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India is a land of great diversity which has vast number of festivals taking place throughout the year. Not all of us are yet over with the celebration of Makar Sankranti and here we are set to welcome the second festival of the year, Basant Panchami. This year Panchami date will start from Sunday 21 January 2018 from 3:33 pm and ends on Monday 22 January 2018 at 4:24 pm.
Puja Muhurat- 7:17 am to 12:30 pm
Puja Vidhi: According to the belief, whole day of Basant Panchami is favourable to perform Puja of Goddess Saraswati. Astrologers term this day as Abujha Day, which is again a virtuous day to start good work. Devotees observe fast on this day and concludes it during sunset eating their first meal. Few also recites Chalisa of Goddess Saraswati.
Basant means spring and Panchami is the fifth day, it occurs on the fifth day after Lunar of Magh month. It welcomes the flavor of spring where people dress in yellow to mark flowering mustard fields. The festival is celebrated in different ways across the country. It has got various colours of celebration and it is said to be more than just blossoming field of mustards. On this auspicious occasion Goddess Saraswati, the deity of Knowledge and Art is worshiped especially by students and artists.
Let’s gear up and list the best compilation of celebrations during Basant Panchami:
1. Saraswati Puja
In eastern parts of India particularly in West Bengal, Odisha and Assam people celebrate by worshipping Goddess Saraswati. She is celebrated with her visits to her temples by playing music as well as the day when parents sit with their children, encouraging them into writing letters of alphabets and study together. Women drapes sarees especially in the colour yellow, as it is believed to be Goddess Saraswati’s favourite colour. Similarly, men are seen rejoicing the festival wearing Kurtas and Pyjamas of the similar colour.
2. Kamadeva and Rati
Another legend behind the celebration of Basant Panchami is associated with the Hindu God of Love Kama with his wife Rati. It is the emotions of love and anticipation and is celebrated in yet another way in Kutch (Gujarat). People prepares bouquet with garlands of flowers and mango leaves as a gift and dress in saffron, pink or yellow to visit each other. People remembers their loved ones, particularly one’s spouse or a special friend. Since it is linked with the God of Love, some denote it as ‘a Hindu form of Valentines Day’.
3. Deo Temple Sun God
The shrine of the Sun God which is known as the Deo Sun shrine in Aurangabad district, Bihar was established on Basant Panchami. The day is celebrated to honour the founding of the shrine by King Aila of Allahabad and the birthday of the Sun Deo God. The statues are washed, and old clothes are replaced with the new one on this day. People sing, dance and play musical instruments.
4. Banaras Hindu University (Kashi Hindu Vishwa Vidyalaya)
Famous Lawyer, Indian Independent Activist and Indian Educationist Pandit Madan Mohan Malaviya established the Banaras Hindu University in the year 1916 on the day of Basant Panchami. It is a renowned academic institution; every year students and academicians celebrate its inception followed by Puja and honour the significance of education.
5. Kite Festival
Basant Panchami is a festival of kites in Punjab and is known as the Basant Festival of Kites. It is believed that over 200 years ago, Maharaja Ranjit Singh introduced the tradition of Kite flying on Basant Panchami. Families especially children are seen busy preparing and buying their favourite patterns of kites with the help of their parents and enthusiastically involved in the sport.
6. Dargah of Nizamuddin Aulia
Basant Panchami is also celebrated at the Dargah of Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi and all Dargah’s of the Chishti. Hazrat Nizamuddin Aulia did not have children and was very attached to his sister’s son. He was enormously disappointed because of the sudden death of his nephew; his follower Hazrat Amir Khusrau, desired to seem him smile again. Khusrau saw a group of women dressed in yellow and carrying mustard flowers. He asked them the reason behind all of them wearing the similar colour, to which they replied that they are carrying these flowers to offer their god as it will make their divinity happy. He then wore a yellow saree, carried mustard flowers and went to see the saint singing sakal ban phool rahi sarson. The effort of his devotee made Nizamuddin smile again. Since then the celebration started, people gather at the Dargah dressing up in yellow, carrying mustard flower and singing Qawwali.
7. Holi at Shantiniketan
It is a festival of colours like Holi in Shantiniketan as it smudges all souls with joyousness. The famous Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore introduced Basant Utsav at Shantiniketan, in Birbhum district of West Bengal to recreate the magic of the blissful festival Holi. The students are seen to clad themselves in yellow attires. The sight of all these youngsters adorned in such bright coloured dresses are indeed beautiful.
Spring is considered to be the greatest of all seasons in the India. Free from boiling heat and the cold bites or dodgy rain; it is in the spring that plants and trees blossom with beautiful flowers and fresh fruits.
(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 19, 2018 07:16 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).
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