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A Celebration of Life
The Indian calendar is a long procession of festivals. So the
traveler may come when he pleases, a spectacle always awaits him.
It may be the harvest in the south, the golden yellow of short lived
spring in the north, the seafront spectacle of Ganesh's immersion
in Bombay, the fantastic car festival of Puri, the snake boat races
in Kerala or the republic day pageant in New Delhi. Each is different.
Every region, every religion has something to offer. Take in a festival
when you come to India. No land demands so much of its legend-or,
in celebrating the past, bedecks the present so marvelously.
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Pongal Sankranti - Tiruchirapalli and Madurai
in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka
This is a three-day harvest festival and one of the major events in
South India. In Tamil Nadu, where it is called Pongal, on the first
day, the sun is worshipped, signifying its movement from Cancer to
Capricorn. On the next day, Mattu Pongal, cows and bullocks, so essential
to the rural world, are part of a thanksgiving ceremony and are fed
on freshly harvested rice. In Karnataka, the festival is called Sankranti;
cows and bullocks are painted and decorated and fed on Pongal (a sweet
preparation of rice). In the evening, the cattle in each village are
led out in procession to the beat of drums and music. In some towns
of the south, the festival is climaxed by a kind of bull-fight in
which young men try to wrest bundles of currency notes from the horns
of a ferocious bull. In Andhra Pradesh, every household displays its
collection of dolls for three days. |
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Vasanta Panchami - Throughout India
This Hindu festival falling on the fifth of Magha (January-February)
is celebrated in honor of Saraswati, the charming and sophisticated
goddess of scholars who is reputed to have invented the musical instrument,
the veena. Quietly worshipped by her devotees in their homes, the
celebrations are more extensive in Bengal where her images are taken
in procession and immersed in the river. Books, pens, paint brushes
and musical instruments are kept at her shrine. In the north, it is
a spring festival when people wear yellow. |
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Republic Day - Delhi and all State capitals
Republic Day is India's greatest national festival, observed throughout
the country on January 26. The festivals in the capital culminate
in a magnificent parade at which the President of India takes a salute.
The color and excitement of well ordered marching columns representing
the armed forces are followed by rumbling armored vehicles, and richly
decorated mounts which include elephants, camels and floats. The parade
ends with a flypast when zooming jets decorate the sky with the colors
of the national flag. |
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Floating Festival - Madurai
The birth anniversary of Tirumala Nayak, the 17th century ruler of
Madurai, is the day of the great Floating Festival at Madurai, one
of the most famous temple towns of South India. Temple deities, clothed
in silk and decked with jewels and flowers, are taken in a grand procession
to a large pool known as Mariamman Teppakulam. The deities are placed
in a decorated float illuminated by hundreds of lamps. Music and chanting
of hymns accompany the sacred barge. |
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Shivratri - All over India
Celebrated by Hindus all over India, Shivratri is a solemn festival
devoted to the worship of the most powerful deities of the Hindu pantheon,
Shiva. It is a purely religious festival at which devotees spend the
whole night singing his praise. Special celebrations are held at important
Shiva temples as at Chidambaram, Kalahasti, Khajuraho and Varanasi. |
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Id-Uz-Zuha (Bakr-Id) - mainly Delhi, Lucknow,
Calcutta, Hyderabad
Bakr-Id commemorates the sacrifice of Abraham. Prayers are offered
at mosques during the day. Celebrants wear new clothes, and there
is feasting and rejoicing. |
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Holi - Mathura and throughout northern India
Celebrating the advent of spring, men, women and children revel in
throwing colored powder and water on their friends. The most interesting
Holi celebration is the Lathmar Holi (at Barsana near Mathura), the
legendary home town of Radha, consort of Lord Krishna. The women of
Barsana challenge the men of Nandgaon (home of Krishna) to throw color
on them. The men reply the next day. In the Punjab, a sect of the
Sikh community observes Hola Mohalla a day after the Holi and stages
mock battles with ancient weapons. |
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Jamshed Navroz - Maharashtra, Gujarat
This is New Year’s Day for the Parsi followers of the Fasli calendar.
The celebrations - which include donning of fine clothes, prayers
at temples, greetings, almsgiving and feasting at home - date back
to Jamshed, the legendary King of Persia. |
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Gangaur - Udaipur, Jaipur
The festival is held about a fortnight after Holi in honor of Parvati,
the consort of Lord Shiva. Young girls, gracefully balancing brass
pitchers on their heads, wend their way to the temple of Gauri (Parvati)
for the ceremonial bath of the deity who is then bedecked with flowers.
In their invocation to Gauri, they ask for husbands ’such as
the one you have been blessed with’. The festival ends in rejoicing,
with the arrival of Shiva to escort his bride Gauri home, accompanied
by horses and elephants. In Bengal, more particularly at Nabadwip
and Santipur, and in Orissa, a similar ritual, called Doljatra, is
observed by followers of the Vishnu cult. |
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Muharram - Lucknow, Delhi, Hyberabad
Muslims commemorate the martyrdom of Imam Hussain, the grandson of
the Prophet Mohammed. In all cities and towns there are impressive
processions of colorfully decorated tazias which are paper and bamboo
replicas of the martyr’s tomb at Karbala. The processions are
especially impressive at Lucknow where the Imambaras (mausolea) are
illuminated. In many parts of south India, tiger dancers—men
painted with stripes and wearing tiger masks-lead the procession. |
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Spring Festival - Kashmir
Known as Sonth, it falls in April-May. In Srinagar, capital of Kashmir,
the spring festival actually starts in March when the first almond
blossoms appear. People flock to the almond orchards near the picturesque
Dal Lake, taking with them Kashmiri tea-making vessels which are not
unlike samovars. The fresh turf and pink and white almond blossoms
add color to the spectacle. On April 13, the Baisakhi festival is
celebrated in the Mughal gardens of Kashmir. |
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Baisakhi - Anandpur Sahib, Amritsar
This is the Hindu solar New Year’s Day observed virtually all
over northern India and in Tamil Nad. It is a religious festival when
people bathe in rivers and go to temples to offer worship. The river
Ganga is believed to have descended to earth on this day. For the
Sikh community, Baisakhi is of special significance. On this day in
1689, Guru Gobind Singh organized the Sikhs into the ‘Khalsa’.
In the Punjab, farmers start harvesting with great jubilation. The
vigorous bhangra dance is a common sight in the villages. |
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Pooram - Trichur
The most spectacular temple festival in Kerala begins as twilight
descends on the temple of Vadakkunathan (Shiva) atop a hillock near
Trichur. Thirty richly decorated elephants carrying ceremonial umbrellas
and fanned by whisks stride out through the gopuram (temple gate).
The elephant in the center carries the processional image of the temple
deity, Vadakkunathan. To the sound of trumpets and pipes, the elephants
go around the temple. A spectacular display of fireworks soon after
midnight continues until the break of dawn. |
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Meenakshi Kalyanam - Madurai
The annual solemnization of the marriage of Meenakshi with Lord Shiva
is one of the most spectacular temple festivals at Madurai’s
famous Meenakshi temple in Tamil Nadu. This mythical wedding is the
culmination of a ten-day festival in the month of Chaitra (April-May).
The deities are taken out in a resplendent chariot to the accompaniment
of traditional devotional music. |
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Rath Yatra - Puri, Varanasi, Serampore, Jagannathpur
Of the great temple festivals of India, the one held at Puri in Orissa
is the most spectacular. The festival, held in honor of Lord Jagannath
(Lord of the Universe), attracts thousands of pilgrims from all parts
of the country. The most impressive part of the festival is the chariot
procession. Three elaborately decorated temple cars, resembling a
temple structure, are drawn by thousands of pilgrims along Puri’s
streets. In each car is seated a different deity - Jagannath (hence
the English word ‘Juggernaut’), his brother Balabhadra and
sister Subhadra. Similar celebrations, on a much smaller scale, are
held at Ramnagar (near Varanasi), Serampore (near Calcutta) and Jagannathpur
(near Ranchi). |
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Naag Panchami - Jodhpur
Reverence for the Cobra (Naag) is shown by people all over the country
during Naag Panchami, usually in late July or early August. This day
is dedicated to the great thousand-headed mythical serpent called
Sesha or Anant (which means infinite). Vishnu, the Hindu God of Preservation,
reclined on him in contemplation during the interval between the dissolution
of one aeon and the creation of another. At Jodhpur in Rajasthan,
huge cloth effigies of the mythical serpent are displayed at a colorful
fair. |
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Teej - Jaipur
Teej is an important festival in Rajasthan. It welcomes the monsoon
and is essentially a women’s festival. The presiding deity is
the goddess Parvati who, in the form of a bride, leaves her parents’
home for her husband’s. Rajasthani women attired in bright green
costumes flock to the swings which are hung from trees. Villagers
from the surrounding regions come to see the procession of the goddess
Parvati through the town with a retinue of elephants, camels and dancers. |
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Onam - Aranmula, Payipad, Kottayam
Kerala’s greatest festival is Onam, celebrated with tremendous
enthusiasm. It is primarily a harvest festival observed not only in
every home but also out in the open, against the background of lush
green tropical vegetation in which the region abounds. The most exciting
part of the festival is the snake boat race held at several places
on the palm-fringed lagoons. Various kinds of boats, beak-shaped,
kite-tailed and curly-headed, take part in these thrilling contests. |
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Raksha Bandhan - Throughout northern and western
India
In the days when Indra (the mythical king of the heavens) warred with
demons, his consort tied a rakhi or a silken amulet around his wrist.
It is said this helped him win back his celestial abode. On this day,
a man considers it a privilege to be chosen as brother by a girl who
ties a rakhi on his wrist. He, in return, pledges to give her his
protection. |
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Amarnath Pilgrimage - Kashmir
Each year, in the month of Shravan (July-August) when the moon is
full, thousands of devout Hindus gather at the Amarnath cave in the
Lidder Valley in Kashmir to offer their prayers to Lord Shiva. The
cave can be reached from Srinagar via Pahalgam by a picturesque road.
The cave is at a height of 3,880 meters in the Himalayas. It enshrines
a naturally-formed ice lingam (symbol of Lord Shiva) which waxes and
wanes with the moon. Hindus believe this is where Lord Shiva explained
the secret of salvation to his consort Parvati. |
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Janmashtami - Bombay, Mathura, Agra
The birth anniversary of Lord Krishna, believed to be the reincarnation
of Vishnu and the author of the Bhagvadgita, is observed all over
India. It is celebrated with special enthusiasm at Mathura and Brindavan
where Lord Krishna spent his childhood. Night-long prayers are held,
and religious hymns are sung in temples. In Bombay, Delhi, Mathura
and Agra children enact scenes from his early life. |
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Ganesh Chaturthi - Poona, Bombay, Madras
Ganesh, the deity with an elephant’s head, is the God of good
omens and is worshipped by most Hindus. In Maharashtra, particularly
in and around Bombay, the festival of Ganesh is celebrated with tremendous
enthusiasm. Clay models of the deity are worshipped and taken out
in grand procession accompanied by the sound of cymbals and drums.
The images, sometimes as much as 8 meters high, are finally immersed
in the sea or a lake. |
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Dussehra, Ram Lila, Durga, Puja - Delhi, Mysore,
Kulu, Calcutta
One of the most popular of India’s festivals is Dussehra. Every
region observes this 10-day festival in a special way. In North India
it is Ram Lila and consists of plays, recitations and music which
recall the life of the legendary hero, Rama. In Delhi, many amateur
troupes perform plays based on this epic story. On the tenth day,
an elaborate procession leads to the Ram Lila grounds where immense
cracker-stuffed effigies of the demon Ravana and his brother and son
explode to the cheers of thousands of spectators. In Kulu, the celebrations
have a different flavor. Against the backdrop of snow-covered mountains,
villagers dressed in their colorful best, assemble to form processions
of local deities while pipes and drums make music. In Mysore, it is
celebrated with a pomp and pageantry reminiscent of medieval times.
In Bengal and other parts of eastern India, Dussehra is celebrated
as Durga Puja. Devotees don new clothes and entertain with music,
dance and drama. On the last day, images of the warrior goddess are
taken out in procession and immersed in a river or the sea. In the
south, the festival is celebrated as Navaratri. Dolls and trinkets
are artistically arranged in tiers by young girls. Friends and relatives
visit each other’s homes to exchange greetings. |
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