1. Today is #Devthaan. Not many of the new generation remember this festival except for a vague murmur that the marriage season starts with this day. It is one of the most different of the festivals we celebrated, for Devthan had a very pristine feel. 
2. In my part of the country, this would be a really exciting festival. We would buy sugarcanes, (5 or 7) during the day. We would go for the best looking ones, the smoothest and the longest. As the night fell and shubha muhurta arrived, we will get on the terrace or the garden.
3. We would stand the sugarcanes by balancing them against each other. They would stand tall. On the ground under the sugarcanes, there would be an image of Chandra or the Moon drawn in a paste of rice or sometimes of other grains.
4. At night during the puja, all the fresh vegetables of the seasons which were just coming into the season would be offered together. No electric light would be used and we would all do it in the light of the Moon.
5. After offering the vegetables of the season, we would all get in a circle around the sugarcanes and would trot around, circumambulating the sugarcanes.
6. In between we would hold the sugarcanes make them jump up and down and would shout at the top of our voices: “Utho Deva, Baitho Deva...” (Arise o gods! Arise!)
7. Devthan was one of the most ‘primitive’ of our festivals in which the Nature was worshipped directly, nakedly, even in the words that we used. The seasonal vegetables were used, as the harvest season was over and the grains were all in the barn.
8. New vegetables were also ripe and up for eating and selling. And those pradakshinas around the sugarcanes in moonlight and those primitive chants brought us closest to Nature. I can never forget those nights of Devthan.
9. In city, we have almost lost it, as there is no terrace or ground left to do it. The canes are now no longer a delicacy and the kids no longer compete to chew it the next morning. But it should not be so. It can be different if we just make a point about it.
10. If we can’t pass on festivals to the next generation then we can’t pass on anything to them. Festivals are the last stand of public Hindu dharma. Do not abandon them. Keep them alive and dharma will be alive.
देवठान की आपको बहुत बहुत शुभकामनाएं|
===
देवठान की आपको बहुत बहुत शुभकामनाएं|
===
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
