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<Maharashtra’s festival, quite simply, the
mother of all events as it were, is Ganesh Chaturthi. In a city that
churns out celluloid dramas by the day, the festival of Ganesh is the
biggest grosser of them all, the event around which life in the State
revolves, an intense love affair with India’s favourite,
most-loved deity.
Held in
September/October, Ganesh Chaturthi is a ten day event akin to
Durga Puja in Bengal, and nor is it celebrated with any less zeal.
For this is the time when the state comes to a grinding halt. Ganesh,
the elephant-headed son of Shiva and Parvati, has a very special
place in every Indian heart as the Indian god propitiated before all
other gods, and at the start of any new task, plan or project.
In homes, clay images of
the god are installed with pranapratishta or the ritual
investing of vital breath in the image. Communities come together to
create massive images of Ganesh, some with blinking lights and a
moving halo too. In front of these, Maharashtra (and especially
Bombay and Pune) go into a frenzy, singing and dancing late into the
night. On the last day of the festival, these images are carried in
processions to be immersed in any body of flowing water. Bombay’s
traffic comes to a virtual standstill as huge Ganesha’s are
carried to the beaches, to be immersed into the sea.
Initially a private
celebration, like many of India’s religious events, it was first
turned into a public event by the Indian leader Lokmanya Tilak who
used it as a means of uniting people towards a common goal: the
freedom struggle aimed at throwing away the British colonizers from
India. Since then, Ganesha Chaturthi has been a public event,
especially in Bombay where the Ganapati Bapa Moriya retrain is
popularly heard throughout the rainy season. However, in recent years
the state’s tourism event has turned it into a tourism festival
celebrated over eleven days in Pune. Here, it includes theatre shows,
food meals, folk dance competitions and bullock-cart races.
Truly nothing quite warms
the heart of a Maharashtrian like Ganesh and his annual celebrations.
But Bombay and the rest of the state are known to celebrate all
Indian festivals with equal zeal, from Holi to Diwali, and the Ids
too. Yet, Maharashtra has a few festivals that stand apart, unique to
itself or shared in common with a few neighbouring states.
Of these, Gudi Padva
(March/April) is the most significant for it marks the start of the
Maharashtrian New Year. It is dedicated to Sahaliwan, the son of a
humble potter who overthrew the reigning Guptas of Malwa to become an
important monarch guiding the fortunes of a new dynasty. This day
marks the start of the Hindu solar year. In a city where business is
conducted as much through modern technology as ancient wisdom, the
advice of astrologers on this day is highly sought.
Best observed from
Bombay’s Chowpatty Beach, Nariel Purnima or coconut day
in August marks the end of the monsoons and is celebrated by
Maharashtra’s fisherfolk community. Of course, the rains
continue through September, but their intensity is less, and it is
considered safe for the fishermen to go out once again to sea. Boats
are painted, little oil lamps lit and set afloat amidst the waves and
carried in the boats, and coconut are broken against their bows as an
auspicious symbol. The seas are set afloat with garlands of flowers
as the community propitiates the sea for the safety of those who
venture out over the waters to fish. Along Bombay’s seafront,
Koli villages, there is oil lamp illumination and dancing.
Pateti in August
is the Parsee New Year, significant because it was on this day that
the Shahenshahi Zoroastrian community landed in India while migrating
from Persia. The Parsees celebrate at the agiary or fire temple, and
the community bonds are strengthened through feasts and the meeting
of friends and relatives.
Mount Mary’s
Feast is celebrated in Bombay for a week beginning on a Sunday
closest to the birthday of the Virgin Mary (September 8). Held in the
predominantly Catholic area of Bandra in Bombay, thousands throng to
the Basilica A fair is held with huge Ferris wheels, amusements and
rides, bands and shows. The devout trudge up the stairs of the church
to light their candles; these are often shaped in the form of the
body for which they may be seeking healing at the feet of the Virgin
Mother.
In a city with such a
large Catholic population, Christmas is a fun event. Trees are
decorated and lit in tropical Bombay, midnight masses held and huge
amounts of Christmas pudding consumed. Enormous stars of coloured
paper are lit and suspended across streets. Miniature cribs are
crafted for Jesus recreating the Nativity scene.
But if these are some of
the festivals that the people observe, Maharashtra Tourism too has
introduced some tourist festivals to attract visitors and focus on
the State’s cultural heritage. These include the Ellora Festival
and the Elephanta Festival which attract the country’s
and state’s finest talent to perform to backgrounds that must
surely be fit for the gods alone. These illuminated cave sites are
the appropriate muse for the rendition of vocal, classical music. In
addition, the department is also promoting tourist festivals in
Mumbai (as Bombay is now officially called) and Kolhapur. No doubt,
there are others too that focus on the cultural strengths of the city
that entertains the entire nation.
Bombay lights its Holi
bonfire at Chowpatty, pays obeisance at Shiva temples with bel
leaves during Shivratri, and observes a unique event for
Janamashtami. On this, Lord Krishna’s birthday,
earthenware pots full of curds and coins are suspended on ropes
across the streets of the city. The coins are suspended on ropes
across the streets of the city. The coins, and a keen sense of
competition, provide the impetus for young dandies to form human
pyramids to try and either break or upturn these pots. Success is
crowned with a roar of applause from spectators. What this does to
traffic on the roads is best left to one’s imagination.
The Muslims observe a ten
day mourning on the occasion of Muharram (February/March),
commemorating the martyrdom of prophet Mohammad’s grandson, Imam
Hussain. Tazias of Hussain’s tomb are taken through the
streets led by a procession of people self-flagellating themselves
with no outward sign of pain, led by men chanting Ya Hussain,
Ya Hasan. But the mood during Id-ul-Fitre (November) is
altogether more festive, for it marks the Muslim month of fasting,
Ramzan, with the arrival of the new moon. Abstinence gives way to
indulgence, specially in matters of the table, and alms are
generously distributed, as an air of festivity marks the occasion.
And Diwali, like
any other city, is celebrated with a burst of firecrackers, and a
round of gambling. With the exception that Bombay, India’s
commercial capital, gambles harder, loses more, wins more, and
remains as extravagant as the latest potboiler released from its
studios.
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