Vasant Panchami (बसंत पंचमी)

January 29, 2020

Taken at Half Moon Bay, California

Festivals seems to be coming faster than I thought! It's clear that we Indians don't stop celebrating once we start! Happy Basant Panchami! 

Basant (Vasant - वसन्त in Sanskrit) Panchami is celebrated every year on the Panchami (पञ्चमी तिथि - fifth lunar day from full moon or new moon) of the Shukla Paksha (शुक्ल पक्ष - towards full moon) in the Indian month of Magha (माघ - end of winter and start of the spring). It is the onset of the spring season. Goddess Saraswati is worshiped on this day also initiating devotees into education. 

Mustard starts flowering. The sight of those soon to be dense yellow fields can't be ignored. It's amazing to see the flow of life through these seasons - if there wasn't a fall with all bare trees, there won't be a spring so enjoyable and much awaited. 

Yellow color is also given a lot of importance. Back at home, we were given yellow colored handkerchief on this day by our grandmother. These used to be plain white ones colored yellow in home made color with turmeric. Kids often pin them to their shirt pocket while going to school. We use to make sure we wear yellow colored clothes on this day. Young girls often get their ears and nose pierced on this day. Looks like Kumaoni women love to wear their big traditional nose ring. 

Sitting Holi (called Baithki Holi), a special tradition of Uttarakhand also starts from this day and continues till the Holi festival. Time is spent gathering, singing traditional holi songs with traditional musical instruments. 

Wishing you a very Happy Basant Panchami with this beautiful poem by famous Hindi poet Ramdhari Singh 'Dinkar'. It beautifully describes how the glory of Spring is connected to the Monsoon behind it:

राजा वसन्त वर्षा ऋतुओं की रानी

लेकिन दोनों की कितनी भिन्न कहानी

राजा के मुख में हँसी कण्ठ में माला

रानी का अन्तर द्रवित दृगों में पानी

डोलती सुरभि राजा घर कोने कोने

परियाँ सेवा में खड़ी सजा कर दोने

खोले अंचल रानी व्याकुल सी आई

उमड़ी जाने क्या व्यथा लगी वह रोने

लेखनी लिखे मन में जो निहित व्यथा है

रानी की निशि दिन गीली रही कथा है

त्रेता के राजा क्षमा करें यदि बोलूँ

राजा रानी की युग से यही प्रथा है

नृप हुये राम तुमने विपदायें झेलीं

थी कीर्ति उन्हें प्रिय तुम वन गयीं अकेली

वैदेहि तुम्हें माना कलंकिनी प्रिय ने

रानी करुणा की तुम भी विषम पहेली

रो रो राजा की कीर्तिलता पनपाओ

रानी आयसु है लिये गर्भ वन जाओ

Makar Sankranti-Ghughutia

January 13, 2020

Received through a WhatsApp message

Makar Sankranti is probably the most familiar name for this time of the year. Others like Pongal, Bhogi, Lohri all just follow it. Ghughutia is how it is called in our home Uttarakhand in India.

What is Makar Sankranti? मकर संक्रान्ति - Makar (मकर) means Capricorn. Sankranti (संक्रान्ति) in general means transition, change of direction. Makar Sankranti is when the Sun progresses into the Capricorn zodiac attributing to the movement of Earth. Thus in Indian culture, we have 12 Sankrantis corresponding to each zodiac. We also consider Uttaraayan (उत्तरायण - उत्तर + अयन) to start from Makar Sankranti. Uttara (उत्तर) means North and Ayan (अयन) means movement or progress (Progress of sun towards the north). Sun progresses northward towards Tropic of Cancer during the next 6 months that is when the Karka Sankranti happens leading Sun into Dakshinaayan (दक्षिणायन).

Makar Sankranti brings a change of seasons, harvest season arrives, days tend to get longer, the weather gets warmer and in Uttarakhand, the migratory birds start returning to the hills. Even today, people in Uttarakhand say that the cold will go away after Makar Sankranti. Makar Sankranti and the whole Uttaraayan period also have great significance with one's spiritual journey. We have a close relationship with the Sun. If we can understand the Sun and its relation with everything around, we can understand our relationship with everything associated with us including our mind, etc. The Gayatri Mantra associated with the Sun is also where one seeks wisdom and enlightenment. Though any time is good to make progress, this particular time is considered specifically good to make spiritual progress.

Makar Sankranti is celebrated all over India (and in some Asian countries too) in some form or the other. The celebrations may differ but the underlying theme is the same. In Uttarakhand, Makar Sankranti is celebrated both in the form of Uttaraayan and Makar Sankranti - Ghughutia or Kale Kauva (काले कौवा or black crow). Uttaraayani fairs are held across different towns. I remember going for it a few times at our local center for cultural activities - Parvatiya Sanskritik Utthana Manch (पर्वतीय संस्कृतिक उत्थान मंच) in Haldwani.

For Makar Sankranti, people across Uttarakhand make sweets out of sweetened flour, typically with jaggery and deep-fried in ghee. There are a number of things that are cooked:

• Ghughute - though all the shapes are called Ghughute this is the main one which is Ghughuta. This is made in a specific twisted crossover shape.

Deep-fried Ghughute

• Special Ghughuta for the crow - this one is made especially for crow.

Special Ghughuta for crow

• Various shapes - flower, sword, shield, damru, chakri (spiral), khajoor (dates).
• Gudpare - Usual square or diamond-shaped sweets
• Bade - Made with urad daal and are salty with a hole in the center

Ghughute and different shapes

Once the deep-fried Ghughute are ready, garlands are made with these by adding dry fruits (specifically fox nuts - मखाना and raisins - किशमिश) and fruit (usually an orange) in the center along with them. The garlands are then hung on the wall or kept someplace safe.  They look like the ones in the cartoon picture above.

The next day in the morning, kids wear their garlands, go on the rooftop of the house and call the crow to feed its Ghughuta and seek blessings. One can hear neighborhood kids also doing the same. Kids sing a specific song to call the crows. 

The song in Kumaoni:

काले कौवे काले घुघूती माला खाले
बडा पुआ खाले
ले कौवे बड़ा मेकें दे सुणो घड़ा
ले कौवे ढाल मेकें दे सुणो थाल

…..

In English:

Black, black crow, eat this ghughuta garland
Eat this badaa and pua
Black crow eat badaa, give me a gold pitcher
Black crow eat this shield, give me a gold plate

The advent of mobile phones and WhatsApp messages has also resulted in this morning ritual of Makar Sankranti to be done with messages these days. Once the Ghughute have been offered to the crow, one can enjoy it themselves. Ghughute are also shared with relatives and neighbors. By the end of the day, there is a vessel full of all Ghughute that came from various neighborhood houses that one won't be able to identify which was made by whom. 

Here are some other glimpes of Sankranti celebrations in India from last few trips:

A man with his decorated cattle on Makar Sankranti day

Makar Sankranti special Rangoli at the doorstep in Karnataka

Flower and Sugarcane decoration