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.
