Aashad ekadashi at Pandharpur

Aashad ekadashi at Pandharpur

India is the country of festivals and religious celebration. On 14th July 2008 a grand celebration was held at Pandharpur - famous religious city of Maharashtra to mark Aashad Ekadashi.

From Maharashtra and all parts of world over 8 Lakh devotee were present to give a shape of human ocean to narrow street of the city and take Darshan of Vithal [Lord Krishna] and Rukama.

Nag Panchami A day with venomous cobras

Nag Panchami A day with venomous cobras

India a land of miracles and faith in worship, an aspirant to the students of spirituality and religious rituals. Here you may find that every sunrise comes with a festival, a specific reason to celebrate the day, hence the phrase “Land of Festivals” is correctly used with the context of India. India is only country where you can find a worship celebration related not only to God and Goddess but also to plants and rivers.

The fifth day of bright fortnight of Shravan month [July-August] is celebrated as “Nag Panchami” through out the India, though celebration in south are at high notes in comparison of north India. The Indus Valley civilisation of 3000 B.C. gives ample proof of the popularity of snake-worship amongst the Nagas, whose culture was fairly wide-spread in India, according to Puranas some of the famous Naga Kings are Anant, Vasuki, Shesh, Padma, Kanwal, Karkotak, Kalia, Aswatar, Takshak, Sankhpal, Dhritarashtra and Pingal. Sheshnag is the couch of the Lord Vishnu during the interim times of destroying of the universe and creating a new one. India is country of farmers and snakes are the friends of the farmer, as by eating rats, snakes are helpful in saving the food grains cultivated by the farmer. This is yet another evidence of wisdom of Hindu masters that this festival “Nag Panchami” celebration related with worship of snakes, is celebrated during the rainy season, when need of protection for snakes is at its top. Some of famous places for the celebration of this day are

Adiesha Temple in Andhra Pradesh

Nagaraja Temple in Kerala

Nagathamman Temple in Chennai

Hardevja Temple in Jaipur.

Nagdwar Temple Pachmadi, Madhyapradesh

I am going to share with you here about a place which is not so famous but where you can spends this day in the company of venomous cobras without any fear, you can find here numerous number of snakes moving freely in the courtyard of Gorakhnath temple without showing any intension of biting the human beings present there. This place, village “Battis-Shirala” is just about 50 km away from us, in the Sangli District of Maharashtra , nearly 400 km from the Mumbai. According to old aged, the roots of this celebration lie in, once Guru Gorakhnath was passing through this village, he saw that a woman was worshiping a clay snake idol, with the spiritual powers Guru Gorakhnath brought life to that cobra idol and ask woman to worship. Guru Gorakhnath told not to fear of the snakes; no human will die on this day due to snake bite. In the recent times people not only from the Sangli, Kolhapur, Pune and other districts of Maharashtra but a few foreign tourists are also visiting the place on this day to be witness of thousands of snakes moving freely. Some time back officials from the Chennai snake park visited and confirm that poison containing fangs of snakes are not removed even than it is amazing thing no one die due to snake bite.

The villagers start collecting the snakes about 8-10 days in advance and keep them in earthen pots and feed rats to snakes. The celebrations starts with early morning bath by the woman, who wear “Nav wari” , The traditional nine yard Maharashtarian Saree, and ornaments before the start of worship and offering of “Haldi coonkoon and Flowers”. All the earthen pots are taken to temple in procession, where after the religious rituals snakes are feeded with milk and honey. This is only place in world, where you can have a self photo, with the look of Lard Shiva, venomous cobra around your neck, without fear on this day.

Goa Images Reflections and Reality[Part One]

Goa Images Reflections and Reality[Part One]

"Images are the killers of the reality" I can't recall this or this type of words where I read but if you are visiting Goa with some of the images I assure you that you are going to find the vice versa situation , here reality is all prepared to kill your images. The first image that will go under the breakage if you are traveling by road is the Goa is the shortest piece of Indian land with most pictures and scenic nature. As if you preferred to go from the Belgaum, Karnatak, almost whole of the four hours of your journey you will feel mesmerised by the adventurous, fearful and scenic beauty of heights and Vallie's. Many of the,road side cliff top waterfalls will prove hurdle in your journey if you are visiting round the corner of rainy season and will force you to relax for a while at the door step of nature , cloud play during this time adds unforgettable experience to your memory. If your choice is go via the Maharashtra then from Kolhapur there are two options for you One by Amboli road and another by Gaganbawada Road though there is third option by Radhanagari road is also available but most of the visitors opt one from the former two. If you are traveling by the Kokan railway do opt for day journey to have the same experience that you will have by road travel either from Karnataka or Maharashtra.

Geographicaly Goa is situated on the west coast of India and its boundaries on the western side are composed by the Arabian Sea, Where as state is connected with Maharashtra on the north side and with Karanataka in the east and south directions. Population wise it is the fourth smallest and area wise is the smallest state of India. The state was under the Portuguese governance for about 450 years hence being in India you will found many things not matching with Indian customs and traditions, don't be surprised if you feel that life style of Goa is not matching with the rest of India, it is because still the ruins of Portuguese life style are very much alive in the human society of the state even after almost 50 years [ included in India in 1961] of Independence, though India is said to be country of festivals but here you will find the social stimulation towards the festivals only at the time carnival and to some extant during the New year celebration, thus here your second image get killed by the reality.

If we try to turn the history pages we will find that the natives of Goa are basically Saraswat Brahman who were moved from bank of river Saraswati to Bengal and were known as Gaud Saraswat, were shifted to Goa and during the era of Mahabharat & then were known as the Gomantak beside these Brahaman families some migrants from the south called Kundbis were the part of initial human society of the Goa. I am not sure but it is said that When Lord Vishnu was on earth as Parashuram, he defeated Samudra, the sea and since that time Samudra had never crossed the limit fixed by the arrow of Parshuram, which falls at the village Bannali [Bann = arrow and ali=village] presently known as Benaulim.

Some of the Dynasties that rules over the Goa are : The Scytho-parthians [ 2nd-4th century AD] ; The Abhiras, Batpura Bhojas [ 4th to 6th century]; TheChalukyas of Badami [6th to 8th century AD]; The Rashtrakutas of Malkhed[8th to 10th Century AD] ;The Kadambas [1006 -1356AD] ; The Yadavas of Devaguiri (modern Daulatabad) [ 12th to 13th century AD] ; The Hindu Empire of Vijayanagar [14-15th century AD]; The Muslim Bahmani Kingdom of Deccan [15th century]. Portuguese has take the control of the land somewhere near the 1510.

It might be surprise for you that in this era of high communication, Goa state still don't have own Television Transmission, there is no separate news channel for the state,you have to depend on Mumbai Doordarshan for the weather report and for local news on the not so much reliable cable network. The same thing is with the newspapers [though the scene is changing with a vigorous rate] This might be the due to the reason that during the Portuguese times any person seen reading newspaper was punished physically, the hangover of that mentality is so high that natives are still unable to get rid of it. Yet another example of this mental slavery is the tradition according to which during the tourist season [October- December] when Portuguese tourists are visiting Goa, state's cultural and tourism Minister remains present at Air port to welcome them, this tradition remain unbroken even during the rule of Hindutav wadi Party BJP.

Your another image about Goa that is going to become vanish on the surface of reality is the night life, the first thing that will make you spellbound is the start of closing of shops near around the seven in the evening and even in the major cities Like Panaji, Mapusa, Madgaon, Vasco you will have to search for an open hotel for the dinner after 11pm. You will be welcomed by the empty roads even after 9 O'clock at night.

This was all about the historical, Geographical and social life of the Goa, for the star tourist attractions which are in abundance here I will write a separate blog including the reasons why it is said" Go Goa 365 days on Holiday".

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