Come Celebrate Janmashtami, the birth of Lord Krishna at Gokul

Like every year my office was closed for Janmashtami celebration. After completing all the household work I took out last year’s photographs of Janmashtami celebration. Last year we were present in Gokul during the celebration of this holy festival. Every year large scale celebration of Gokulashtami is arranged by the people of Gokul and Mathura. Before I move forward with my blog let me briefly tell what Janmashtami is all about? Janmashtami is popularly also known as Gokulashtami or Krishnashtami marks the birth of Krishna. According to the mythological tales Lord Krishna was born in Mathura and the same night were brought Gokul by their father.

Krishna was born in the Hindu month of Shravana, on the eight day of the dark fortnight and for this reason Janmashtami falls between mid of august to mid of September. On this occasion exciting Janmashtami celebrations take place in Gokul. The festival is celebrated for two days in Gokul. Since Lord Krishan is believed to be born at the midnight, various Hindu sects celebrate the festival on the first while the other on the second. Even the famous ISKCON celebrates Janmashtami on the second day.

After spending one Janmashtami at Gokul I can very well say the atypical Janmashtami day at Gokul starts with ringing of bells and blowing of conches at the temple along with a full day Janmashtami Pooja. Later various cultural and religious events are organized. Some people observe fast, while the other enjoys delectable delicacies on this special day. The followers assemble in long bee-lines at the popular temples like Balkrishna and Dwarika Nath. It is a common sight to see people chanting Sanskrit mantras and Bhajans in praise of Lord Krishna till midnight.

At the stroke of midnight, the idol of Laddu Gopal (infant Krishna) is bathed with water, curd, buttermilk and honey. After the bath the final Pooja is performed followed by be seated Laddu Gopal in a silver cradle for the whole night. After singing Janmashtami related songs and devotional songs, food or the bhog is placed before the lord. Next day after worshipping lord Krishna people have the same food offered to the lord. At this festival there is a special demand for sweets made from milk and milk products and some people also prepared butter traditionally at home and then offer it to God.

Another major highlight of Janmashtami celebration in Gokul are the beautiful ‘jhankis’ (Tableau) and cribs, depicting various events of Lord Krishna’s childhood. In terms of Janmashtami these jhankis can be understood as a miniature representation of a village made from clay and humans are represented by the by dolls dressed up as kids.      

The five commonly depicted scenes in Jhankis are Birth of Lord Krishna, Vasudev carrying Baby Krishna across river Yamuna, exchange of Lord Krishna with the baby girl, King Kansa killing the Baby girl, Baby Krishna in a cradle in Gokul, Killing of King Kansa, Killing of Kaliya Serpent, Lifting of Govardhan Hill etc. 

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