Holi
is a three
or four day celebration at the beginning of spring in February-March which
began as a fertility festival and which includes the lighting of bonfires,
the erection of a pole and dancing around it, the making of loud noises,
and the throwing of coloured water, mud and refuse at passersby. The
rationale behind the celebrations has been lost. Effigies, representing
the demons Krishna is said to have killed, are burned in huge bonafiers.
Dashera,
a ten-day festival, celebrates the triumph of Rama. In parts of India it
comes at the same time as the worship of a goddess sometimes called Durga.
Kali or Durga, the mother goddess, is worshipped with great pomp and
parades. On the tenth day, in many towns through out India, a play is
staged portraying the battle between Rama, the hero and Ravana, the demon
and abductor of his wife, sita. The play ends when Rama Shoots arrows
into a huge effigy of Ravana Filled with firecrackers, and it explodes and
burns.
Divali
is a five-day celebration in October-November, which in reality is five
festivals rolled into one. The first day is dedicated to Lakshmi and
Parvathi, the second to Shiva and Parvathi, the third commemortes the
victory of Vishnu over the demon Bali, the forth recalls the return of Rama
to Ayodhya and his coronation, and the fifth remembers Rama’s visit to the
home of his sister.
Divali
is also called
the feast of lights as it celebrates the Hindu new year. Homes are given a
through cleaning and outlined with tiny clay lamps to welcome into the home
Lakshmi, the goddess of prosperity. Firecrackers are set off to frighten
away evil spirits, businessmen open new account books and everyone eats
sweets and cakes.
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HOLY AND SACRED PLACES OF
HINDUS
Pilgrimages play an important part in the religious life of the Hindus.
Holy places are numberless. Rivers such as the Ganges and the Godavari are
sacred. Holy cities such as Banaras, Puri, Hardwar, are associated with
Hindu mythology and attract large number of pilgrims. Pilgrim centres high
in the everlasting snows of the Himalayas also draw devotees seeking merit
and a vision of their god.
Since ancient time Indians have said that rivers especially the Ganges
river, came from the gods. To the Hindus, the Ganges is most holy at the
point where it curves like a cresent moon. Here they have built hundreds of
temples and their most sacred city, Banaras. Century after century, people
have gone down into the river to bathe and pray. And always, through the
years, beside the river the dead have been burned and their ashes scattered
on its so-called sacred waters. All year, but especially in the festival
seasons of October and November, pilgrims comes to Banaras from all parts of
India. They look at its waters with awe. Some throw in coins. They leave
their outer garments with Brahmin priests and wade out into the water-the
women and girls on one part of the bank, the men and boys on another. They
drink and gargle and wash their clothes in the holy water, skilfully
changing beside the water.
In Banaras, as in all India, the many temples have many images. There are
temples with images of many gods and goddesses. There are temples with
images of the red monkey – god Hanuman. There are temples with
images of the elephant headed god, Ganesh. There are images of
bulls. There are images of dancing gods with many arms, and of gods sitting
cross-legged. There are temples with frightful goddesses, all white or
pitch black.
In these temples and before these idols, Hindu worship. A Brahmin priest
might explain that all idols represent god whom no one can know. The
earliest pattern of worship in Hinduism through “Sacrifices” – of giving
gifts to the gods and flattering them to win their favour. Many Hindus
still follow this way.
During the first period of modern Hinduism, reformers came under
the sway of western thought and were perturbed our hollow and superficial
practices that had been florishing in the name of “holiness”. For example,
V. Kunhikanan condemend the traditional beliefs that one’s sins will be
washed away by bathing in the waters of the Ganges and by visiting the
scared city of Banaras. “Could any idea be more primitive”? he asked. V.
Srinivas Rao was convinced that social reform would be impossible without
attempting to reform the underlying religious beliefs. He traced the social
evils of his day to the popular beliefs of undue reverence for the sacred
books, idolatry, and the caste system which despite several reform movements
continues to play an important part in Hindu society especially in the
procurement of jobs and marriages.
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