Dhanteras

‘Dhan’ means wealth and ‘teras’ means the thirteenth day of the month. Dhanteras is a day better known for the worship of Goddess Lakshami, the goddess of Wealth. Why on this day and what is the significance of this day?

According to the myth of samudra manthan – the churning of the ocean, during the churning many things came out of the belly of the ocean. Among them, one of them was Goddess Lakshami. Since she came out of the ocean on this day, this day is considered to be the birth-anniversary of the goddess. Thus started the practice of worshipping the goddess on this day.

Dhanteras is also known as Dhanwantari Trayodashi. According to the same episode of samudra manthan, amongst other things, this day also saw the appearance of Lord Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods with Ayur Veda, a treatise on medicine for mankind. Dhanwantari Trayodashi is also a celebration of the gift of Ayur Veda to mankind given by Lord Dhanvantari.

Finally, another myth tells us why we light a lamp the whole night on the day of Dhanteras. According to the myth, it was destined that the son of King Hima would die of a snake bite in sleep, on the fourth day of his wedding. His wife who was very intelligent decided to defy destiny. On the fateful day, she collected all her wealth and jewellery and kept it at the entrance of her bedroom. She then lit up the whole room with numerous lamps and started singing songs and telling stories, non-stop to her husband.

In the middle of the night, Lord Yama came in the form of a snake to take away the life of King Hima’s son. But the son was not able to fall asleep due to the non-stop story telling of his wife. Also, the numerous lamps, blinded Yama and he could not enter the bedroom. Yama in the form of the snake then decided to wait, and went and sat on the heap of wealth and jewellery. The night passed and the hour passed off, thus not giving Yama a chance to take the life away. Yama had to leave, thus giving the King’s son a lease of life. Dhanteras is thus also known as a day of Yamadeep-daan a practice from then onwards, to keep a lighted lamp on for the whole night as an act of benevolence towards Yama, the god of death.

It is worth noting that Hinduism is probably the only religion or culture where wealth is worshiped and the same is not looked down upon as crass or overt-indulgence in materialism. To all who say that wealth is to be shunned, can take a back-seat for at least today, as it is only impractical to deny the importance of wealth. A day like this enables one to differentiate between the worship of wealth and the indulgence of wealth. So go ahead and pay your obeisance to the Goddess of Wealth who might be knocking at your doors!

Rangoli

Rangoli is an Indian folk art which involves painting on the floor. The word Rangoli is derived from the words ‘rang’ meaning colour and ‘aavali’ implying rows, giving us an array or an arrangement in colours. The paintings can have different themes or motifs, but the idea is to generate a flurry of colours which makes it look good and pleasing to the eye. Call it Kolam as they do in South India, or Alpana as in Bengal or Madana in Rajasthan, or Aripana in Bihar, Rangoli by any name means the same. Generally the motifs of a Rangoli are common sights like, flowers, plants, birds like peacocks and swans, animals, or gods and goddesses or simple geometric designs.

The earliest mythological reference of a Rangoli is found in Chitra Lakshana, a thesis on Indian paintings from the days of yore. According to this, a king and his subjects were extremely sad on the demise of the only son of their high priest. Everybody offered prayers to Lord Brahma, the creator for returning the life of the boy. Lord Brahma was moved by the collective mourning and requested the King to draw a picture of the dead boy on the floor in his likeness. On seeing the portrait, Lord Brahma put life in it, thus giving life to the boy once again and relieving the kingdom of its sorrow. This is considered to be the first reference of Rangoli or art on the floor.

Ramayana has reference to Rangolis too. It is said that people in Ayodhya painted rangolis to welcome Ram when he came back from his exile. It is also said that drawing colourful lines invites positive energy into the household and keeps the negative forces outside. Some people believe, that during the exile, when Lakhsman left Sita to go in search of Ram, he is supposed to have drawn such lines, to keep the negative forces outside the line, what is better known as ‘Lakshaman Rekha’ – i.e. lines drawn by Lakshaman.

Another myth says that once upon a time there was a pious man by the name of Sudharma. A time came when he could not concentrate on his prayers and meditation. So he approached his guru, by the name of Rishi Vairata. The rishi suggested to him to go to a quarry nearby and ground some stones into powder. He was then advised to use that powder to paint religious designs outside his home at the doorstep. From then onwards he would get up early in the morning, have a bath and draw designs like the swastika, sun and the moon and other such symbols. Seeing a drastic change in his well-being, the neighbours too started the practice, and it is said that in many South Indian families the ladies still do this, except that they use rice flour, and the art form is known as Kolam.

The concept of Rangoli emerged from the very basic idea of Hinduism, care for all. In early days, Rangoli’s were drawn with ground rice flour. This enabled the ants and birds to come and feed on it, thus making their otherwise hard life that much easier. It was an ideal case of harmonious co-existence.

The importance of Rangolis, is specially enhanced as it is a custom to draw footprints approaching the home. These imply Goddess Lakshmi’s footsteps inside the house which brings in prosperity and luck.

Over time the concept of Rangoli has evolved into a more intricate array of colours, or in combination of flowers, but the fact remains that it is still appealing to the eyes and to the guests who are welcome during festivals.

Do you know why a Turtle is the way it is?

According to Greek Mythology, for the wedding of Zeus (the King of gods) with Hera all were invited by Zeus’s messenger, Hermes. All went for the grand event, except one nymph (a fairy) by the name of Chelone, who not only did not attend the wedding, but even ridiculed the event.

Later, on asking why she did not attend, she mockingly said that there was no place as home to stay! As a punishment for not attending the grand wedding, she was turned into a turtle and sent to earth. For mocking and ridiculing the event, she was made to suffer eternal silence. As if all this was not enough, for her love for her home, Zeus condemned her to carry her home wherever she went!

Now you know why the poor turtle is the way it is!

Karva Chauth – Part 2

The myth of Queen Veerawati is an integral part of the Karva Chauth Katha.

Queen Veeravati was a beautiful princess married to a King. She was also the loving sister of seven brothers who doted on her. On the occasion of the first Karva Chauth, Veeravati went to her father’s house and observed her fast. However, she was a very delicate woman and could not withstand the pressures of fasting without food and water for the whole day and fainted in the evening. The brothers could not bear to see the plight of their sister and so created a reflection through the leaves of a tree which seemed like the moon. Having sighted the moon, Veeravati broke her fast and started to have food.

Just when she began to eat her food, she got the news that her husband, the king had died. She immediately left for her husband’s city. On the way, she met Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati who told her that her husband had died because she had broken the fast before time and what she had sighted was not the true moon.

On asking for forgiveness and also the fact that it wasn’t actually her fault, Parvati told her that her husband would not die, but would be ill and it would take time before he recovered completely. On reaching the palace Veeravati found her husband unconscious with hundreds of needles in his body. Each day, Veeravati managed to remove one needle from his body and soon enough it was time for the next Karva Chauth, when the king had only one needle in his body.

That year, Veeravati observed her fast very strictly and broke the fast only on sighting the moon. While she was out, the maid who was kept at the kings chambers to keep vigil, removed the lone needle and the king gained consciousness. On gaining conspicuousness, he saw the maid and mistook her to be her queen. When Veeravati came back, she was made to continue as the maid (nobody seems to have any idea why).

Once when the king was going out, he asked Veeravati (who was serving as the maid) if she wanted anything (quite strange, I would think). Veeravati asked for identical dolls, which the king brought for her. On getting the dolls, Veeravati started singing "Roli ki Goli ho gayi... Goli ki Roli ho gayi" (the queen has turned into a maid and the maid has turned into a queen). On asking the reason for such a song, Veeravati told the king the whole story and when the king realised his folly, he gave back Veeravati what was rightfully hers, the status of the queen and wife.

Thus ends the story of a dutiful, obedient, serving wife of the king, which is considered to be the central theme of the festival of Karva Chauth.

Karva Chauth – Part 1

Karva stands for an earthen pot and Chauth is the fourth day of the full moon, a day when married women fast the whole day for the well-being, prosperity and long life of their husbands, leading to a happy married life and also gaining the title of a ‘Saubhagyavati’, the most joyous and coveted state of womanhood.

Karva Chauth is a festival that dates back to the times when a woman, be she a daughter, sister, wife or a mother, was always dependent on the man of her life. There is many a myth of Karva Chauth, but before that, let’s look at the genesis of this festival and how it has changed over time, thus giving it a new and a different meaning altogether.

In olden days, girls were married off at a very tender age and sometimes were very far off from her parents, friends, etc. In large families of her in-laws, she was often lonely. Husbands were accessible only at night and often the age-difference made it quite difficult to converse, leave alone confide. To keep her company and also to lend her a shoulder during times of distress, she would befriend another girl/woman at her in-laws. They would then be god-sisters/god-friends for life and this relationship was sometimes sanctified right at the time of the marriage through a small ceremony.

Karva Chauth was a festival to celebrate this bonding and new friendship. Fasting and praying for the husband came much later as an addition to the original festival. The aspect of the husband was quite obvious, since the new bonding was through the husband. But how original reason of the festival was lost, could be a matter of debate. In due course of time, this festival became a festival to pray for the well-being and the prosperity and long-life of the husband and a number of myths were woven as part of the traditional katha which became the ritual de rigueur.

First, let us understand the concept of worshiping the moon. The whole aspect of the moon-worship had to do with the worship of Shiva-Parvati, as they were considered to be a couple with eternal marital bliss, and Parvati had been blessed with Shiva as her spouse in every life of hers – an honour for many a woman as seen in our society. The moon is symbolically seen as an adornment of Shiva’s locks and also derives his strength from Shiva during its waning phase. In some myths, the Moon is also seen as the god of medicines, and thus brings in the aspect of good health and better life for the spouses. Also, in the absence of the husband being physically present, the moon came as a good substitute!

The most common myth of Karva Chauth is that of the woman named Karva who used to live with her husband near a river. Once when the husband was having a bath in the river, a crocodile attacked him. Soon Karva came there, and tied a cotton thread around the crocodile and went to meet Yama, the god of death, to demand punishment (in the form of banishment to hell) for the crocodile. When Yama refused to give in to her demand, she threatened to curse him, and herein lies the message – that a devoted wife could even risk cursing a god for her husband. Yama did not want to earn the wrath of such a woman and gave in to her wishes and blessed her husband with a long life. This myth is similar to that of Savitri-Satyavan, where Savitri goes to extremes to get her husband back to life from death and the god of death was left with no choice. The myth of Queen Veeravati is another important myth which is recited during the katha (which I will take up tomorrow on Karva Chauth).

Over a period of time, and thanks to numerous Bollywood portrayals, this has become an important festival. Though this might not seem to be a relevant custom from the time it originated, but somehow it still manages to hold sway with the people. Some do it for the original reasons; some do it for the glamour attached to it while some do it from the plain reason to appease-the-in-laws. Irrespective of what modernists feel and how chauvinist it all seems to a few in the Society, this festival is here to stay and prosper and as some say, helps to bond amongst the womenfolk.

So how long will this one-sided demonstration of love and bonding for the ultimate marital-bliss work? Your guess is as good as mine.