh o ld j ar w t .

— e n n so n I n m T y M emor ia .

134 HIN D U FASTS A N D FEASTS

Being , and not merely , as he is dimly represented in

o n e o f r the Vedas , the trinity of Brahma the C eator,

Vishnu the Preserver and Shiva the Destroyer . He is also regarded as identiﬁed with every form and

ers n a l force in nature , and yet thought of as a p o God , who possesses a bodily form , and can think, and

. S feel , and act Vaishnavism is akin to haivism in its being a monotheistic faith and in setting aside

r the t iune equality of Brahma , Vishnu and Shiva . The Vaishnavas regard Vishnu alone as the o n e true

G o d o f , especially as manifested in the incarnation

r r K ishna . These two c eeds agree in dissenting

o f from the impersonal pantheism earlier sects , whose o n e God is the immaterial substratum of every thing , animate and inanimate . They also agree in holding that this personal God—S hiva or — Vishnu is a male being , but that , whenever he wills to put forth energy fo r the creation o f a world

to . external himself, his nature becomes duplex The idea o f this duality o f the d ivine nature gave birth

o r to the conception of Shakti , the female c unte part f — o the Omnipotent, and this conception came in time to be more honoured and propitiated than the ‘ male conception . Hence it is that the worshippers o f S hakti became more fervent in their faith and more zealous in their devotion than the worshippers

f . o either Shiva or Vishnu Shaktism , however, f underwent a series o modiﬁcations , both in doctrine DURG A PUJA 1 35

a n d in ritual , until it reached its lowest phase in

r o f the ho rid rites the Tantras . The objectionable elements o f Tantric ritual caused a violent reaction in favour o f the rival creed which Shaktism had

o f supplanted , and the result was a revival Vaish

n av ism o f . The details the Durga Puja are governed

o n e o f by Tantric texts , but the Puja is the purest

forms o f the worship o f Shakti . The prayers and ma n tra s repeated o n the occasion are taken from th e o f Tantras , but the Tantric forms drunkenness , debauchery and witchcraft were at no time asso i c a te d with the festival . Originally the Durga Puja was held for nine days in succession , commencing with the bright fortnight o f o f h a itra M - the month C ( arch April) , the whole

a a ra tr a Puja season being collectively called the N v ,

‘ ’ ’ o r —m h t the nine nights , g , because being essentially a Tantric form o f worship it used to be conducted

o f o n o f in the secrecy the night . But later the date the Puj a was shifted forward so as to take place in

’ the moonlit half o f K ua r o r A swzn (September

October), and this is the time the festival is held still . There can be no doubt that both these dates were

f Ku ar connected with the cutting o the harvest , as a n d Ch a itr a have always been the tw o principal

w o r harvest seasons in India . But the worship , as a ship , has nothing to do with any agricultural oper i a t o n s . It is believed that this change o f dates w as 1 36 H I N D U FASTS A N D FEASTS

o f o f made by Rama , King Ayodhya , the hero the

R a ma a n a D y , who invoked the goddess urga for supernatural aid in his campaign against Ravana ,

- f T h e a r a tr a the demon king o Lanka . earlier N a v — that o f the month of Ch aitr a still continues in

ff Va san ti its vogue under a di erent name , Puja ; but importance as a form o f worship has now greatly

o f declined , and the festive character the season

is entirely lost . But while the o ld spring festival has lost its festive accompaniments , the new autumn festival U has gained , at least in pper India , elements of l festivity that never belonged to the o d Puja . These elements o f festivity are d ue to the associati o n of

o f this Puja with the victories Rama, and it has ,

o f since the age Rama , been the practice of the people to celebrate these victories annually in the

form of spectacular displays called the Ram Lila .

The Ram Lila is an open - air dramatic represen tation

o f R a ma a n a of the principal incidents the y , designed to instruct ignorant audiences in the moral teachings

r of the great Hindu epic . Eve y city and town , every populous village and mart holds its o w n

annual Ram Lila , and there is much friendly rivalry between neighbouring parties in the pomp an d splendour with which they can accompany their

celebrations . The Ram Lila is usually held for ten

N a va ra tra days , commencing with the , and the

1 38 HI N DU FASTS AND F B A S T S

f o f - immense e ﬁgy, made bamboo lattice work pasted o ver with paper , is set ﬁre to and blown up with

o f ﬁreworks at the conclusion the performance .

o n This takes place the tenth day , which is called Vijaya D a s h a mi the victorious tenth in allusion

’ to Rama s ﬁnal victory over Ravana , which was a o n o f K u a r chieved this tenth day of the moon .

The Ram Lila , however , is connected with the Durga Puja only by the bonds o f association it

n o t does form a factor of the religious ceremony, fo r the two celebrations a r e held independently o f e o f n ach other , and in some parts India o e or the o ther only holds the ﬁeld . The Durga Puja lasts nomin a lly for nine days a n d nine nights , as the term Navaratra denotes ; but the last three days alone are considered import a n t , every hour of these being ﬁlled with elaborate ceremonies and with a continuo u s round o f feasting a n d r - me ry making , especially among the younger

. o n e folk Of these three days again , the middle is

r rega ded as the most sacred , and hence it is known a s M aha Ashtami the great eighth because it is o n u a S a n dh i this day that the holiest p j , called the

P u a . j , takes place

D P o f urga uja is the stateliest Hindu pujas , and is o n e of the few in which the religious duties dis charged by the worshippers are o f a corporate or

o f congregational nature . Not only are the expenses DURGA PUJA 1 39 the Puja defrayed by voluntary subscription raised

from among the well - to - do people of the town or

f o f village , but there is even the o fering up a common prayer to a common deity by a company o f worshippers standing together at one spot in front o f the image . The image itself is placed in the

o f o f - centre a lofty structure wicker work , with a

semi - circular top containing little spaces in which

to are arranged , according a prescribed order , a series o f diminutive images representing a va r iety o f minor deities . Durga herself is represented as

a tall woman with a fair yellowish complexion , h yellow being the most sacred o f all colours . S e

a w e a o n has ten arms , each holding either p , such a s - a scimitar, a club , a bow and arrow, a battle axe ,

o r else some other suitable symbol , such as a c onch shell , a revolving discus , a lotus ﬂower . In o n e o f her lower arms she holds a tuft o f hair

o f o r belonging to the head an Asur, demon ,

o n e upon whom she tramples with foot , the

o n o f other foot resting the back a lion . The

u o r M a h ish a s ur As r demon below her foot is , a d emon who terrorised the earth in the form of a f ferocious buf alo , and to crush whom was one of the special missions that D urga undertoo k to execute

o r in the w ld of mortals . For this reason the ’ ‘ goddess bears also the name of M ahish - mardini

destroyer o f the buffalo -demon The lion is the 1 40 H IN DU FASTS AND FEASTS v a h a n o f u r Durga , and this fact acco nts for anothe o f her thousand names Singha Vahini o r ride r f ’ o . a s ilk sa ree the lion The image is clothed in , and each limb is adorned with tinsel ornaments o f gold and silver tinge . On the head is placed a mu ku t o r crown . surmounted with an aigrette set

o f with sparkling beads varied colours . On the

o f s right side Durga , stand Saraswati , the goddes o f learning , and a step lower, Ganesha , the elephant

o f . th e headed god wisdom On left side , stand

Lakshmi , the goddess of wealth and beauty , and a

-in ~ ch ie f o f step lower down , Kartik , the commander

a r e the a r my of the g o ds . S araswati and Lakshmi the daughte r s o f Durga ; Ganesha and Kartik are — u S . her sons , all spr ng from her marriage with hiva The images of these four are slightly smaller than

o r the central image , and each is supplied with his — her distinctive symbol o f divinity the lotus ﬂower

v in a o r f and conch shell of Lakshmi , the harp o

Saraswati while Kartik sits astride on a peacock ,

and Ganesha is m o unted o n his va h a n o f a m o use . Each o f these seeming tr iﬂe s has a spiritual

D evi P u r a n a signiﬁcance attached to it in the ,

‘ ’ which is one of the authorized treatises o n th e

subject o f Shakti worship . The offerings made in the Durga P uja include specimens o f almost every product o f the earth

r belonging to the animal , vegetable and mine al

1 42 H IN DU FASTS AND FEASTS

—if ff o f indispensable , only in the o ering a mock sacriﬁce and some Hindu sects in Raj putana and Nepal observe the custom o f worshipping the ancient implements o f war at this time . The

o f sword is also one of the symbols Durga , and is worshipped along with her .

There is a special hour for the offering o f s acr i o

ﬁce s , and this hour may vary from year to year, as it has to be determined by astronomical calculations . Such is the case also with the hours o f the morning

. 1 9 1 3 and evening worship For example , in the year the exact time for the commencement of the morning

ﬁft - - worship was y one minutes , forty three seconds

o n M a h a s h ta mi past nine , the day of , while the time 3 7 1 3 for beginning the evening worship was minutes , seconds past eleven . At these precise moments it is believed that the spirit of the goddess lights upon the image for a very brief space of time as long as a mustard seed can stand o n the pointed edge o f

’ ’ i a cow s horn . This phrase , str pped of ornament ,

o f amounts really to a nonentity, but to the mind

o f believers it does signify a little fraction a moment , which the pious H i ndu tries spasmodically to seize in order to offer in it his devoutest prayers to the goddess . The hours of worship are given in every

a n ika reliable P j or almanac, and are calculated and published several months in advance . Due allowance is made for the different hours o f meridian a t DURGA PUJA 1 43

ff di erent places in India , and the utmost punctual ity is observed in the commencement o f the holy

r o f e se vice , morning and evening , on each the thre successive days of the Puja . Similarly the strictest accu r acy is observed in the repetition o f the holy

o f w texts by the priests , two or more hom associate together in conducting the worship , each having a

r copy of the sacred book open before him , in orde that each may supply an omission or correct a mis h pronunciation made by the reciting priest . For t e belief is that if in the repetition of a text o r praye r

the slightest error should take place , though it be in the accidental omission o r mispronunciation of a

th e single syllable , a dire calamity is sure to befall

u worshipper o r his household . After each p j a pre

o f scribed for the day , the inmates the house and their friends and guests sit together and partake o f

r a sa d the p , the gentlemen dining separately from the

. th e ladies , and generally at an earlier hour In houses o f the rich the p ra sa d consists o f the choicest delicacies , and the company sitting together at a

is meal numbers hundreds . I n fact the feasting continuous from midday to midnight on each o f th e

u a three days of the p j season , a fresh batch taking the place of o n e rising from a meal . The guests invited to a P uja have not only the privilege o f

’ enjoying their host s dinner, but have also the corresponding obligation o f making an offering to 1 44 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS

o ff the g ddess , and this o ering is usually a cash present , which is very convenient t o both parties . For the cash thus collected is the property of the

o f house owner, not the priest , who only receives

o f f his stipulated fee , with perhaps a share the o fer ings in kind .

The Durga Puja , as a puja , concludes at a ﬁxed hour o f the night o n the ninth day of the season .

D a s h a mi On the tenth day , which is called Vijaya o r ce r e mo n i Dasehra , the assemblage of images is

u sl o y dipped into a river , this ceremony being

B isa a n . known as ri At sunset , the images are borne to the river bank o n the shoulder of the

o r o f youths of the household the neighbourhood , with a l o ng train o f followers and bands of musi c ia n s , till the river bank is reached and a halt is made . The images are then placed on board a boat and rowed to a spot a few yards away fr om the bank where the water is deep enough for them to be

a r e completely immersed . The images then strip ped o f the valuable part o f their dress and orna

a cco m a ments , and plunged into the water to the p n ime n t o f enthusiastic shouts o f Victory to the M other " Thereafter friends visit friends to wish o n e another good luck and happiness , and at each house thus visited they are requested to partake o f some sweets that are offered to them . The ex c hange o f compliments with friends abroad is effect

Ko j a ga r a La ksh mi P u j a Lakshmi is now the popular Hindu goddess of

wealth and its attendant blessings , and the worship

of her , in conjunction with her spouse Narayan , sometimes forms a preliminary to certain religious ceremonies or to certain social functions , such as

. the feeding of Brahmans Originally , however,

Lakshmi was a mere abstract conception , devoid of i form and f gure , and denoting simply good fortune and it is in this sense that the name is used in the

Rigveda , the oldest religious book of the Hindus . Later writers represent her as having sprung from the froth o f the sea at the time o f the churning of

—an the ocean by the gods and giants , event which forms the subject o f a famous Hindu legend adumbrating the manner in which were created some of the objects that subsequently ﬁnd a cons pic uo us place in Puranic mythology . This Hindu

o f S a mud r a ma n th a n legend the , as it is called , is mentioned in the opening chapters o f the R a mayan a

a h a bh a r a ta and the M , and in dim outline it is similar to the classical legend o f the war between the gods KOJA G A R A LA KSHMI PUJA 1 47

and the giants . When Lakshmi ﬁrst arose from o ut the azure main in all the bloom o f ethereal

beauty , Vishnu took her as his bride , and it is as the consort o f Vishnu that Lakshmi is still conceived by the bulk of the H indu people . The Vaishnavas are the only sect that disclaim this relationship , for they admit no females in their pantheon , and repu diate and even ridic u le the idea that Vishnu was ” S ever married . ome Vaishnavas , however, hold

’ that Lakshmi is an ideal personiﬁcation o f the deity s more feminine attributes the softer emotions o f sympathy , love , and compassion while the more philosophical o f them contend that the Hindu gods are represented with consorts only to typify the mystical union of the two eternal principles o f

- M P u ru sh a P r a generation Spirit and atter, and kriti o f , which are involved in the very conception a

r ea ted c universe . These theological controversies

o f have long become echoes the past , and Lakshmi is now worshipped as the goddess o f wealth and

- good fortune by sectarians and non sectarians alike . Doctrine and dogma have lost their signiﬁcance in ff the face of rite and ritual . Di erences between sect and sect are becoming more and more merged in

o f be common forms worship . Ever since wealth

o f o f came an object value in the eyes man in society, Lakshmi has been an object o f pious worship by

o f Hindus every caste and creed , and especially by l4 . 8 H I N DU PASTS AND FEASTS

i s l the Va sh ya or trading c s sse s o f the community .

For, as has already been pointed out in an earlier

o ff secti n , di erent Hindu festivals are especially f H favoured by di ferent indu castes , though all are allowed to join in the common worship and make

ff o r f o erings to the god goddess o the day . Koj a ga r a Lakshmi P uja is held on the night of

u D r u the f ll moon following the u ga P ja , that is , ﬁve

D a sh ami days after the Vijaya , and it may hence

o f u u u be regarded as a sort seq el to the D rga P ja . It marks the close o f a succession o f religio u s forms and ceremonies that a r e held from day to day prao

f K u a r o r tically —through the entire light half o A sw in the whole fo r tnight being therefore called

D ev i - P a ksh a o r r the , the fo tnight devoted to the D P i worship of Devi or Shakti . The evi aksha n variably commences j ust after the plose of the Pitri

o n e Paksha , and this is proof that among the Hindus the worship o f ancestors precedes the worship of the

gods . Lakshmi is worshipped again in a more ela — o o h b rate form a fortnight later, the night of the Diwali and hence the present p uj a is called Koj a

r P ga a Lakshmi uja , to distinguish it from the latter

D wi a n n it worship , which is called the p Lakshmi

o r . Puja , one accompanied by an illumination The term Koj agar a is an abbreviation o f a sh ort S anskrit sentence mﬁéa as tha t afmm gﬁt ad

1 50 H I N DU PASTS AND FEASTS

o f things , probably in reminiscence her original home

o f amid the waters the ocean . But more probably the association o f the cowrie shell with the god

dess Lakshmi has an economic origin . In the earliest times the cowrie shell was probably the only currency in India , and in the sacred books o f the Hindus the values o f things are frequently given in cowries . Gifts in cowrie shells are also permitted in cases where gifts in kind are not easily procurable o r are p r ohibitive according

’ to the donor s means . For these reasons a Hindu regards the cowrie as sacred , and would never deﬁle it in any way, such as by touching it with his

- ff foot , as this is supposed to o end Lakshmi . There are various things which Lakshmi favours , and

r various others which she strongly disapp oves , and Hindu girls in educated families are taught to learn these with particular care , in order that when they grow up to be mistresses of households they might be assured of unbroken happiness and prosperity by virtue o f their habitual observance of these supposed commandments of Lakshmi . Among other

things , talking in a loud voice , swallowing food in

o r large mouthfuls with strong avidity , walking with

a hasty gait , sitting across the threshold of a door

a o r o r at the entrance to a p ssage , talking listening

o f to scandal , want personal cleanliness , picking

Laksh quarrels , laziness , prodigality , are vices which KOJA GA RA LA KSHMI PUJA 1 5 1

mi looks o n with special abhorrence in a female .

On the other hand , she promises never to desert a woman w h o always keeps herself and her house

- scrupulously clean who is well versed in , and who

o w n can perform with her hands , all the domestic d uties pertaining to a Hindu household ; who spe a ks in a sweet and low voice , walks with slow and noiseless steps , and laughs an inaudible laugh who reverences her elders and her gods , paying honour wherever honour is due ; w h o never sits idle for o n e moment , ﬁnding an hour for every work and a work for every hour ; who daily lays by a little

’ fo r store the morrow s use , spending what she can fo r the present day ; who rises from sleep with the d awn and lights the lamp just at nightfall . These wise precepts are strung together in the form o f a m metrical hymn to Laksh i , and this hymn is recited o r chanted o n the evening of the Puja in the presence o f the female members o f the household seated together . The conch shell is the favourite

o f — instrument Lakshmi , probably another remi n is cen ce o f her ocean home and it is o n e of the daily duties o f a Hindu matron to sound the conch shell in honour o f Lakshmi j ust after lighting the house lamp at dusk . The ﬁrst place where the is evening lamp is lighted in a Hindu house , the

- store room , where also the conch shell is sounded , and the reason o f this obviously is that all the store ' 1 52 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS

o f is taken to be the gift Lakshmi , and that by doing her honour amid these su r roundings she is likely to grant continuance to her gifts and also to

a u bestow her blessings in greater b ndance .

Lakshmi is also called by the name o f Vara

Lakshmi , in allusion to the power, credited by her

o f votaries , granting boons solicite d by her wor shippers . Hindu artists represent Lakshmi as a

o f o n - maiden peerless beauty, seated a full blown lotus ﬂoating in water, with an elephant on each

o f side her , pouring water over her head from

H e r golden goblets held aloft in their trunks . head

h e r r u is adorned with a crown , neck hung o nd with a — wreath o f never - fading ﬂo w e r s the gift o f the Ocean and her smooth round arms decked with heavenly gems of su r passing brilliance which she has taken

“ o ut of her treasures of the deep . She is some times represented with four arms , but since she is also the goddess o f beauty she is generally depicted

o n e with only two . I n hand she holds a lotus bloom , the ﬂower she holds dear above all others ; in the

o r o f . other, either a conch shell a sheaf paddy

Lakshmi is , and has ever been , a household deity, and she has therefore no temples raised to her in any part o f India ; but being the goddess o f a bun d ance and prosperity, she continues to be the object o f fervent - adoration by the female folk o f the entire

H indu community .

1 54 HI N DU FASTS AND FEASTS o f B u t city populations . there are a few marked points of resemblance between these two festivals , d ue probably to their intrinsic importance . As in the Dasehra so in the Diwali , a mixed variety o f social customs and observances have clustered

o f round the chief religious ceremony the season , and in both cases the religious growths have

r f been ove borne by a weight o parasitical forms , w entirely unconnected ith religion . The Diwali

r has again , like the Daseh a , assumed a dual aspect for as in the Dasehra we have the worship of D urga and the Ram Lila taking place side by side , so in the Diwali , the worship of Kali and the worship of

Lakshmi are held simultaneously on the same night ,

n o t though perhaps under the same roof. The Diwali season commences o n the fourteenth d ay o f the dark fo rtnight of K a r tik (October

N a r a k November) , this fourteenth day being called

C h atu rd ash i u , beca se it commemorates the victory o f Krishna over the demon N a r aka s u r a . The legend

N a r a ka s u r a B h a va ta of is contained in the g , the

K a lika P a r a na o , and other mythol gies of the same

. N a r a kas u r a period According to these , was a fear ful demon dwelling in the country called P rag

o tish a j y , which some authorities identify with the western portion o f modern Assam . This demon

o ff - o f carried the ear rings of Aditi , the mother the gods . The gods thereupon declared war against DIWA LI O R D I P MALI KA 1 55

the demon , but were unable to make a stand against

to fo r . him , and so they appealed Krishna help

Krishna fought with the demon , slew him , and brought back the stolen jewels in triumph . According to another version , which is more popular , Naraka

ff f ish a ka r ma sura carried o the daughter o V w , the architect of the gods , and insulted her . The demon

o f had been a notorious kidnapper girls , and he had been I n the habit o f seizing and carrying o ff

is any beautiful damsel that caught h fancy . I n this way he had made for himself a prodigious harem o f

h e sixteen thousand mistresses . And now began to cast pro ﬂiga te eyes o n the daughters o f the gods

vo lu themselves . Nothing daunted the intrepid p t ua r y ; maidens , princesses , nymphs , goddesses were f alike in dread o f him . The women o both the

o upper and nether worlds , theref re , joined together in supplicating Vishnu to destroy the demon and restore the sanctity o f female honour . But Nara kasura , with all his weakness for the fair sex , was a

o f demon great piety , and had , by penance and meditation , accumulated such a rich store of spiritual merit that Vishnu was for a time not only unwilling but actually powerless to do him harm . But when the load o f daily sins outweighed his previous store o f virtue , Vishnu gave leave to Krishna to march upon his stronghold and put him to death . But since spiritual merit, once earned , can never be 1 56 H I NDU FASTS AND FEASTS

totally blotted out by any s u bsequent acts of sin , N a r a ka s u r a was allowed to crave a boon at the

fo r moment of death , and the boon he asked was that the day o f his death might ever be co mme mo ” s o rated as a day of feasting in the world . Be it ,

a o f s id Krishna , and then with one blow his sword he made an end o f N a r a kas ur a and liberated his sixteen thousand imprisoned mistresses in o n e

Ch atu r d a sh i moment . Such is the legend of Narak ,

h a ur dash i which is also called Bh oot C t , probably through a confused association o f the popular

‘ meanings o f Narak hell and Bhoot Another explanation is that the name Bhoot Cha tur d a sh i alludes to the darkness of the night , a bh oot o r devil being pop u larly believed to have a

- pitch black complexion . The ignorant people call

h ti D iw a li o r it C o , the Little Diwali . Various little observances are customary o n the day of Little Diwali , and though these observances

a r e vary in detail from province to province , they in the main uniform throughout India . For ex ample , it is usual on this day for people to get up from bed as early as possible , and to have their head and body rubbed with perfumed o il before

o f taking a bath . Every member the household , from the baby upwards , must have this perfumed ff bath , which is believed to cleanse all sins as e ect ivel y as a bath in the Ganges . Even in places

1 58 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS

‘ ’ ‘ popular abbreviation of D ipav a li ( a row o f

and the festival is s o - called because at night there is an illumination in every Hindu

r house . Acco ding to some authorities the festival was originally held in commemoration of the liberation o f Raja Bali fro m the bondage of hell through the interventi o n o f the goddess Lakshmi . The legend o f King Bali has already been described

’ B a n d h a n e in the section on Raksha , and ne d not be repeated here . The favour shown to him by

Vishnu who left him his kingdom o f Patala , instead of seizing his entire dominio ns , was done at the

u L intercession of his spo se akshmi , whose goodwill the deposed monarch had previ o usly won by

r approp iate prayers and penances . Diwali was thus originally the worship of Lakshmi , but later o n it came to be associated with the worship of another goddess , Kali , but how exactly the change came about is now a matter o f pure conjecture . It seems that as Vaishnavism began to give way before the advance of Shaktism , not only Vishnu , L but his consort akshmi as well , began to lose popular favour , with the result that forms of the S hakti began to take the place originally occ u pied

o f by the various manifestations Vishnu , the

si n i Preserver . Such changes in the origin and g

ﬁca n ce of the Hindu festivals are pretty common .

The Holi , for example , was originally held in DIWA LI OR DIP MALI KA 159

u o f M hono r adan , the god of love , but it came subsequently to be associated with the gay sporting f o Krishna .

The most characteristic feature of the Diwali ,

th e that which gives its name to the festival , is illuminations that take place at night . Every

H r indu house , f om the palace to the hut , is cleaned and swept and whitewashed o r mudw a s h e d a few d ays before the Diwali , and at night the house t o ps are lighted up with rows o f ch ir ags or earthen a o f o f l mps , the number which course varies with

- o f the means of the house holder . The origi n the Diwali illuminations is contained in a popular legend which seems now to be losing ground in popular memory . The legend tells us how an a st r ologer once foretold to a Raja that on the new

K a r tik A mav a s a moon of (that is , the Diwali y ), his fate o r end (ka l) would come at midnight in the shape o f a snake ; that the way to escape from death was that he should order all his s u bjects to clean their houses and to illuminate the city at night ; and that the king too should place a lam p

o f at his door and at the four corners his bed , and sprinkle rice and sweets every where about the

- . o o ut palace If the door lamp should g , that was

o a sign , said the astrol ger, that the king was about to become unconscious , and in that event he should take care previously to tell his queen to sing th e 1 60 H I N DU PASTS AND F B A S T S

o f a e praises the fat l snake when he arrived . Thes

r u di ections were caref lly followed , and the snake was so pleased with his reception that he told the

Rani to ask any b o on she chose . Of course the boon

r she asked was that her husband sho uld be spa ed . The snake replied that it was not in his power to grant such a boon , but promised to intercede

Y o f with ama , god death , to grant a fresh lease of life to h er doomed husband . The snake further a sked the q u een to continue her watch over the

’ Raja s body , while he himself hurried away with the

o u Y disengaged s l to the palace of ama . When the ’ papers relating to the Raj a s destiny were put up Y before ama , his age was denoted by a zero , meaning that the Raja ’ s life had come to an end in the natural course ; but the kindly snake , who had been won over by the ﬂattery of the queen , managed to insert a seven before the nought and Y made it seventy . ama looking at the pape rs “ exclaimed , This mortal , I ﬁnd , has still seventy

: years to live take him back at once . So the snake brought back the soul o f the departed king , who instantly came to life , and lived seventy “ f years more , and instituted this festival o lamps

o f (Diwali) in honour his resuscitation .

The above legend is , according to some author it ies , of much later origin than the Diwali festival ,

al which , in their opinion , was origin ly instituted in

1 62 HI N DU FASTS AND FEASTS

o f e gone changes form and ceremony, growing mor

—if o n e and more degenerate at every step , may say — so without sacrilege until it assumed its worst form in the drunken revelry o f the Ka paliks . The

o f goddess Kali is known by a multiplicity names , e ach signifying a separate attribute , but all pre s enting her to the imagination o f her votaries as an o o f d o f bject awe and drea . The appearance Kali , as she is ordinarily represented in Hindu temples ,

as an d as she is described in the Tantric books , is

— a follows She has a jet black complexion , and t r ed errible gaping mouth , through which her

o ut o f tongue hangs , dripping with the blood the

o r giants she has slain devoured , whose heads she has strung together in the form o f a garland that

sh e . wears around her neck She has four arms , in o f o f three which she holds weapons war, and

in a . S h e the fourth , a hum n head tramples in e csta sy upon the breast o f her husband M ahadeva o r wh o o n Shiva , lies prostrate the ground , and she

- l to r o un ds . r o a min oves haunt burning g , g over them with her long and uncombed hair trailing behind f h er back . The customary mode o worshipping h er i f e s by o fering animal sacriﬁces , but goats alon ar e n ow deemed enough to appease her thirst fo r b S ff o f lood . Among some hakta sects , the o ering spirituou s liquors is also considered an essential

a t o f th e s o f Ka wh o is e h er p r wor hip li , r garded by DIWA LI o a DIP MALI KA 1 63 v U M d otaries as the niversal other, and is invoke ’ i n the tenderest manner by the name o f mother .

o f The worship of Lakshmi , the other goddess

n o t the day , is conﬁned to Bengal , but is common

v o n in e ery part of India the night of the Diwali . T h e form in which the wo rship is conducted ﬁxes i h unmistakably its character as a Va s ya festival .

Lakshmi is represented , not by an image , such as

Kali and Durga are , but by a gold coin , and it is t o this gold coin that the devotional offerings are made . The coin is bathed in the holy water o f a s o r acred stream , in milk, and adorned with ﬂowers a n d sandal - paste to the accompaniment o f suitable forms o f invocation and propitiation . In poorer households , a silver coin , such as a common rupee , d oes duty for the gold piece ; but the worship o f the precious metals in some form is indispensable , a s this is believed to be productive o f wealth a n d prospe rity through the coming year . The a ccount - books o f the family o r the ﬁrm are also b o ut rought and worshipped , and many people open

- r new account books from this date . A o w of lights is placed in front o f the consecrated coin o r the a - o ccount b ok , and lamps are also lighted in every

t o f r par the house , chieﬂy at the door o entrance ; fo r it is believed that Lakshmi rides about the world o n v a h a n o wl o n her , the , the Diwali night, and that s h e is naturally inclined to enter a hou se which is 164 H I N DU FASTS AND F B A S T S

r o n e is brightly illuminated , in p eference to which ro dimly lighted or enveloped in darkness . It is p bably this belief that Lakshmi makes a tour o f in spectio n round the world o n the night o f the Diwali that accounts for the custom o f illuminating h o uses

n f a o this particular night o the year . There is beautiful legend connected with this nocturnal tou r o f r Lakshmi . There was once a Raja who had fou

o n daughters . He called them together e day and asked them wh o gave them their daily bread . The ” Y o f . ﬁrst three replied , our majesty , course But the youngest proudly declared that her own fate supplied to her not only her daily bread but every f thing else that she daily enj oyed or su fered . The king was very much in wrath to hear this undutiful

o f disavowal the royal bounty, and in his rage he banished his ungrateful daughter to the woods after marrying her to a beggarly Brahman who made a

o f precarious living on the charity his neighbou rs . And the princess and the poor Brahman began to

o r live in the woods , subsisting on whatever food money the latter got in alms from day to day . The Brahman had been strictly enjoined by his wife

- u never to return empty handed , but even to pick p

o n any rubbish lying the street , rather than return home absolutely without anything . It so happened

o n e that day the Brahman got no alms at all , and was returning home in great dejection whe n

1 66 H I N DU FAST S AND FE ASTS

t cruel y with kindness . The very next day it was proclaimed by beat o f drum throughout the king dom that whoever could furnish a cl u e leading to

o f o the recovery the lost jewel , sh uld be hand s o mel r o cla y rewarded by the king . Hearing this p mation , the princess asked her husband to respond to the offer and stand forth as a candidate for the promised reward . The Brahman naturally hesitated ,

o f not knowing anything the missing necklace , and it was only on his wife ’ s persistent urging that he

. to consented to go He was , however, advised not

ff fulﬁl accept the o ered reward , but to demand the ment o f a certain condition which he was to name

a s after reference to his wife . The Brahman did he was advised . He undertook to restore the lost necklace on condition that the king promised to grant a boon which he would name after cons u ltation

n with his wife . The king agreed and the Brahma ca me home to receive further instructions from his wife , who advised him to say that the only reward he would accept was that the king should by a royal mandate forbid the lighting of lamp s

o n o f absolutely , even in the royal palace , the night

o n e the approaching Diwali , for that year, but that the Brahman alone should be permitted to hold th e customary illuminations in his o wn house in th e

s woods . The king was rather surprised to hear thi

an th e boon , but he gr ted it most readily, and DIWALI o a DIP M A LI xA 1 67

Brahman came home once more and taking th e

to wh o necklace from the princess , gave it the king , forthwith issued a royal proclamation forbidding all illuminations o n the night o f the Diwali fo r that o n e year, throughout his kingdom , in every house and

’ b ut . a n d n o t , except the Brahman s Diwali came , a lamp was lighted anywhere throughout the king

dom , except in that lonely hut in the woods occupied

by the Brahman and the banished princess . At about midnight Lakshmi commenced her annual progress with a view to visiting the houses o f those wh o were her favourites ; but the whole world w as

o n o wl steeped in darkness that night . Riding her ,

o f Lakshmi thought entering the royal palace , but

n o t the palace was discernible in the darkness .

va h a n Both she and her were in great perplexity, n o t knowing where to go or how to ﬁnd their pat h

in that dismal darkness . Repeatedly did she ask her va h a n to take her to the royal palace as th e o n e spot where she thought there was sure to be ’ d light . But even the king s residence was burie

in darkness . Lakshmi therefore bent her way

o r towards the forest where she discerned , thought

e o f sh discerned , a thin stream light issuing from

a e a co tt g door , far in the thickness of the leafy

wood s . Towards this cottage door she hastened ,

d at an into it she stepped , ﬁnding some relief la st after her darksome journey through th e 168 H I N DU FASTS AND P B A S I ' s

benighted country . Now this cottage was the very same in which the banished princess lived . She had lighted a few lamps in her house in the evening , and had duly worshipped Lakshmi , and she knew

’ o f nothing Lakshmi s arrival . She went to bed at her usual hour, and rose next morning at her usual hour, and perceived no change anywhere in her surroundings . But as the days passed on , the king declined in wealth and power and the banished

o f princess rose in the favour Lakshmi , until the

’ s plendour o f her position eclipsed the king s fortun e ’ F o r completely . Lakshmi s blessed visit to the lowly hut had the effect o f transforming it into a lordly palace ; and what was before the lordly palace d u windled down into a lowly h ut , and the ha ghty king wh o had banished his pious daughter for believing

o f in fate was , by the working the same fate , reduced to the position o f the beggarly B r ahman such as the o n e to whom he had given the hand o f his daughter as a punishment . This story , which is intended to illustrate the meritoriousness o f wor s hipping Lakshmi and o f illuminating the house o n f ka th a o r the night o the Diwali , is recited as a parable in the presence o f the younger members o f the household at the conclusion o f the puj a . It is

ld d u a very o story , derive p rely from tradition

e a n d d d o f o s p rhaps, unrecor e in any the holy b ok , so far as the present writer is aware but modern

1 70 H I N DU FASTS AND FE ASTS

The Diwali resembles the Holi in yet anothe r re spect . Just as the immoral custom o f singing obscene songs has become associated with the Holi , in the same way the pernicious practice o f gambling has somehow received a semi - religious sanction in the Diwali season . Not merely is it not considered wrong to gamble , but gambling is positively enjoined

n o n e o and all , as a holy rite that pleases the god dess Lakshmi , and under this excuse it is indulged in by all classes . All monetary transactions are suspended in the Diwali season on the plea that they are forbidden by Lakshmi but probably the real reason o f this prohibition is that all the availa b l e cash belonging to a household is invested in playing c gambling mat hes , so that none is left for carrying

o n . f o r e business Hence the taking o l ans , the

o f payment loans , the negotiation of loans are all for

h idd e n , and in some households people are so rigorous that they abstain from cash payments o f

is all kinds , even for purchased goods . Gambling further encouraged by a superstitious belief that he who does not practise it o n the night of the Diwali

becomes a loathsome mole in his next birth , losing all the store o f religious merit he might have a cc u mu

. la ted in the past The low classes play gambling,

a n d matches in public places , on the Diwali night , as o n e walks through the brightly lighted streets o f a n y

o n e s Indian town o r village , may see shops and booth DIWA LI OR DIP MALI KA 1 71 thronged with groups of gamblers seated at tiny

- - o gaming tables , the stake h lder shouting at frequent

E h la a we ch a r a w a i o n e intervals g p stake , win four to attract players from among the passers by . Sometimes people make pretty little fortunes in this detestable game . Even educated Indians

to u o n e s are known ind lge in this pastime , and alway hears stories of fo r tunes made and fo rtune s marred d uring the Diwali season every year . So binding is this ancient custom believed to be that even the legal enactment against gambling is relaxed for three

o f days , as a special concession to the superstition the Hindus . The Diwali is also the day for women to prepare

‘ what is called A ma wa s ka Kaj a l o r lampblack ’ — o n . o f deposited the new moon Lampblack course , that which is deposited by an open ch ir ag burning vegetable oil—is believed to be a speciﬁc remedy

- against various eye diseases , and Hindu infants have their eyelids painted with this lampblack as part o f

o n their daily toilet . But the lampblack deposited the n ew moon o f Di wali is believed to possess magi c efficacy against all disorders brought about by the evil eye (which is technically called n a zar lagn a and since not only little children but adults ” al r o n e so may prove victims to the evil eye , eve y ,

o ld young and , applies the Diwali lampblack to his f h eyelids as a protection against such a ﬂictions . T e 1 72 H I N DU FASTS AND F B A S ‘I‘S

Diwali lampblack is p r oduced by a large earthen c h ir a o il g , burning mustard , and the soot is allowed to settle o n an earthen vessel shaped like a bell ,

o f placed j ust over the top the ﬂame , the light being k o f o il ept burning all night by an extra feed , not

o f o only to produce an extra quantity black, but als to have at least o n e lamp burning all through the

i o f sacred night , which is believed to be product ve

K a a l good fortune . The Diwali j is carefully preserv e d throughout the year to be used o n occasions o f

o f need , such as during the sickness a child .

to o fo r d On the Diwali day, , it is customary frien s a n d neighbours to exchange presents o f sweetmeats ’ and parched rice Kh ilen 5 the latter being a s pe c ialit o f h u h ri o f y the day, same as the g g is Nag

Panchami . Diwali is also th e day on which children must ﬁre crackers , and every pice they can save from swee tmeats is carefully invested in the purchase

f ﬁ - o r e works . I n the illumination o f the house it is the children again that take a prominent part , a n d there is much good - natured rivalry among f neighbours in the matter of this form o display . T h e Diwali illuminations are seen at their best in ' o f th e Benares , where the beauty spectacle is height ened by the situation o f the city o n the bank o f the

G o f an d anges , and the unique contour the temples

’ o ther buildings lining the river s edge for miles and miles .

1 74 H I N DU FASTS AND F E ASTS

o ld - fact that the account books are closed , and the new ones not yet opened , and the holiday observed o n the Ja mgh a t is intended to give time to business me n to check their cash balances before beginning

’ t h e new year s entries . But in gambling circles the holiday is supposed to be given in order to afford t ime for gambling , and gambling is accordingly kept

w o f up in full s ing at every hour the day and night . T h e vulgar name Ja mgh at has a classic equi

’ n o w valent , Gobardhan , a name falling into disuse a n d a passing gradually into oblivion , as the festiv l which it denoted is losing pop u lar favour year by

o n e y ear . Gobardhan was at time a most important rural festival celebrated by the co w - herd caste

A h irs wh o o f ( ) , occupied a position consideration

o f in the village community ancient India , and some

f o f o whom , such as Nanda , king Gokul , were crown e d monarchs ruling petty realms and principalities . Except in such parts of the U nited Provinces as are

t a ld n o yet traversed by a r ilway line , this o festival may be said to have become altogether defunct . In these rural tracts , however, far from the inﬂuences f i o modern civilization , the fest val is still celebrated

n o f in all its rural simplicity, with admixture o ele ments drawn from the polished life o f cities o r courts . The women construct a small mud plat

in e s a n d form an op n place out ide the house , o n it a t hey erect tiny clay hut , in which they place JA M G H A T A N D B H RA T R I DWITIY A 1 75

e images o f Gauri and Ganesh . They also place ther

f fo r an d s ome o the parched grain made the Diwali , stick a few tufts o f grass here and there into th e

- o r mud platform , and then wave a rice pounder (

n d o n mus a l) r o u the whole , invoking blessings their —“ relations and friends in the following terms M ay t his house grow like the sugarcane and expand like ” the Ganges and the J umna . The waving o f the r ice - pounder is a ceremony emblematic o f the ex pulsion o f poverty from their doors .

o h Gobardhan is therefore a purely cattle feast , s erved almost exclusively by the Ahir caste The n ame Gobardhan suggests a point o f association between this festival and the early cowherd life o f Krishna passed in the neighbourhood o f M ount G obardhan , a little hillock or stone mound near M uttra , where the god spent his boyhood in tending

’ h is - foster father s cattle . The ceremonies connect e d with the festival are performed chieﬂy by the w o omenf lk of the community , the male members honou r ing the day mainly by large potations o f c ountry wine . There is a current saying among the poor that liquo r a hundred years o ld will be drain ” e d o h o f e the day Diwali , and exp rience has proved t hat the saying is founded o n fact .

o f I n other parts Northern India , the Gobar d ffe han festival is celebrated somewhat di rently . T h e women make a cowd un g ﬁgure o f M ount Gobar 176 H I N DU PASTS AND FEASTS

o n dhan , which they place a little clay image of Kr ish

n a o n co wd u n lying his back , surrounded by g cakes ,

o f — e s in which are stuck tufts green grass , the cak

representing cattle , and the tufts of grass standing

fo r trees , and the whole presenting a graphic model

’ o f h bo Krishna s early life when , as a cow erd y, he used often to lie down on a bank o f grass while his cattle grazed around him on the green pastures at f the foot o M ount Gobardhan . On this miniature

c o wd un - f g hill the women place the churn staf , a.

o f o f bunch crested sugarcanes , a handful parched

h ir a e rice , and a lighted c g in the centre . The mal members o f the village household are then called

o r in , and they bow their heads bef e this Gobardhan , .

and are then feasted o n rice and sweets . A priest

o n e o f a then picks up the sugarcanes , crunches f bit o it at one end , and declares the sugarcane i crop ripe fo r cutting . How co nfusedly things m x up in the hands o f the Indian peasant is best instanced in the case of the Gobardhan festival ,

o f which , beginning as a celebration in honour ’ r e limi Krishna s cowherd life , ends as a ceremony p

. nary to the cutting of the sugarcane crop . It is also the practice for all owners of cattle , residing in the .

o r o f r village in the city , to dye the horns all thei

n o f is cattle o the day the Gobardhan festival , and th is believed to act as a protection against disease a n d. accident .

1 78 H I N DU FASTS AND FE ASTS

o f parents , the ceremony the day becomes much

s o f simpler, as the formalitie issuing and accepting invitations are necessarily dispensed with . The ceremonies of the day commence , as is usual with — all Hindu ceremonies , with a holy bath , the bath specially ordained o n the day o f B h r a tr i Dwitiya be ing a bath in the J umna ; but if that be not possible , any other river is held to be as good a

o r substitute , if no river is at hand , a bath at home - is the last resort . B h r atr i Dwitiya is a great day

o n for bathing in the Jumna, and in places situated the banks o f this river there is always a mela o n this day . Both brother and sister take their bath and keep a fast until the ceremo ny o f the day is

’ over . This consists in the sister s presenting to her brother a new dh oti and d upa tta (wearing - cloth an d o n scarf), which he has to put then and there , and thus a ttired he takes his seat o n a carpet spread o n the ground . The sister then comes for ward to do him honour by bowing down to him , if the brother happens to be elder in age but if he is

to younger, it is he that bows down her and receives

her blessings . The sister then places in the hand

o f of the brother a quantity the best sweetmeats ,

and in addition makes a cash present , which is ,

however , invariably returned with suitable additions

’ from the brother s o w n pocket . But the most

tila k o r important part o f the ceremony is the , JA M C H A I’ ‘ AND B H RA T R I D w v 1 79 s ’ d treaking the brother s forehea with holy paint .

' This is always the sister s part , which is not reciprocated by the brother . Every sister has to

tila k give the to every brother, without distinction o f age . The holy mark is made with the little

o f le t —fo r e o f ﬁnger the f hand , in the cas women the left portion o f the body is used for a variety o f

o f religious functions , as we saw in the case the wearing o f the Ananta thread ; the sister must also bend herself o n the left knee while giving the tila k

and the brother must sit with his face to the east . There is a prescribed formula which has to be repeated by the sister during the performance o f

tila k o f e each , and a suitable form blessing a com panying the offering of a holy draught o f milk and honey , which the brother sips three times after it is poured into the hollow o f his hand . The fo rmula

f tila k o the ceremony , literally translated into

’ English , means Thus do I streak my brother s

o f forehead , and thereby plant a thorn at the door Yama make his entrance into the abode o f the J dead impossible) . As umna streaked the fore

f Y so o f head o her brother ama , do I in the case Y my own brother . As ama is immortal , so may ” my brother h e immortal likewise l

In Hindu mythology , the river J umna is indeed

o f Y o f n o called the sister ama , king the dead ; but record is found o f her having ever streaked his fore 1 80 HI N DU PASTS AND PH AS’ I‘ S

f head , except in this formula , which is o precarious

Y d e n i origin and unknown authorship . ama is u n

o n e o f ably the immortals , and J umna is as certainly his sister ; and this imaginary relationship o f the two has given birth to a festival which se rves to strengthen and perpetuate among the H indus the ff bonds of a ection between brother and sister,

which , but for this periodic renewal , would tend to

weaken and decay, after the sister has left the paternal home and made for herself a new o n e in

perhaps a stranger land , where other and later and

s tr o n e r o o a g ties s n fasten her heart and fetter her limbs too heavily to give the h o u sewife a n d the matron many chances of visiting the ancestral roof and reviving the dear old associations o f her

. r o girlish days In the tila k ce em ny , each sister w takes a part turn by turn , and here the number o f brothers a n d sisters happens to be a pretty large

o n e , the ceremony becomes an imposing spectacle

o f . o and occupies several hours the morning C usins ,

a both male and female , are also llowed to take part

r in the ceremony, and this is eally the rule in all H joint H indu families , for the indu makes little distinction between a brothe r and a co u sin o r bet ween a sister and a cousin in domestic o r social ” o matters . Even br thers by courtesy , such as the

’ ’ f br o sons o one s fathe r s friends , are recognised as

o f there o n this day , and are given presents sweet

18 2 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS

The most interesting part o f the programme is that which comes last , usually about midday, and this is the banquet . Rows of cups and dishes ﬁlled with the most tempting delicacies are placed before

wh o the brother, is expected to do j ustice to a meal that would ordinarily suffice for a dozen ; for the

’ banquet is n o t only an outcome o f the sister s a ffec

’ o f tion , but also a token her husband s status in

— o f society, with perhaps an added element display running through the whole . In many cases the

’ m o w n sister cooks the day s eal with her hand , as far as she can ; but in n o case do the brother and

— - sister dine together no grown u p males and females ever can do so in any Hindu household . The formula repeated by the sister d u ring the

, tila k ceremony is , strangely enough worded in the vernacular , not in Sanskrit . This shows that it is not o f very ancient origin , or at least that it is not f ta ken from any o f the recognised sacred books o the

Hindus . But it is the vernacular garb that makes the formula repeated with such manifest emotion , and not in the dry mechanical manner in which mis r o ma n tr a s in Sanskrit are pronounced o r p n o un ced by people ignorant o f their meaning . XVIII

A ksh a y a N av a m i

A ksh aya N av ami is the ninth day o f the light half o f a r tik o n e K , and occurs exactly month after the

o f ninth day the Navaratra . Like the earlier Nava

it fo r mi , is a day set apart the worship of the Shakti ; but o n the present occasion the worship does not extend over nine days and nine nights ,

o n but begins and ends the same day . Nor is the Shakti worshipped o n this day under the name o f

o f Durga , the goddess victory, but under the more

o f Ja addh a tr i digniﬁed appellation g , the sustainer f ’ o the world . It seems rather a redundancy for the same Shakti to be worshipped twice more after

- the prolonged ceremonies of the Navaratra , once o n the day of the Diwali , and again nine days after th e Diwali . But the great difference between the Durga Puja o n the o n e hand and the Kali Puja an d

Ja a ddh a tri o n the g Puja the other, is that the — former is a communal o n e might almost say n a tio n al— celebration , whereas both the latter, as far

o r s as the element of worship goes , are more les

d to s in ividual , conﬁned only particular household , 18 4 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS a n d not joined in by the whole community as a

. o f community Indeed , as in the case Kali Puja dur

D Ja a ddh atr i ing the iwali season , the worship of g o n the day of A ks h aya N av a mi is now practically

o unkn wn in places outside Bengal . But the original

o f Ja addh atr i object instituting a second festival , the g

o f Puja , and ﬁxing the date it only a month after

to the ﬁrst , the Durga Puja, was probably to give pious people the chance of offering to the U niversal

M f 0 other the ﬁrst fruits o the late autumn cr ps , those , namely, that are not ripe for harvesting at the

o f u F o r date the earlier P ja . , according to the

H o f principles of the indu religion , no article food is ﬁt fo r human consumption until it has been sanctiﬁed by being offered to a go d or goddess .

’ o f Even in the case the individual s daily meal , it must be offered to the gods before he can take it .

A ksh a a N av a mi y is strictly not a festival , but a mere domestic r itual ; it is therefore unattended by any o f that pomp and circumstance o f worship which accompanies the Durga Puja ; there is no

o f n o interchange friendly greetings , social reunion ,

o r no gay gaudy rites , no pop ular festivities , no public rejoicing . It is celebrated in a quiet , unos ten ta tio us manner in the privacy of the home , and sometimes th e simplicity o f form is carried to such a point that the goddess Jagaddh a tr i is not even

o r represented by an image , but only by a brass

1 86 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS t a o n T r eta radition again , it w s this day that the

Yu a T r eta o f g commenced . The is the second the f our great ages into which ancient Hindu writers have divided the entire duration o f Time in its r e — Y lation to the world the ﬁrst being the Satya uga , t h e popular conception o f which is very similar to

’ f o r u as t hat o the Golden Age . These ages y g

o f are , course , as vaguely deﬁned as it is natural for such immense tracts of time to be , and to most

T reta Yu H indus , therefore , the ga is best known as

o f an d D w a r o f the age Rama , the pa a as the age

Krishna . The special merit resulting from the worship o f

o n A ksh a a N a v a mi the Shakti the day of y , is that t h e worshipper is rewarded with the attainment o f the kingdom of peace which is free from all toil an d ” t rouble . There is a special reward to be gained

' a lso by those who take part in the B isa ryan cere m f ony, the ceremony o plunging o r immersing the holy image in water at the conclusion o f the w o r “ s hip ; and this reward consists in the attainment

o f o f unrivalled sovereignty , the begetting sons and h an d eirs , the possession of wealth , power , slaves , the gaining of complete emancipation from th e

o f D evi P a r an a to bondage sin . So speaks the

t h e faith o f the devout Shakta . The same sacred book also lays down that the merit obtained by worshipping the Devi on this o n e day is equal to A KS H A Y A N A VA H I 1 87 t h e cumulative merit obta ined by worshipping her

for four months continually . The greatest characteristic o f this holy day t hat which gives it its distinctive epithet of Aksha ’ — ya is that gifts bestowed o n this particular day

f r of the year continue to bear blessings o ever . S imilarly any wro n g o r act o f sin committed o n this holy day never ceases to bear evil fruit at any

N av ami a A ksh a a time . This is why this is c lled y ,

’ which literally means indestructible . A similar inde structibility bel—ongs to four other days under l ma as a special conj unctions , ( ) to an A v y , if it hap

to o n M — o f pens fall a onday, hence the sanctity “ ” what is called a S o mava ti A mav asya ; (2) to a

S a ta mi o n Ch aturth i p , if it falls a Sunday ; (3) to a ,

o n if it falls a Tuesday ; and to an Ashtami , if it

o n o f falls a Thursday . In each these cases the ’ d a A ksh a a y becomes y , which is deﬁned in astro logical almanacs as meaning a day o n which a good o r bad deed done by a person does n o t lose

’ its ff e ect for sixty thousand lives . The u sual mode o f celebrating the A ksh aya N av a mi festival in Upper India is by making gift s to

Brahmans . The gift especially appropriate to this d a y is the g r ay gourd (or what in Hindustani is c eth a as alled p ) . This vegetable is seldom eaten a vegetable ; its only use is in the preparation o f a k ind o f sweetmeat o r jam which possesses nutritive 1 88 H IN DU FASTS AND FEASTS and medicinal properties o f high value accordin g

h a r maco t to the Ayurvedic p poea . Sometimes a gif o f pa n ch a - r a tu a ﬁve gems accompanies the gift o f o f a gourd , by being inserted inside the centre the vegetable in such a way as to conceal it from the eyes of the recipient . The ﬁve gems are gold , silver, copper, coral , and pearl ; and the secret insertion o f these within a big vegetable before being given away to a Brahman constitutes a most

u ta D an meritorious form of charity, known as G p ( ‘ secret But it is not within the means o f ordinary folk to earn this merit by this rather expensive form of charity ; hence the common peo ple observe this festival by simply taking a bath in : the Ganges and giving away a few pice in charity to Brahmans on the river bank . A ksh aya N av ami is also associated with a

o f R a ma a n a n touching episode the y , in connectio with which there is a special celebration held at

o n s Allahabad . It was thi day that Bharata met his brother Rama , when the latter was returning ’ home at the expiration o f his fourteen years banish ment, the concluding portion of which was occupied by the conquest o f Lanka and the slaying o f its

- La ksh ma n a demon king , Ravana . Rama , Sita , and

P sh a h a r a th a we r e travelling in an aerial car ( u p ) , which belonged to Ravana , and which had been presented to Rama by B ibh ish a n a in gratitude fo r

1 90 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS o f teaching the holy scriptures to a band o f adoring

o n e an d disciples , who at time numbered thousands

o f o w n e constituted a university their , long befor Sir Alfred Lyall conceived the happy idea o f restor in g to Prayag its ancient seat o f learning . XIX

D e v o tth an E ka dash i

I t h a n E kada h i . D evo tt s is not a feast , but a fast occurs o n the eleventh day o f the brightening moon

Ka rtik two in the latter half of , j ust days after the

k h D e tth an s A s aya N ava mi. The epithet v o signiﬁe that o n this day the god Vishn u is believed to wake

o f up from sleep , the literal meaning the word being

’

o f . to P u ra n as the rising up the god According the ,

fo r a Vishnu sleeps four months in the ye r, from the eleventh o f the light half o f A sa rh (hence po pu larly called the Sayana E kad ash i to the co rres ’

o f o f K a r tik o n h e ponding day the month , which — ’ wakes up from his sleep the whole period o f the god s

’ o f rest being called the Sayana . The ﬁrst these E kada sh is is not marked by any particular celebra tions , except that in some villages the women mar k

o f co wd u n their houses with lines g, and observe a partial fast , eating only fruit and sweetmeats in the

’ o f eve ning . During the four months the god s slumber it is considered unlucky to h o ld any a uspi ” cio us ceremonies , such as marriage , regeneration ,

o ld h tonsure , and the like . Even repairing the thatc 1 92 H I N D U FASTS AND FEASTS

o f the house o r r e - stringing the household cots or

ch a r o s o . p y is deemed impr per These four months ,

o o f it will be observed , cover the wh le the rainy

season , which , in a tropical country like India , is the most unhealthy season and is popularly called the

’ - h a u ma sa . r C , the four (evil) months By a natu al association the most unhealthy season has come to

u be believed as the most unl cky season of the year, in which all domestic rites and duties are forbidden

o r at least deemed inauspicious .

Vishnu enjoys his long sleep , not in heaven his

u o n o f sual abode , nor earth , the scene his succes

s o ive incarnati ns , but deep down in the interior of

- the earth , where the Nag king S esha rules his

s u bterranean realm . Sesha is an eno r m o u s serpent

o r python having a thousand heads , representing

inﬁnity , for which reason he is also called Ananta

the endless which name is again , by a hypallage ,

- transferred to Vishnu himself . This serpent king forms both the couch and the canopy of Vishnu

’ d r u ing his four months sleep . The S esha Nag is a lso represented in H ind u cosmog r a phy as h e a rin g o r u supporting the globe on his tho sand heads .

S P a ta la ometimes he is spoken of as the ruler of ,

the nether world , and sometimes he is believed to f have impersonated himself as Balarama , brother o

r . K ishna According to popular belief, all earth . ’ q uakes are caused by this Snake s occasionally

194 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS

E ka da sh i to is the fast believed be , that there is no difference between an E ka d a s h i o f the bright fort

o n e r night and of the da k fortnight , both being

r meritorious in an equal deg ee . The merits ascribed to the E kada sh i fast are o f the highest order many o f them are stated in an obviously exaggerated

o f form , but the object the exaggeration is only to emphasize the value of the merits . For example , an E kad ash i fast is held tantamo u nt to perfo r ming penance for years ; it is also equivalent to making a gift of a thousand kine to Brahmans o r f o so . feeding millions starving beggars , and on It is also equal in efficacy to undertaking a n umber o f

o r o ut holy pilgrimages , wearing the body by rigid

o n e austerities . It gives eternal felicity in the highest heavens , and enables the pious soul to attain all its ends both in this life and in the next . The above beliefs with r espect to the i ncalculable spiritual merit arising from observance of the

h i ed E kad a s fast , are bas on two legends contained

M a h a bh a r a ta o f to in the . One these relates a sage

h d ra h ila M named B a s , son of Galab uni , who became a devout votary of Vishnu from early boyhood , and gave up the study of the Vedas and the practice of the customary religio u s rites in order to devote

- o f himself whole heartedly to the worship Hari . From the same early age he solemnly undertook to

E kadash i observe the fast twice every month . His D B VO T ’I‘ H A N B KA D A S H I 1 9 5 father once asked him why he preferred this rigorous form o f devotion to the many easier ones laid down in the holy books and declare d to be f equally e ﬁcacious . The son replied that the merit accruing from the observance o f the E kad a sh i fast

was lite r ally inﬁnite - as inﬁnite as the star - lit sky o r the boundless ocean . He had had the good fortune of receiving a direct revelation from God o n

u this s bject, and he had , in the same manner , been

o o f o f let int the secret his former birth , an account —“ which he then proceeded to give to his father I n ” o B h ad r a sh ila my f rmer life , said , I was a power fu l r o f king oft he lunar ace , and bore the name

D h a r makir ti . As a man I was a wicked sinner ; as ; a king , a hated tyrant and in both capacities I contin u ed fo r many years to heap a growing load of

o d a I o ut sin up n my head . One y went on a hunting

o expedition , escorted by a regiment of soldiers . So n

o n e o f o I Spied a lovely deer in the f rest brakes , and I ordered my attendants to make a cordon

round the animal , and never to let the game escape , o n pain of death . It so happened that the deer made its escape at a point where I was myself stan

o n ding guard . I could not blame my soldiers ; it was my own negligence that had allowed the beast

r o r w to b eak l ose , and in ve y shame I shot an arro

bu t after the ﬂying deer ; to my further shame , I

missed the mark , andin a moment the ﬂeet runne r 1 96 H IN DU PASTS AND F B A S T S

o f S had bounded away out sight . tung by shame , I galloped my horse and pursued the fugitive game right into the thick o f the forest ; but the sly beast was nowhere in sight . In the course f o my hot search , my poor steed stumbled and rolled down on the ground a lifeless carcass . The shades of evening were closing around me and e nvel o ping the d a rk forest in a darker fold ; hunger and thirst were gnawing at my bowels . Benighted ,

r bewildered , be eft almost of sense and motion , I

o f laid myself down at the foot a tree , and when the night advanced , and the forest beasts began to prowl

o ar und , the powers of Nature refused to sustain my life any longer , and I expired . As soon as the breath forsook my body , I beheld two emissaries

Y o from ama standing beside me , and sh rtly they bo u nd my soul and carried it to the abodes of the

Y r dead . On seeing my spirit , ama was very ang y with his servants for taking my soul to his region ,

o r fo r he said that I was abs lved f om all sin , in that I had breathed my last in a state of fasting o n an — ka da sh i a E day, fact of which I myself had not

o f the faintest idea . So , instead subjecting my soul

Y o to to torture , ama made beisance me , and my s o u l was forthwith uplifted from the nether regions

o to the highest heaven of Vishnu , b rne all the way up in an ethereal chariot specially sent down for t hat purpose . And in this celestial abode I dwelt

1 98 H I N DU P A S T s AND FEASTS

o f h o w h is to the image the god , and then head

r d own to the g ound and ﬁnish his devotions . The next thing is the fast , which must as far as possible consist in total abstinence from both food a n d drink for the whole day and night . On the following d ay he should repeat the ea r ly bath and the morn ing devotions , and then feed some Brahmans , together with his friends , relations and guests , befo re he breaks his o w n fast . The usual number o f o n o Brahmans fed such occasi ns is twelve , and

a r a n the breaking of a fast , called the p , in proper form is only one degree lower in importance than

o f the proper observance the fast itself . And if both the fast and the breaking o f it have been observed in the manner speciﬁed above , the reward “ ’ r is freedom from all so rrow . This is a high rewa d indeed , but what makes it higher still in value is that it is both divisible and transfe r able at the

’ r e i ec p e n t s option . The second legend in the M a h a bh a ra ta illustrates this last point about the k d h S E a as i fast . There was once in hantipur a

D eva ma li learned Brahman , named , who was the o wn e r o f a large fortune which he had amassed by various lawful means , such as farming , trading and banking . But with all his power and pelf, the Brah man was an unhappy man for want of a son . The

Ved as say that the man who has no son , lives his life

o in vain , b th in this world and i n the next ; and the D B VO T T H A N B RADASHI 1 99

feeling that the current o f his life was about to lose

itself in a sandy desert , rankled constantly in the

’

Brahman s heart , and made him and his wife ex

c eed in l . g y miserable One day , as the Brahman was N sitting in a sorrowful mood , the saint arada

o n happened to come on a visit to him , and being

o asked why he lo ked so melancholy, the Brahman replied that being a childless man he felt his life to

r o a a be a bu den . Narada advised him to h ld a Y j n o r r sac iﬁce , assuring him that by this means he was ff sure to be blessed with o spring even yet . The

r 10 1 Brahman acco dingly held a great sacrifice , and o ut o f the sm o uldering embers o f the sacrificial fire

o f o to arose a pair b ys , lovely as cherubs , and all f appearance of happy fortune . One o them was

Ya n a ma li named j , the child of sacriﬁce the other f ’ o . was named Sumali , the child beauty When

b D ev a ma li the oys grew of age , their father settled his wealth and property on his two sons in equal

’ a r sh es , and renouncing the householder s life , went

into a forest on the banks of the Narbada , to spend the remainder of his days in prayer a n d meditation ;

r and his faithful wife followed him to his reti ement .

In the woods , the recluses betook themselves to the

Ja n a n ti fo hermitage of , a sage who was renowned r

o f his knowledge the scriptures , and whom they found at that moment surrounded by a circle o f

d . N a miring disciples oticing a stranger, the sage 200 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS asked him who h e was and what his object was in coming there . The Brahman replied that his name

D eva ma li o f was , that he was Sprung from the line

B h r i u g , and that he had come to learn the practice o f religious austerities with a view to obtaining

i : salvation . Ja n a n t made answer S eek refuge

r V f om thy sins , not in a forest , but in ishnu , the

o f lord the universe, under whose protection all

r do trace of sin vanishes . No ea thly creature can

o o f with ut his protection , since he is the fountain

o f o f R e life , and the quintessence all forms being . peat his name, worship his spirit , obey his com ma n dmen ts r ; reverence him in thy hea t , serve him — with thy hands , name him with thy lips , and thou shalt steer safely across the troubled waves o f ” mortality . The Brahman was very happy to receive his

r o f Spiritual guidance , and leaving the holy p esence

f u the sage , he repaired to the banks o the J mna , where he Spent the remainder of his life in devotion to Vishnu . And when he died in the fulness of time , his faithful wife immolated herself on the same pyre with him , and both were admitted into the paradise

o f . o f o f Vishnu Now, his two sons , born the holy

Ya n a mali o f sacriﬁce , j grew up to be a man great

o f righteousness and piety , Spending large sums money in private charity as well as on works of public utility . In course o f time he was blessed

202 H I N D U FASTS AND FEASTS

’ umali s it was Sumali , his own brother . S unhappy

’ fate deeply touched his brother s heart with pity, a n d he generously gave away a portion of his own

o spiritual merit to his unfortunate brother , wh m

’ he thus released fr om the c r uel grasp of Yama s e missaries , and the two brothers then entered heaven

where they dwelt in felicity for interminable ages .

These legends go to pro ve the sanctity o f

E kad a sh is E kad in general special a sh is have , over a n d above these general rewards , rewards of a spe c ia l nature assigned to them . Such special Eka dashis are the N irj ala E kada sh i of the month of

a ish th a o r u Va iku n th E ka d a sh i o f M a h J J ne , the a g , a n d D ev o tth a n E ka d a s h i K a r tik the of . Of these

s o again the best known is the last . The ﬁrst is called because it is customary for those who observe it not to taste even a drop o f water that day . The s ec o nd is called Va ikun th a E kad a sh i because it a ssures the blessings o f heaven to those who keep a o n r fast that day . The o igin of the name

D ev o tth a n has already been explained .

D e vo tth an E ka d a s h i D , popularly called eothan or

D ith wa n , is now a purely rural festival , if the name festival may properly be given to ceremonies devoid o f all elements of festivity o r mirth . Like

h a S d e e n e r a te d o the Gobardhan , it into a buc lic . g ceremony inaugurating the cutting of the sugarcane c - rop . I n villages the people paint the cane press D B VO T ’I‘ H A N B KA D A S H I 203

f o f w ith a kind o red paint , and light a row lam ps

o f u pon it even in the day time . The owner the c rop then worships his h o usehold g o ds in the

o f o ff l middle the ﬁeld , and breaks some sta ks of s ugarcane which he places across the eastern

o f boundary the field . He then presents five canes e ach to the village priest, the blacksmith , the c — arpenter, the washerman and the barber the five most important members of the village community ;

. o n and he also takes ﬁve canes home There , a w o r o n e ooden board low stool , two images , of

o o f Vishnu , and the ther Lakshmi , are drawn with

c o wd un O n ghee and g. the same board are placed a fir e little cotton wool , some fruit and sweet ; a s a i a r acrifice ( g y ) is then performed , and the five c anes are placed round the sacred board a few inches apart , while their bushy tops are tied

in to a r together tangled knot . When these p e

ar a tio n s p are complete , the priest is called in ,

a and he brings the Saligrama . The S ligrama

o f is a smooth Spherical pebble , jet black colour , o f o f the size an egg , which is kept in a large percentage o f Brahman households as a handy e o f o r mblem Vishn u Narayan , which can be moved

o ab ut from place to place , unlike the other images o r idols which cannot be removed from the shrines in which they have been installed with due cere

‘ ’ m ony . The Saligrama is worshipped by th e 204 H I N DU PASTS AND FEASTS

ff . th e priest with o erings of ﬂowers , etc and then women sing songs o f praise to Vishn u to wake him up from Sleep and to induce him to accept thei r ff o erings . The knotted tops of the sugarcane

o ff are then broken , and while the main stalks keep

th e ir bu n dled standing round the sacriﬁcial board , l

o n up crests are ﬂung the roof of the house , and there they remain at the mercy o f the weather u ntil the Holi season , when they are thrown into the bonﬁre and burnt . When the whole ceremony is over, the priest consults his almanac , and de clares the auspicious hour for commencing reaping

Operations , which begin some time the same day — amidst much enthusiasm , enthusiasm due not only

0 to the prospect of a handsome return for the cr p , but to the m o re immediate prospect o f getting j ugfuls o f the fresh sweet juice to drink . At night it is customary in some places , such as Benares , to have temples and places o f worship (T h a ku r

D w a r a s o n ) illuminated , much in the same style as the Diwali night . The D ev o tth an E kadash i is generally observed as a close fast by all Hindus , and not only by

Vaishnavas . Some abstain from food and drink thro u gh the wh o le day and night ; others observe

r u only a pa tial fast , and take a light meal us ally consisting of milk , sugarcane j uice , and boiled s h a ka r h a n d o f th e , a kind sweet potato which

Ka r tiki P u rn a ma shi

Of all the S ix seasons that make up the Indian year, Spring and autumn stand out conspicuously as

o o f h e the chief festive seas ns the Hindus . And t explanation o f this is not far to seek ; spring and autumn are the two harvest seasons in India , and the population o f the country having ever been mainly agricultural , it is natural that the harvest seasons should also be the festive seasons o f th e people . Changes in form and fashion have taken place in the festivals from age to age ; festival s have in some cases lost their original signiﬁcance and acquired fresh ones in the course o f thei r immemorial history ; new festivals have occasionally been added o n to the calendar ; but the d a tes o f the ceremonies have in all cases remained unchanged through these hundreds and thousand s of years . This is doubtless due to the fact that

o f r the ancestral occupations the people , thei characteristic modes of thought and feeling , and the essentially religious bend o f their minds a r e to this day j ust what they were when these festival s KA R T I KI P U R N A M A S H I 207

F o r h were ﬁrst instituted in the misty past . suc a people the harvest season is the only time when it is possible for them to ‘ hold celebra tions o f any

o r o r t ki nd , public private , religious secular, tha

o f involve any outlay money , as in bestowing gifts

o n o r ff o r Brahmans , makin g o erings to the gods ,

giving banquets to the village brotherhood . From the Ananta Ch a tu r d as h i starts a succession o f

o f o n e festivals , kind or another , commencing with

t o f the for night dedicated to the worship ancestors , followed immediately by the nine days o f th e

Navaratra , and , ﬁve days later , by the vigil of the

th e Lakshmi Puja , and a fortnight later again , by

o f D illuminations the iwali , and terminating with

A ks h a a N av a mi D ev o tth an E kad a sh i the trio , y , ,

Ka rtiki P u r n a mas h i. and A Hindu proverb says ,

there are twelve months in the year, but thirteen ” s festivals , and the saying will appear by no mean

exaggerated if we but look at the above list , and

o f all reckon the number ceremonies it implies , crammed within the short space o f two luna r

Ka r tiki P ur n a ma s h i r months . brings up the rea

o f r o f this glitte ing array festivals , and then there

F o r is a halt i n the march . the next month ,

A r a h a a n a r at g y , is conside ed very inauspicious ,

o least in these pr vinces , because it was in this month that Rama ’ s fourteen years ’ banishment l took place . The whole month is consequently stil 208 H IN D U P A S r' S AND FEASTS regarded as a period of mourni ng by the Hindu s o f U P the nited rovinces , who loyally abstain from a ll kinds o f domestic rejoicing in this unl ucky M month . arriages are absol u tely forbidden in this m onth , among all castes , for the belief is that a marriage held in this month is sure to prove

’ u u r nfort nate , for Rama s own mar iage took place in A r a h a a n a n o g y , and marriage ever proved more

u . F o r nhappy only a few days later, came the s entence of banishment upon Rama, followed not

’ o l ng afterwards by his wife s captivity , her second

to banishment the hermitage of Valmiki , and her

ﬁ nal disappearance from the scene of her woes . Ka r tiki P u r n a ma sh i is one o f those festivals w hich have now deviated from their o r iginal form

a n d . character In the earliest ages , when the cult f o Shiva was the prevalent form of faith , it was a

’ festival held in hono u r of S hiva s victo r y over the

T r i u r a s u r a d . emon p According to an old legend , there was once a war between the gods and the d emons , who on being defeated appealed for help

ai to M , a great magician , who gave them three t owers of gold , Silver, and iron , within which the demons concealed themselves , and from these safe c o verts they carried on an irregular warfare against

r t h e celestials . The gods feeling powe less appealed

’ fo r help to S hiva, the great god , who personally

d a c ame to their succour, and discharge such

210 H I N DU FASTS AND FEASTS the posture of dancing triumphantly o n the body o f the Slain T r ipu ra s u r a . For S hiva is also regard ed as the lord of dancing (hence his name o f

‘ at sh w a r a ma le wh o N te dancing by dancers , were at one time almost as n umerous in India a s

r Nautch gi ls . The Ka r tiki P ur n a mash i has long ceased to be a

’ S T r i ur as ur a haiva festival , and Shiva s victory over p has become a forgotten legend , rarely known even

fo r to Hindu divines , except in so far as it accounts ’ — - o n e o f S hiva s well known names T r ipur a r i. As H has happened to many another indu festival , the

o f Ka rtiki original facial stamp Shaivism , which

sh i ff P u r n ama bore in ancient times , was worn o in course of time , and a new impress put upon it by the Vaishnavas , who appropriated the festival to

’ themselves as commemorating the day o f Krishna s

ila -a R a s L , festival celebrating the mystical amor

’ o us dance o f Krishna in the c o mpan y o f the pas

’ toral maids of Brindaban . Later on , during the

o f ascendancy S haktism , the festival had a third f stamp a ﬁxed to it , the Shaktas claiming it as a day

sacred to the goddess of the Ganges , and declaring it as one o f the most important bathing - days of the

year . The Ras Lila is a subject which has suffered much from the criticism o f learned commentators w h o have been unable to perceive the allegory KA R T I KI P U R N A M A S H I 21 1

o f running underneath . The description this Lila is given in the minutest detail in Chapters 29 -33 o f S r ima d B h a a va ta o f the g , a religious treatise the

V a sa highest authority, written by the sage y , and

u kad P a r iksh it recited by S eva before king , grandson o f ud h ish ira o f o n e o f Raj a J t Hastinapur, who was

d s the heroes of the M a h a bh a r a ta war . The e cr ip tion is heavily overlaid with sensuous imagery o f

in ﬂa min the most g Oriental type , and it is probably natural that to the mind of an unsym pathetic o r hypercritical reader the pictures should suggest

u o f voluptuous tho ghts , and the whole the sacred narrative turned into a vivid sensual representation o f what such a reader would be inclined to call the heedless dissipation o f a reckless rake . But before passing any judgment on the ethi cal character o f

L o n e the Ras ila , every reader Should remember simple fact , which is undeniable , that while at Brin

o f daban , that is , at the date the Ras Lila , Krishna

o f was only a boy twelve , and physically too imma ture to commit those excesses which have been

charged against him by hasty critics . Even s uppo s o ‘ o f G o ika s ing he were older, the n umber p (o r milkmaids) he is su—pposed to have dallied with sixteen th o usan d l is itself too appalling a ﬁgure to warrant a literal interpretati o n o f these s o -called

o f amours . The simplest meaning the Ras Lila is i that it is a pla n spiritual allegory, signifying th e 212 H I N DU PASTS AND FEASTS

’ happiness enjoyed by Krishna s followers in holding

e t t loving int rcourse wi h their divine mas er . The Sixteen thousand G o pika s represent the approximate n umber o f his adherents at that date and as fo r

o th e loving interc urse , it scarcely needs mention that th e religion o f Krishna is wholly and solely a

o f o religion love , and , as everyb dy knows , love is a feeling the true essence of which cannot be deﬁned e xcept by pointing to concrete instances o f the r e

v o r lation subsisting between master and ser ant ,

s n o r o r father and o , friend and friend , husband

o f and wife . And these are j ust the four types Love subsisting between Krishna and his votaries—the

o f . last be ing the highest form love Again , the

o f to happiness love , according all philosophies , consists in its gratiﬁcation , and the gratiﬁcation consists in union with the beloved and how can the happiness o f such a union be described o r co m

- mun icated in matter moulded fo r ms o f speech except by borrowing illustrations from the physical world Every student o f Psychology knows that in describing mental processes it is not only usual ,

to u se o f but absolutely indispensable , make words and expressions properly applicable to facts o f the so material world . When this is in the case of such a simple ment l processes as apprehension , perception o r attention , how much more so it must be in the c ase o f the highe st and most complex o f human

214 H IN D U FASTS AND FEASTS

motives are overturned and forgotten . If yo u

o la me S order us to g back , we are if yo u call u unto you , we ﬂy Krishna ﬁnding that their pas

fo r r sion him was since e , took each of them in his arms and treated them with equal tenderness , s o that all the happiness and transport which are to —be found in the world were collected in one place in o f G o ikas the hearts the p . Wherever they

o turned , each f und Krishna close to her, and the happiness o f their love for Krishna was enhanced by the feeling that Krishna loved them equally in — return . All of a sudden j ust as their l o ve was tinged with this touch of vanity—Krishna played

r them a trick he vanished f om their company, leaving them staring aro u nd in astonishment and despair , and interrogating every tree , ﬂower , and

o f ' blade grass , to obtain information of their run away swain . After a tiresome search , they found that another damsel , named Radha , was engaging h is attentions , and they became frantic with grief till Krishna , taking pity upon them , again made his a ppearance , when they worshipped him with ﬂowers , and expressed their love to him in different actions a n d excee s iv e attitudes . All this joy terminated in a gay dance , in which Krishna multiplied his form

G o ika s in proportion to the number of the p , and f giving each o them a hand , caused each to believe ‘ o f that he was close to her side . The exertion the KA R T I KI P U R N A M A S H I 215

d ance caused the moisture o f perspiration to appear

o n G 0 ikas - the cheeks of the p , whose jet black tres s e s trembled over their shoulders as their hair lay

in dishevelled curls behind their heads . The above is a summarised translation of the ﬁve

' chapters of the B h aga va ta treating of the Ras Lila . '

Even in this brief summary, the language is sensu

o us o f enough . But the Spiritual signiﬁcance the

o f whole , and every detail o f the narrative , is not ff very deep down , and does not require much e ort

to grasp . The beautiful full moon o f an Indian a utumn 3 selected by the poet as the time when

n r e Krishna plays a rapturous note o his ﬂute , to present the fact that scenes o f natural beauty and c almness are the ﬁttest places for the love - worship

o f it w e r e Krishna , so much so that Krishna , as ,

in vites his votaries thither , and the votaries ( the Go pika s respond to the invitation so eagerly

that they forget everything of the world . The

’ G o ika s p , in the allegory , stand for the votaries o f o r Krishna , who may be of the male female sex

according to recognised earthly distinctions , but

who , in their relation to Krishna , must be represent

ed as all female , for , according to the ancient

o n e P u r ush a H indu belief, the male , the only in the

o f universe , is Krishna , the Lord Creation , to whom t h e in ﬁn itude h e of created worlds , especially his

in d f n loved followers , stand the earest o all huma 216 HI N DU FASTS AND FE ASTS

o f relations , that husband and wife , such a relation ship being ih Vaishnava phraseology called M a dh u ri a y , which properly means the tender feelings of

’ a passionate maiden for her love . The impassioned exclamation of the G o pika who

’ replies to Krishna s advice by saying when frenzy seizes the heart , all duties , all earthly motives , are — overturned and forgotten , will need no explana tion if only the word frenzy is correctly interpret ’ r ed to mean what it does religious fe vour .

ex la The next sentence of Coleman , after this p

ﬁn d nation , will come easier . It says , Krishna ing that their passion for him was sincere , took each — o f &c . them in his arms , All that it means and — it ca n mean nothing else fo r a boy of twelve for we Should also remember that the n umber o f G O pikas is put down at —all that it means is that Krishna after satisfying himself that the devotion of thes e

followers was genuine and sincere , accepted them for his followers . The phrase took them in

‘ his arms is only a graphic phrase meaning ad

’ mitte d them to fellowship . In Hindi the common ph r ase used to denote an act o f legally ad o pting a ’ ’ “ " — 6d len a boy as heir, is taking into one s arms g .

Wherever they turned , each found Krishna

o . o f a close t her, etc How can each member huge assembly o f ﬁn d one and the same individual near to herself ? That is a physical

' 2 18 H I N DU P A S 'rs AND P B A S T S

r e r e are only her handmaids . But still they p s ent the highest form of devotional love , cultivated

o f r at the sacriﬁce earthly good , and they are the e fore in their turn preferred over other devotees who seek to attain Krishna by other paths , such as those o f abstract contemplation o r reverence and awe .

Lastly, the dance in which Krishna is said to have multiplied his form , giving a hand to each o f G o ikas n o t the p , is obviously an earthly dance o f the same typ e as an Indian n a u tch : it is o nly a physical metaphor intended to illustrate the boundless rapture felt by a truly devoted soul in a s tate o f ecstatic union with its go d . Those who have ever witnessed such a rare soul in such rare circum s fi tances , will have no dif culty in understanding

’ o f d the meaning the dance , and the correct sig i ﬁca n ce of the last sentence of the passage quoted — from Coleman that about the moisture of pe r spir a t G O ikas ion coming on the cheeks of the p , and their d ishevelled hair—for they will remember that e o r cstasies , caused either by bodily transports s piritual raptures , always leave a temporary after e ffect of nervous exhaustion .

The above is the plain meaning o f Ras Lila as

u nderstood by an ordinary educated Hindu , be he

n to a Va ishnava o r not . It is possible for a Hi du ’ d ismiss all adverse criticism o f Krishna s so - called KA RT I KI P U R N A M A S H I 219

gallantries , by replying simply that Krishna is God , t h e S H o f upreme Being imself, and that canons m o rality which selﬁsh man has invented to safe

u g ard his poor worldly interests , are clearly not

a o f pplicable to the case God , who is above all law ,

o f above all morality , and not subject to any kind

n e ce j udgment . But such a defence is hardly s sa r y in the case : that the whole is an allegory is

’ enough to Silence all criticisms o f Krishna s s o c alled conduct in the Ras Lila , which Hindus

o r themselves regard as more less mystical . The Ras Lila is annually celebrated in some H indu households in the form o f an ordinary n a u tch

G O ika s p arty , in which little boys are decked as p ,

r 1e o f and one of them assumes the 6 Krishna , and t here is music and dancing o f a rude or reﬁned s f tyle , according to the taste o the actors and the

u o r ho seholder . This is followed preceded by the w o n orship of Krishna, much in the same style as t h e o f n i day Ja a ma sh ta m . It is noteworthy that in a Ras Lila performance it is customary to erect a sort of canopy o r awning over the spot where the

‘ ’ dance takes place , even though this may be inside a roofed hall , the canopy being meant to signify th at the gods above are not allowed even to witness t h e to performance , much less take part in it ; for the Vaishnava belief is that n o o n e is permitted

“ ‘ t o join in the Lila wh o does n o t stand ln th e 22 0 H I N DU PASTS AND F B A S T S

i o f Go ika to — i relat on a p Krishna , that is , who s n o t o f an ardent , disinterested worshipper him , who

n o t o w n does love him for his sake , in utter obli v io usn e ss o f o n his w self. The Ras Lila is cele

‘ ’ br ated wh o as a festival only by ignorant Hindus , do n o t know that it does n o t mean a dance in any f sense o the word . The educated classes celebrate it by worshipping the image o r spirit o f Krishna o n this hallowed night when he loved to play a thrilling note o n his pipe in the moonlit bowers o f

Brindaban .

Ka r tiki P ur n ama sh i - is also a great bathing day . At every place Situated o n the banks o f the Ganges there is a mela o n this day ; but the chief centre o f

o f bathing is Bithur, a village in the district Gawn

o n e f pore , which is regarded as o the holiest spots

" o f in all Hindustan , having been the residence Valmiki and the scene o f the ﬁght between Rama and his unknown sons , Lava and Kusa . In an earlier age it was the spot where Brahma , the

o f Creator, completed the work creation by hold

A s wa medh a o r - sacr iﬁce k ing an horse , and the mar

’ o f a horse s hoof o n o n e o f the stone steps leading

B rah mav a r ta l to what is called the Ghat, is stil shown to the pious pilgrim as an object o f devout

o f to o l worship . The r esidence Valmiki is stil

o n a shown the river b nk , and a temple was built in his honour by the M ahrattas o n a mound to th e