The Festival Season

by Padmini Natarajan@ Sulekha.com

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It's the season. Immediately after the solemn celebrations of Independence Day when people reaffirm their patriotic sentiments, India and Indians all over the world begin festive celebrations. The festivals are based on the same principles and tenets. The individual characteristics of the region, language and people attuned to their particular environment adapt the celebrations to their own needs, with variations

This year the festivals have all been pushed back a fortnight, even a month. All the festivals are based on the Indian calendar. The moon and the fourteen thithis combined with the individual stars associated with the deity are the dates for the celebrations. The panchankam or the Indian almanac specifies the dates and sometimes the Shaivites may celebrate Krishna Jayanthi on a particular day and the Vaishnavaites a day or even a month later. Dussera or Navaratri is celebrated after the fourteen-day pitrupaksh, the days when devout Hindus perform a small ceremony in remembrance of their ancestors.

The festival of Dussera (literally ten days) and Navaratri, or the 'nine nights festival,' is celebrated by some as Devi Puja and by others to commemorate the war between Rama and Ravana. Businessmen treat it as a time for opportunity to make a fast buck. In the south of India, Orissa and Bengal, Navaratri is dedicated to the three Devis, especially Durga. Strange, considering that this was the scene of Rama's search for Sita and the coming together of the monkey army, and where the war was begun with the construction of the bridge from the southern tip.

The Navaratri in Tamil Nadu is dedicated by turns to Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth and enterprise, Saraswathi, the goddess of learning and wisdom, and Durga or Shakthi representing creation and valour. The nine days are dedicated to bonding between families and friends, and is also a celebration of womanhood. Nine steps for the nine days are constructed, decorated and arranged with dolls made of clay, painted and embellished with religious symbolism.

The lower most step is occupied by the Chettiar couple selling fruits, vegetables, grain and grocery symbolising the temporal aspect of life. Village scenes, farms, gardens, hill temples, cricket matches, wedding scenes are all sold as sets and placed at the ground level with appropriate backgrounds like farms, wedding mantapams, hillocks, etc. Even grain is grown to represent gardens and lawns.

The next step is dedicated to the sants who represent a higher level of wisdom. These may include dolls of Meera, Avvaiyar, Bharatiyar, Gandhiji, Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, Vivekananda, Shankaracharya and other great souls.

The pantheon of gods is then arranged in the upper steps culminating in the Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, Hanuman set or the three Devis as the heights of ultimate moksha. The Dasavatharam set depicting the ten reincarnations of Vishnu occupy a whole step. The Ashtalakshmi set comprising of eight dolls represent Aadilakshmi (mother), Dhaanyalakshmi (grain or food), Dhairyalakshmi (valour and courage), Gajalakshmi (animals and army), Santhanalakshmi (children), Vijayalakshmi (victory), Vidyalakshmi (education) and Dhanalakshmi (wealth) signifying all the crucial aspects of human life. Note that wealth comes last and the roles of Durga and Saraswathi are mingled in the concept of Ashtalakshmi. Ashtakanya or eight young girls are also honoured in some families during the puja.

Many stories from the epics are recreated in the dolls. Scenes from temple life, like the procession of the temple chariot, the carrying of the palanquin containing Muruga or Garuda are all painstakingly created in clay, beautifully and colourfully painted and preserved by families for many years. These are unpacked and brought out each year for the Navaratri celebrations and packed up again to be stored in attics until the next year.

The ten days are spent praying, offering puja and socializing. Chandi havans, recital of Lalitha Sahasranamam (1008 names of Durga), Lakshaarchanai (one lakh prayer cycles) and ritual Devi pujas are carried out in homes and temples.

Women are invited to each others' houses to view the kolu display and honoured with betel leaves, aracknut-supari, turmeric, kumkum (vermillion), bangles, mirrors, and combs, blouse pieces and decorative items. Many families are nowadays giving little clay dolls and Ganeshas as presents. Kolu visitors are invited to sing famous songs written on Devi. The most important part of the kolu-go-round is the sundal made from whole pulses like chana, kabuli chana, groundnuts, peas, black-eyed chowri that are soaked, boiled and seasoned with mustard, hing, curry leaves, ginger and coconut.

The ninth day is celebrated as Sarawathi Puja. All books and musical instruments are placed in the puja room and worshipped. These are not used on that day. The tenth day celebrates Vijayadashami or the tenth day of victory and as Ayudhapuja when all tools and machines are worshipped. The concept originated from Durga killing Mahishasuran the demon -- so it is showing gratitude to the weapons of war. The concept has been adapted to modern life -- factories and offices, homes and public places worship the gamut of items used from planes to rickshaws, household goods to computers, gigantic machinery to the screwdriver. Chana and puffed rice, garlands and pumpkins are offered as a thanksgiving. It is also celebrated as Viswakarma day, though in the north this comes after Diwali.

Mysore is famous for its Dussera celebrations. The Raja's family used to have grand celebrations with music and dance on all ten days. All women in the city were honoured and gifted new saris and decorative items. The elephants, carriages, tableaux of the Maharaja's procession were done with great pomp and splendour and was a big event in Mysore. The palace and Brindavan Gardens would be lit and attract many tourists on the final days of the Puja celebrations.

The association of the brown chana with Devi Puja is an all-Indian concept. In UP and Punjab, Dussera celebrates the victory of Rama over Ravana. The ten days are observed with fasts and little girls are invited on the seventh or eighth day and given puri, dry boiled chana, prashad made from semolina and sugar and a little coin as dakshina. Devi is also worshipped but the ten days are filled with the retelling of the story of the Ramayana with dance, music and plays. The last day of Ram Lila is celebrated with the burning of the effigies of Ravana, his brother Kumbhakarna and son Indrajit with fireworks.

In the Eastern states of India, Puja is synonymous with the ten-day-festival holiday time. No work happens in Calcutta during this time. Huge representations of Durga are created in all her glory, crowned, bejeweled, ten hands holding various weapons and symbols, tongue protruding with a rod pierced through it. She stands on one foot stamping out the evil represented by the demon Mahishasuran, whose destruction earned her the name of Mahishasuramardini. Puja is a community effort and every little neighbourhood, village and hamlet gets together to set up the pandal for the puja and everybody joins in the feast and merriment.

On the tenth day, the clay idols of the Devi are taken in procession to the beat of drums and the blowing of conch shells, sometimes even the latest pop songs, to be immersed in the Ganges until the next year's Puja. New clothes, sweetmeats, gifts and geegaws are exchanged between families, which is usually the practice during Diwali in other parts of India.

ssera is dandiya time in the West. The ten days are spent praying to Shakthi followed by all-night dancing to the rhythm and raga of music. The sound of sticks clicking in unison reverberate throughout the neighbourhood, vying for attention with the noise of crackers burst by the Ram Lila enthusiasts. Life is one long merry-go-round with melas, garba sessions, and the whirl of ghagra cholis and chaniya-cholis. Wherever Gujaratis live, from Navsari to Niagara, Frisco to Freetown, Wembley to Winnipeg and Christchurch to Chicago, you will find this frenzy.

Finally, whether it is Rama or Devi, Puja or Kolu, Navaratri or Dussera, it is a celebration of the triumph of good over evil. Every year during the months of September/October, the country comes alive with colour, celebrations and faith that continue until Sankranthi. Faith and conviction reaffirm this hope without fail every year.