Vasant Panchami
Vasant Panchami , also known as Saraswati-Puja or Sri Panchami , is a Hindu spring festival and the highest holiday of the goddess Sarasvati .
meaning
The meaning of Hindu festivals is often intertwined with the seasons. A particularly striking example of this is Vasant Panchami , which marks the beginning of spring (Vasant) . On the fifth day (Panchami) of the Hindu month Magha (according to the modern calendar January / February), people celebrate this festival with different customs in many areas of India - especially in the east of the subcontinent.
Saraswati
Saraswati is one of the most popular Hindu goddesses . The iconography shows them in the middle of a lake, the primeval water, which is interpreted, among other things, as a symbol for the beginning of creation. She stands or sits in a lotus flower , as a sign of wisdom as well as her beauty. A goose or a swan act as companion animals, and sometimes the peacock. The characteristic color is a brilliant white.
Hindu scholars also recognize their meaning from the word meaning of their name: “Saras” is the water, and “Saraswati” is interpreted as “shining river” or “the flowing one”. Bright and radiant, Saraswati also embodies the power of the sun. This is not only an indication of the biological, life-giving power, but also of knowledge and enlightenment, because one of its names is Mahavidiya , wisdom. The book in the left hand also reveals in her the mistress of the scriptures, the patroness of all learners and those who teach. As Vac (word), another name of the goddess, she embodies the personified word, the perfect speech. As the most striking symbol, she holds the vina in her hands, an ancient stringed instrument that is still often played today . In doing so, she not only presents herself as the patroness of music and all the arts: According to ancient belief, the goddess produces the original sound on it, the Om , from whose vibrations according to Hindu philosophy creation arose.
The Rigveda , the oldest of the Hindu scriptures, initially describes Saraswati as a river or river goddess. Other verses refer to them as "Most High among the Gods" or "Highest among Mothers". Puranic scriptures know her as the wife of Brahma , who in the Trimurti , the Hindu Trinity, has the task of creation (Brahma is represented as masculine, not to be confused with the impersonal, formless Brahman ). It seems to be subordinate to this; in practice, however, the main worship is her, while the worship of Brahma has largely died out.
The party
On their feast day, people not only celebrate the biological fertility of the goddess , which becomes visible at Vasantpanchami , the beginning of the Indian spring: the creative power becomes evident in all its aspects, in science and the performing arts as well as in music and literature.
Weeks in advance, craftsmen make figures, large and small, mostly from clay or plaster, which can then be bought in all markets and on street corners. The believers put these up in their homes or on the street altars built for this festival. A priest comes and ritually worships Saraswati in a puja , the worship service. If the statue is initially just a decorated plaster figure, a simple picture, then, according to the believers, a ritual change takes place in the “Pran-Dan” ceremony (i.e. giving life ): the priest touches a tuft of grass and a few grains of rice near the heart of the statue. To this end, he speaks prescribed mantras , whereby she is considered “alive”, as present in the image (very similar to the “change” in the Eucharist of the Catholic Church). According to the Hindu conception, the formless divine is present in this living manifestation of the goddess.
However, there does not necessarily have to be a statue of the goddess on the altar, because the representation of the divine in anthropomorphic form is a relatively late development in Hinduism. One of their typical attributes can just as well indicate their presence, such as an earthen, old-fashioned inkwell, a writing implement like a “pen” made of a piece of pointed bamboo or its mystical instrument , the vina .
For Vasant Panchami , the most varied of festive customs can be found on the Indian subcontinent, and the meaning of the goddess is not the same for all Hindus. But almost everywhere women wear yellow saris on this day if possible , as yellow as the mustard seeds that are now blooming in the fields. And all kinds of sports are in high season.
Artists and intellectual workers in particular turn to Saraswati on this important holiday : schoolchildren, students and teachers as well as musicians, painters, authors and journalists. They put their utensils at the feet of the patroness - books, exercise books, pens and brushes - and ask for her special blessing. In Bengal in particular , it is customary for young children to write a letter for the first time on this day. Others write blessings or an Om in their books with "white ink" (milk) .
Schoolchildren and students do not only worship the goddess at home on the altar. In schools and universities, people build small or large altars together every year. It is not uncommon to shape a mountain and decorate it with white cotton balls as snow, because the goddess is said to come from the snow-capped mountains of the Himalayas . Very often young men and boys also build various variations of ships for Saraswati , with which, according to tradition, she visits her believers. Then the called priest celebrates a service on behalf of everyone , which is followed by a happy festival with music, dance and common food. Classmates and students who are not Hindus are usually invited to this.
In the east of India the enthusiasm for the goddess is particularly great. Many households set up statues or portraits, call a priest, or perform their own ceremonies. Clubs, neighborhood communities or other groups also jointly build small and large venues in the courtyards and streets, often even the road traffic has to be rerouted. After the religious rites, people sit in front of the stage with the goddess in the evening and take part in cultural events with music and dance.
On the second day, the goddess is ritually bid farewell and the now lifeless sculpture is carried to the river in processions to cheers and loud music - where it sinks into the water.
swell
- ↑ Axel Michaels: The Hinduism. History and present. Verlag CH Beck, Munich 1998, ISBN 3-406-44103-3 , p. 341.
- ↑ Anneliese and Peter Keilhauer: The visual language of Hinduism. The Indian world of gods and their symbolism. Dumont Buchverlag, Cologne 1983, ISBN 3-7701-1347-0 , p. 59.
Web links
- hinduism.co.za Pages with Hindu holidays, English