Spring! Jump out of your quilts and say goodbye to winter, says writer Ranjenia A Singh
Feel the new energy that’s flowing all around you — birds, trees and plants are brimming with a new joy for life. Bountiful earth is all dressed up in hues of yellow, orange and green. The fifth day of the bright fortnight month of Magh marks the
arrival of Basant, or spring. This is also the time when mango flowers start blossoming, symbolising the beginning of a new life.
Goodbye ignorance: Basant Panchami indicates that the days of ignorance and gloom are over. It’s now the season of joy, heralding a spiritual awakening. Perhaps that’s why in Bengal, Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and wisdom, is invoked. This is also when her birthday is celebrated. She is dressed in yellow; devotees offer prayers and yellow-coloured prasadam. Children are taught their first words on this day, as an auspicious beginning to education.
Manjushri in Nepal: In Nepal, Buddhists offer prayers to Manjushri, the god of wisdom. At Hanuman Dhoka in Kathmandu, an official announcement is made indicating the arrival of spring.
The colour yellow: The colour yellow is the key to Basant celebrations. Through the ages, it has stood for wisdom and intellect. It’s the colour of the sun and symbolises knowledge and intellectual energy. Since realising the presence of the Supreme Being is a form of knowledge, it is seen as a befitting colour to wear. People also cook yellow food.
While some perform pitri-tarpan, or ancestor worship on this day, others pay respects to Kama- deva, the god of love.
Sufi Basant: All Chishti dargahs in India, including Ajmer, celebrate Sufi Basant. The 12th century saint, Nizamuddin Aulia, was so aggrieved by the death of his nephew Taqiuddin Nooh that he withdrew himself from the world and spent all his time at Nooh’s grave. His disciple, Amir Khusro, tried hard to cheer him but failed. One day, while Khusro was walking in the fields, he saw some young women dressed in yellow clothes, celebrating Basant. Khusro also donned a yellow ghagra and covered himself with a chunni and sang the qawwali, "Sakal basant aayo ri". Seeing him thus, Nizamuddin lightened up. Since then, Sufi Basant became a regular festival of joy. On this day, devotees dress in yellow and offer marigold and mustard flowers to the Khwaja.
Basant in Punjab: In pre-Partition India, Hindus, Muslims and Sikhs all celebrated Basant together. Until recently, in Lahore, Pakistan, Jashn-e-Bahara, the other name for Basant, was celebrated with joy and verve. Kite-flying and cultural programmes were the norm of the day. There are indications that the six-year ban on kite flying may be lifted this year, bringing back the exuberance of the festival. In Punjab, people fly kites to remember the martyr saint Ram Singh Kuka, who was born on Basant Panchami.
To revive the pre-Partition Basant spirit, the Anjuman Sair-e-Gul Faroshan, has, for several years now, been celebrating Basant Panchami as a festival of communal harmony. Usha Kumar, general secretary of the organisation says, “Participants walk through Chandni Chowk holding floral pankhas with images of Saraswati and the sacred Kabah, decorated with yellow flowers. They offer a canopy made of marigold and mustard blossom to Saraswati at the Gauri-Shankar Mandir. The procession, accompanied by shehnai and dhol-tasha players, then proceeds to the Nizamuddin Dargah to offer a chaddar made of yellow flowers at the mazaar of Nizamuddin Aulia and Amir Khusro.”
How Do You Celebrate Basant Panchami?