Kumbha Mela 2010
January 11, 2010
2010 Kumbh/ Kumbha Mela (Kumbha or Kumbh means pot and Mela denotes fair) will be held at Haridwar from 14th January to 28th April. 14th January is marked as a very auspicious day as it is also the kite flying festival or Makar Sankranti.
This year, the Kumbha or Kumbh Mela is called Maha Kumbha because it will be celebrated after 12 years. There will be 11 bathing rituals during this 3 and half month period. There will be 8 Parv Snaan and 3 Shahi Snaan.
Haridwar is known as the gateway to the pilgrimage places of the northern hemisphere of India. Haridwar is known as a pious city. The word Hari denotes Lord Vishnu and Dwar means gateway or door. This is also Lord Shiva’s in-laws abode or Sasural in Hindi. Goddess Ganga follows here from Lord Shiva’s Jata or matted locks and purifies the souls of the devotees.
Saints, sages of various schools of thoughts and teachings gather during this time and leave only after the Kumbha Mela is over. Taking a dip during these 11 different dates and timings is considered highly auspicious and leads to the liberation of sins. Some also strongly believe that seeking blessings at this time along with bathing will end their cycle of rebirth and death.
The Haridwar locals are overwhelmed by the sight of the saintly people and invite them to their homes. These saints spend all their time in deep meditation and stay away from material bondages. They are known to acquire Siddhi because of their constant austeries. The householders at Haridwar take special care of these saints/sages and long to invite such holy men into their homes. They firmly believe that their positive vibrations will bring happiness, peace and prosperity into their lives. They cook special meals without thinking of their budget and feed thousands and thousands of these saintly men. They believe that such acts are a way of accumulating good Karmic deeds.
Kumbh Mela takes place in only four selected places in India. They are Prayag, Ujjain, Haridwar and Nasik. There is an interesting incident that leads to these locations as being marked so pious. During Samudra Manthan when the pot of Amrit or divine nector came out Lord Vishnu took the form of Mohini to allure the Asuras or demon. (Read our previous posts to understand the reason behind and the aftermath of Samudra Manthan)
It was agreed that the Amrut would be divided equally between the Devas (Gods) and asuras (demons). But the King of demons was so mesmerized by the beauty of Mohini that he failed to see that Mohini had started offering the divine nectar to all the Devas first.
An asura took the form of a Deva, stood in line and drank the nectar. Lord Surya or Sun God and the Moon God or Chandramaji instantly pointed this out to Lord Vishnu that it was Rahu who had deceived them and drunk the nectar. Instantly, Lord Vishnu transformed himself to His glorious form and ordered his divine disc, the Sudarshan Chakra to cut off Rahu’s head. If the nectar reached his body, Rahu would then become immortal. The head was separated from the body which known as Ketu.
In this commotion, Garuda, half man and half bird, the divine vehicle or vahan of Lord Vishnu quickly flew away with the divine pot filled with nectar. The pot was heavy and at times, he rested on the way. The places where he relaxed and started his journey again, lead to the sprinkling of this divine nectar. It is said that 12 drops had fallen. 8 of them remained in the heavenly abode while 4 fell onto the earth. These four drops fell at these places- Prayag in Allahabad, Ujjain, Haridwar and Nasik. This is why there are the holy spots where the Maha Kumbha Mela takes place every 12 years.
The photograph one is of Har Ki Pauri where the Maha Kumbh will take place. This area looks serene in these pictures but will be jam-packed with people in the coming months. It is estimated that over 5 crore people will be attending this site in the next 3 and half months. The second photograph is of the Goddess Ganga temple which is the main temple of this city. Ganga aarti held in the evenings at the ghat are spellbinding. People throng in hundreds to get the slightest heat from this aarti’s flame. A bit of this aarti’s blessing is enough to purify the soul. I feel very lucky to have had the priviledge to do so.
©Nayna, 2007-2010. All Rights Reserved.
2010 Sankashti Chaturthi Dates
December 30, 2009
Here is a list of Sankashti Chaturthi Dates for 2010.
3rd January
2nd Febuary- This is Angarika Sankashti
3rd March
2nd April
31st May
30th June
29th July
28th August
26th September
26th October- This is Angarika Sankashti
25th November
24th December
Kindly glance through our articles on how to fast, perform Aarti, offering Naidevyam on Sankashti and Angarika Sankashti. Search for these words within the search box of our blog. If there are any clarifications needed, do feel free to write in. We will try our best to answer whatever query you have.
©Nayna, 2007-2009. All Rights Reserved.
Tarapith, Shaktipeeth, Birbhum
November 25, 2009
Tarapith or Tarapeeth is a Shaktipeeth /Shaktipeetha/ Shaktipeetham where goddess Sati’s eyeball had fallen. According to Bangla language spoken by the Bengali community, the word Tara denotes the word “eyeball.” The quaint town surrounding the Tarapith temple was earlier known as Chandipur but later changed to Tarapith.
For the benefit of the readers who have not read our previous posts on the various Shaktipeeths like Naina Devi, Bilaspur, Kunjapuri Devi, Rishikesh and Kalighat Kali temple, Kolkata we are briefly stating how goddess different body parts had scattered all over India, Nepal, Pakistan and Bangladesh.
King Daksha was not pleased when his daughter Sati married Lord Shiva. He arranged for huge Yagna (a ceremony where offerings would be made to the Fire god, Agni Devta) and invited all the gods, rishis and munis (saints). An enraged Sati went uninvited to confront her father. The answers that King Daksha gave her were nothing but insults to her beloved husband. Sati couldn’t tolerate this and jumped into the sacrificial fire and ended her life.
Lord Shiva’s anger was uncontrollable once he became aware of this. He destroyed the Yagna and carried the remains of Sati’s body on his shoulder and walked around aimlessly in grief. Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu both couldn’t do much against the fury of Lord Shiva. Unless Sati’s body would receive the appropriate rituals for cremation, her rebirth would be impossible. Lord Brahma, the creator of mankind, already knew that Sati would be born again as Parvati. But then who would confront Lord Shiva with this truth. So Lord Vishnu took his Sudarshan chakra (divine disc) and slowly allowed the chakra to cut the different body parts of Sati. As the body parts fell at different places, the rishis and muni performed the rituals and those places became Shaktipeeth. Now back to my journey to Tarapith.
Tarapith is around 300 kms from the main city of Kolkata. I hired a taxi and it took me around four and half hours to reach this temple. The roads were well-maintained and we traveled by the new roads which are parallel to the Grand Trunk road or GT road. This road connected to Delhi. There were toll posts at different intervals which was a good sign that there was someone catering to the needs of avid travelers and pilgrims.
There were dense forests on the way and most of these areas had no streetlights. The driver informed me that most people with families avoided traveling down these roads after sunset as these forests were infested with dacoits. I didn’t dispute this fact because the forests were really dense and without street lights in these desert parts, it was truly unsafe.
As we entered the small town of Tarapith, I was surprised to see a large number of hotels, lodges and guest houses packed in rows. I asked the driver, “I had no idea that so many people visited this temple. I always thought this was a very isolated place.”
The driver cleared my doubts instantly. Most pilgrims came in the evenings and stayed overnight at these hotels. They all wake up at 4:00 am for the Mangala Aarti or the first darshan of Tara Maa when she was bathed with oil. Then after this ritual, the temple doors were closed, then there was Her Shringaar or dressing of Maa and then aarti was performed. He too had come on two occasions with his clientele for this early morning darshan.
Time was ticking away, and I was getting nervous. The chances of temple doors closing was slowly approaching. It was past 1:00 pm and soon it would be time for Tara Maa’s lunch. As the car was parked, I dashed through the bi-lanes lined with quaint shops selling photographs of Tara Maa and an assortment of things that I decided to explore later.
The zigzag lanes were bit confusing and I was mentally prepared to wait as long as it took to see Tara Maa. After driving down for 4 and half hours, any amount of waiting would be worth it. Soon it was the end of the road and on my right was an open arena where many families were waiting. I asked a shopkeeper, panting “Where is the temple? Is it open?”
“It’s closed now, but it will open in half an hour. Why don’t you wait there.” He said.
With a sigh of relief, I joined many families waiting for darshan. Meanwhile, the shopkeeper got my offerings basket ready and asked me if I needed a priest to perform any puja. I sat facing the door wondering where the entrance was. Next to Tara Maa’s shrine was her consort Lord Shiva’s temple called Bhairav temple. I paid my respects to him and waited in anticipation.
Exactly after half an hour the doors opened and I was stunned. The sight was incredible. There She was. Her countless blessings had got me here safe and sound. The shopkeeper directed me to a corner entrance where there was a small queue of around eight people. I followed the queue and soon my assigned priest appeared and we entered the main sanctum. Tara Maa was so beautiful. There was her Paduka (feet) in front so that we could touch it. She was covered with flowers and actually I was so mesmerized by Her that I really didn’t see what colored saree she wore or what all ornaments adorned Her.
After we offered Pushpanjali, the priest actually told me come under the railing and go close to Tara Maa.
“Is that really possible? I am being allowed to stand close to Maa.” The priest recited mantras and from my offering basket, he opened the box of sindoor (vermillion) and told me to put some to Maa. I have never touched a Devi Maa’s idol in all my life. I have been fortunate to visit three Shaktipeeths but never have the priests allowed us to touch the presiding diety. I took a pinch of sindoor and put it on Tara Maa’s forehead, then her feet. He said, “Look at Maa, see Her closely.” I was so overwhelmed that I really was in a state of confusion, happiness, disbelief and teary-eyed.
After my darshan, we exited through the back entrance and there was Prasad being served. I packed some Prasad and headed to the shops. The shops sold photographs of Tara Maa and busts. There were items sold that one needed for performing rituals. The driver was accompanying me and he pointed out to a small lane which he said was cremation grounds.
I hesitated, “Do we actually need to see cremation ground at 2:30 pm?”
“There are no bodies cremated here, Madam. This was where Sadak Bama Khapa acquired Siddhi. Many aghoris still do tapasya here. They don’t eat for days; sit day and night in the hope of getting darshan from Maa.”
I followed the driver and saw an open ground with small samadhis and there was some people offering their prayers. There was a female sadak there too, with Jata (matted locks) wearing saffron clothes and another man. The driver showed me a small temple which I couldn’t make out much, as you see in the picture all the red color and flowers.
These were the actual Paduka or feet where Goddess Tara appeared to Bama Khapa. The red color is called Alta. This red oxide based liquid is adorned on every married woman’s feet in the Bengali community. It is a shubh (auspicious) sign. I offered my obesiences to Maa, took pictures and left.
The driver said that most of his clients, who came in the evenings, go further ahead of the cremation grounds and watch the aghoris do penance. If these sadaks are awake and in good state of mind then they have enough Siddhi to tell a person’s past, present and future. Some tell them stories of the efforts of Bama Khapa and how and what happened when Tara Maa had first visited him.
I went to the car and feasted on Tara Maa’s bhog. I had a blissful day, and carried with me countless blessings of the Divine Mother.
©Nayna, 2007-2009. All Rights Reserved.
