Father Gilson

Click for article in Bengali on Father Gilson

Click here for article in English on Father Gilson

Diwali in Bengal

Click for article in Bengali : 'Diwali in Bengal'

Who will donate if you dont show the greed of virtue

AKSHAY TRITIYA

Jawhar Sircar

Over a hundred years ago, British observers had noted that “Akshaya Tritiya is kept throughout India on the third day of Vaishaka Shukla-paksha. To bathe this day and to give fans, umbrellas and money to the Brahmans is believed to earn imperishable merit. The performance of it is consequentially very popular.” Celebrated in all provinces, this festival which falls on the third day of the bright half of Vaishaka, is also called Akha Teej in the Hindi belt. It is observed by Jains with equal fervor, but let us make a special note of the merit of daana, and move on.

Many religions of the world believe in auspicious moments, but none can come even close to the Hindus’ obsession with shubha murhurats and the meticulous calculations that determine it. When people question how such an unstructured religion could hold together for centuries, with neither Vatican-Mecca, nor a Pope, Patriarch, Khalifa or Grand Imam, one needs to understand the common codes that governed all believers, through an intricate and omnipresent network of a priestly class. Among these codes are the consulting the Panchanga or Panjika, where lunar and solar calibrations mix with astronomy, astrology and religious requirements into a unique discipline. Though differences do exist between ‘schools’ and in the methods of calculation, they are broadly similar where most festivals, events, good and bad periods and the best muhartas are concerned.

Akshay Tritiya is a fine example of the common core of pan-Indian beliefs and is among the ‘three and a half most auspicious timings‘, the Sade-Teen Muhurtas or tithis (lunar days) of Hindus. The other two are the first of Chaitra and Vijaya Dashami, while the first day of the bright half in Karttika is the ‘half tithi. This occasion is associated with the Mahabharata as Vyasa Muni started dictating the epic to Ganesha. It was on this day that Draupadi saved her dignity as Dushasan kept trying to disrobe her because Krishna’s miracle ensured that she always had a saree draping her. Surya-deva also gave his divine Akshaya Patra to the Pandavas on this occasion so that they never ran out of food.

Let us look at the other legends about how auspicious this date is. Many believe that the Treta Yuga began on this day while others insist that the Satya Yuga commenced from this day, but they are so many millions of years ago with no witnesses left, that it makes little sense to argue still. Ganga descended on the earth on this Tritiya, which is also dedicated to Vishnu the great preserver. He was born as Parasurama on this tithi and claimed land from the sea, just like the Dutch did centuries late. So strong is the belief that he is still worshipped for this deed on Akshay Tritiya in the Konkan and Malabar regions of India. Bengal has no followers of Parasurama, perhaps because it faces the reverse problem of too much land and silt blocking its main rivers with chars: so his axe could perhaps be used to de-silt the holy river.

The driest period of the year begins with the onset of summer and as the soil dries in the fierce heat: thus farmers find it simpler to plough through and granulate the earth. This day was also fixed to remind agriculturalists to begin tilling and it is considered auspicious all the way from Odisha to the land of the Jats in Western U.P- Haryana At dawn, elderly Jats walk to the fields with shovels and observe all birds and animals seen on the way as harbingers of the next season. Even in Gujarat, this is the day to take up the plough and Parasurama is again recalled, as he is associated with the plough. Though this was not traditionally the beginning of the agricultural season in the South, the almanacs mention it as an important auspicious date. Fasts are kept by many, to beseech the gods for prosperity.    

Basically, it is a festival that stresses on bounty, whether for business ventures or for agriculture, underlining the importance of materialism in the Hindu way of life. Annapoorna, the goddess of prosperity celebrates her birthday and Kubera, the god of wealth is also a central figure in Akshay Tritiya. The latter is a fascinating character who hides within his many legends a lot of social history, as Brahmanical narratives are not linear like western ones, but inter-twined in legends from which we must glean the facts. Kubera is portrayed as an ugly, puny and pot-bellied Yaksha: personifying thereby the contempt with which the early pastoral Aryans viewed more prosperous settled societies of darker, shorter aboriginal Indians. Tales of the fabulous wealth of non-Aryan tribes abound in Vedic, post-Vedic and Puranic literature and one reason for this was their in-built habit of creating and converting a part of their resources from livestock and agricultural produce to more solid forms like gold and jewels. Akshay Tritiya’s dictum runs on these lines, like that of Dhan-teras six months later, i.e, to save and diversify one’s savings, which are exactly the same that modern economists and financial advisors preach.

Kubera begins his career in Vedic-era texts as the ‘chief of evil spirits’, Bhuteshwara, and acquired reluctant acceptance within Sanskrit civilization and his godly status only a thousand years later, through the Puranas. By this time, the ‘mixed people’ that Manu talks of are widespread and quite dominant across the entire sub-continent. So much so, that he was also accepted as a god by the Buddhists and called Vaisravanta as well as the Jains, who worshipped him as Sarvan-bhuti. Kubera would continue as an established god of wealth of the Hindus for more than a million years, until the more Brahmanical Lakshmi would slowly edge him out. His complexion would also become quite fair as the treasurer of the devas, though he continued to represent the ‘backward community’ of Ganas, Yakshas, Kinnaras, Gandharvas and Guhyakas. Nothing comes without a struggle and Kubera would lose an eye that was said to be mauled by the Devi, very much like Manasa’s: for daring to rise from a folk-deity status to higher Brahmanical religion. Akshay Tritiya and Dhan-teras are occasions for many Hindus to pray to him, as this religion does not really believe in deletion any divinity but only ‘downgrades’ to honorary status just like political parties often do with their senior leaders. Incidentally, in his Buddhist form Kubera reached many countries as religious beliefs never required visas and in Japan he is worshipped as Bishamon.

As in many states, Bengali entrepreneurs also reserve this propitious date for commencing new ventures or even to begin their annul accounts. Sudama’s humble gift of simple puffed rice given to Krishna is recalled to emhasise the essentiality of making gifts, big or small. “This day is held sacred by the Hindus because the Shastras declare that the merit of alms and gifts bestowed during it are permanent”, wrote Rev KS Macdonald in 1836, “and cannot be destroyed by any future sin, and therefore, even misers unloose their purse strings and are liberal on this day”. This is the crux of the matter, as the winter crop was already in the granaries and unless a compulsion and an ‘anticipatory bail’ type of religious mandate was given, the selfish man would not part with his wealth to the Brahmans or to the destitute.

(English Version of Bengali Article published in Ananda Bazar Patrika on 21st April,2015) 

http://www.anandabazar.com/editorial/who-will-donate-if-you-dont-show-the-greed-of-virtue-1.136780

EASTER BEFORE CHRIST:The Story of Good Friday & Other Curious Customs

Jawhar Sircar, 3rd April, 2015

        A question that comes up often is if Jesus Christ died with so much pain on the Cross why is the day called 'Good Friday'?  Some Christian traditions like the Germans actually call it Karfreitag or ‘Sorrowful Friday’ and in English the origin of the term 'good' is said to have come either from ‘God's Friday’ or from an archaic translation of the term ‘Holy’ or ‘Pious’.  It leads the main celebrations of 'Easter' that reaches its peak on Sunday, the day that Jesus arose from his dead state and began his journey to heaven. The dates for Good Friday and the Easter season were not always been agreed upon and initially they were linked to Spring Equinox of the 21^st of March. Christianity was indeed a struggling movement till 313 AD, when Emperor Constantine of Byzantium (present day Istanbul) recognised it as one of the official religions of the Roman Empire. Its early history is thus crowded in myths and legends.  The death of Jesus was originally calculated to have been in AD 33 and 'Good Friday' was reckoned to be the 3^rd of April: a remarkable coincidence with this year’s celebration. Sir Isaac Newton, however, brought it to AD 34 with all his mathematical calculations of the differences between the conflicting calendars and the movements of the moon. The Western Churches follow the Gregorian calendar while the Eastern Churches abide by the Julian calendar, thus they differ on the dates of their celebrations but what are common are the special prayers and Masses that mark the period. The Easter season actually begins with 40 days of 'Lent' that precedes Easter Sunday and many actually observe fasts through so many days.

       As a festival, however, Easter goes back well before Christ arrived. It was originally celebrated for a pagan goddess called Eostre or Ostara or even Astare. She was worshipped in Spring as the dead winter found fresh life through her and Norma Goodrich mentions in her book that ancient Saxon poets had found associations between India’s dark goddess and this Eostre, as both followed the death and life cycle. The Easter Bunny is also older than Christianity because it was known as the companion or vahana of the goddess and was called the Moon-hare. The Germans said that this hare would lay golden eggs for good children on Easter Eve, and this belief has been explained in Claudia De Lys’ book on superstitions.  In fact, scholars like Homer Smith claim that the Christian festival was not even called 'Easter', until the late Middle Ages.  Several nations like the Irish, however, kept Easter on a different date from that of the Roman Church, as the original date of the 'festival of Eostre', until the Roman calendar was imposed on them in 623 AD. 

     Eggs were always symbols of rebirth, which is why Easter eggs were usually coloured red, especially in Eastern Europe, to symbolise the blood of Christ. The Russians used to lay red Easter eggs on graves to serve as ‘resurrection charms’ and in the Czech republic, Christ was duly honoured on Easter Sunday, but his pagan rival was recalled on Easter Monday: which was the ‘Moon-day’ as opposed to the Sun-day.  A curious 16^th century Easter custom was known as “creeping to the cross with eggs and apples”, which was a significant use of the ancient female symbols of birth and death. The older traditions used dyed chicken eggs, but now substitutes come in chocolate, or plastic eggs filled with candy such as jellybeans. Even so, many still insist on the tradition of colouring their hard-boiled eggs. In  Poland and in the Slavic traditions of Eastern Europe, Easter eggs are a widely popular symbol of new life and a batik-like decorating process known as pisanka produces intricate, brilliantly-colored eggs. In Bulgaria, traditional egg fights are a rage and the winning egg is titled as the borak, the fighter. Germans and Swiss hang decorated eggs from branches or bushes and even the top of wells are dressed up for Easter as Oster-brunnen. The celebrated House of Faberge created exquisite jeweled eggs for the Russian Imperial Court that took this humble folk art to new heights.

    Like the celebration of Christmas, many traditions of Easter were altered, censored or even abandoned altogether by various offshoots of Christianity, especially during the Protestant Reformation. The Lutherans, Methodists and Anglicans, however, chose to retain a large proportion of the old observances along with many of their associated traditions, even though the  Presbyterian Puritans regarded such festivals as abominations. In today's world, Easter also has a commercial side, as evidenced by the mounds of chocolate eggs, jelly beans and marshmallow chicks that appear in shops each spring.  Like Christmas, there is a thriving industry that runs on Easter eggs, bunnies and baskets of condiments, as this holy day continuously combined various folk customs, pagan traditions and current fads with religion and piety. The Easter Bunny has become a popular legendary Easter gift-giving character, somewhat analogous to Santa Claus in American culture and on Easter Monday, the President of the United States holds an annual Easter egg rolling event on the White House lawn for excited children.

          Bermudans choose Easter to fly kites and hold colourful competitions, but all in the name of God, as priests say these celebrate Christ's ascent to heaven. Fish cakes are a favourite dish and Bengalis could well think of visiting this island for this delicacy. In Jamaica, the baking of buns with raisins becomes the main occupation from Good Friday onwards, and once their crusty tops are seared with two strokes of the knife, they become the famous 'Hot Cross Buns'. While some East Europeans prepare a special nut-cake called potica, the Polish prepare excellent white sausages for this season.

        Easter is, however, not food and fun, for it also associated with the painful emulation of bodily tortures that were heaped upon Christ, called 'The Passion'. Filipinos and Mexicans go through Christ's last journey dragging heavy crosses on their shoulders and whip themselves till they bleed. Some also pierce their heads with crowns of prickly thorns. Formal religion has tried its best to control men from such self flaggelation, but they continue nevertheless: Like this one in Christianity. In Islam  they appear in similar painful rites during Mohurram: very much like the Indian ceremonies of piercing cheeks and bodies with sharp metal or swinging high on poles on ropes tied to hooks inserted under the skins of backs: as in Charak. It is interesting to witness so many colourful processions that are taken out through huge crowds in Easter in so many Catholic countries. They are quite like Hindu celebrations and they carry quaint images, idols and dolls that depict Biblical scenes and The Passion of Christ.

    The arrival of Spring often reminded people in cold Europe that it was time for a bath and in Hungary and countries that were formerly in Yugoslavia, buckets of cold water were literally poured on shivering humans. Men often wooed women with perfumes or scented water, but the most peculiar custom was followed in Czech and Slovak countries, where men literally spanked or whipped women with willow rods and coloured ribbons. So deep-rooted was this custom that women reportedly felt offended if they were not touched by this Easter whip. It is hoped that this tradition is now gone, but what can never go from mankind is its infinite capacity to use every religious occasion, however serious be it, to celebrate their very existence with excitement, cheer and warmth.