Monday 6 June 2011

Chandan Yatra and a Fire Sacrifice at Govardhana Hill

Sorry guys, I've not been back to this blog for about a month! I've been so busy. We arrived back in Mayapura on the 9th of May and I have started work at the Mayapura Community Sevaks (sevaks = servants) which is like your local community council and looks after the needs of all the members of the community especially foreigners here in Mayapura. I am just starting in on it and it is quite a busy little center. Full-on. But I will get to that later...

We left Vrindavan on the 6 of May - can't believe it has been that long - which was also the beginning of the 21 day festival of Chandan Yatra which is when the Deities get covered in sandalwood paste. Sandalwood paste is very cooling and here in India you can imagine how hot it gets.... actually you can't imagine. It gets really hot!

So on the 6th we got up early and had to head out to Govardhana Hill which is about 45mins to an hour away. A dear friend of ours from the temple in Hawaii, Srutakirti, was getting married and we were invited to the fire sacrifice, which is an very special ceremony where there a fire is made while mantras are chanted along with offerings of grains covered with ghee (clarified butter) thrown into the fire. That, by the way, is what the fire sacrifice was for. It isn't like you sacrifice an animal or anything. The fire is liken to the mouth of the Lord and the offerings is like throwing sanctified, important grains into the Lord's mouth. We had to leave at 6am as we were told that the ceremony was going to start at 7am as it would only get hotter as the day went on. But as this was also the day we were leaving Vrindavan we were up late at night packing and cleaning out Pranada's house - the house we were staying in - as she had sold the house. She allowed me to take pretty much anything I wanted but we were willing to clean the house for her as well. So it was nearly midnight when we went to bed, maybe later. Got up early as we do and basically showered and got dressed. The taxi was late, went to the wrong gate so it took sometime to get him around to the right gate and off we went.

It was a lovely ride and best done at that time of day before it got too hot.
Here, we are all waiting for the train to pass.



































































































But you can still see the humidity in the air even at that time in the morning. We drove along dirt roads in rural India, passing through little villages in their tight roads, sometimes when making a turns that the driver would have to turn the wheel and go as far forward as he could, reverse and go forward again several times in order to complete the turn. Indian driving is like no other and they seem to have their own spectacularly mad method in road rules. Traffic wouldn’t necessarily stop while making such a turn and cars, bikes, motorbikes, carts, rickshaws and camels would all just continue weaving through and around the vehicle as it would negotiate such a tight turn.

People were moving about getting on with their day. Children were going to school, all dressed so perfectly - girls with their black hair oiled back into neat, tight braids and ribbons to match their uniforms and boys in their shorts and neat pressed shirts, their short hair also slicked down with coconut oil or special scented Indian hair oil. In India, young children will have their heads shaved at different intervals in their life while still young, under 10 years, believing this to help improve and thicken the hair. Sometimes you will see some of the school kids also with shaven heads or short hair resulting from a head shave. Other kids who don’t go to school might be out moving the cows, oxen or goats from one place to another. Girls might be carrying water on their heads or baskets of dried cow dung patties that are often used for cooking fires. Many shops are made from little more than some plywood or clay walls, if it had walls at all, and a corrugated tin roof. People were sitting in wooden chairs worn smooth by decades of bums polishing the wood or on wooden beds made with cloth straps woven back and forth across its frame, gathered around chai stalls or the stalls of friends chatting and drinking chai, eating puris and hot subji or for lucky ones, milk sweets from the sweets shop.





 There were fields of grains – wheat, barley, tapioca and more - that flew past the car window, looking like oceans of verdant green or golden yellow. In one field a dozen peacocks roamed about calling out, the males showing off their brilliant tails while the females ignored them. Some of the fields had been harvested and the stalks of grain were lying in neat piles that created little mounds and drying as they waited to be chaffed.



Here you can just make out the peacocks running across the fields. The ladies have little interest in the male right now and are chasing him away. You Go, Girls!

Here the males are hiding and only their heads can be seen above the young corn plants.

Hills of wheat already chaffed are drying out in the sun.




 On the edge of the photo just here >>>

 you can see a hut structure. This is actually the straw piled up in intricate arrangements and more straw piled on top to cover the whole pile and keep it somewhat rain proof.









You can see the same arrangement of straw "huts" here just on the edge of the river.


It was 7:10 when we finally drove into the gates of ???, I've forgotten the name, the little community where Srutakirti's son lives with his wife, Campakalata and their 14 year old daughter. Narayani, another guest coming from Vrindavan, had arrived just before us. I was so worried that we were late and holding up the show but boy, was I wrong! We entered the living room and I could see Madhavi, mother of the bride, in the kitchen cooking. She had a huge mound of spinach sitting next to the sink that she was slowly washing and chopping to make lasagna. She was only just starting the wedding feast and it was 10 minutes past the time the wedding was suppose to start! The bride, Vishaka, was upstairs still getting dressed and the pujari (priest) was across the road at the foot of Govardhana Hill still preparing the sacrificial mound of sand, mandalas, clay pots with water and with painting symbols on them and so forth. I immediately went into the kitchen to help Madhavi. I chopped tomatoes, washed and chopped spinach, made the sauce. Madhavi made Bael juice, made from bael fruit which has a very hard outer shell and very sweet inside. It takes a bit of skill to make and Madhavi had what it took. It is known to cool down the body and is very appreciated in the Indian summer.

Well, time just kept ticking on... 8:30, 9:00, 10:00, 11:00! I couldn't believe it! I mean, devotees are known for being late but sheesh! Madhavi managed to have the entire feast cooked and set aside in the time that we were waiting. She was thinking for a while that she wouldn't have it done in time and would have to miss out on the ceremony, which of course, we all said "No way!" Finally, the fire yajna (sacrifice/offering) as well as bride were ready and the bride was called downstairs to come over to the area selected for this ceremony.

Srutakirti's son, Mayapura Chandra, came over from his apartment in the same complex and got his father to take him and the other men over to Govardhana Hill. Still, there was a little delay from Vishaka, but eventually she was ready and we all moved over to Govardhana. First we had to crawl under the fence, even the fully dec bride! LOL and then walk a fair distance, again crawling under some barb wire. It was spectacularly hot as we walking closer and closer to Govardhana.


Champakalata, wife of Mayapura Chandra
 The wedding party headed over to the fire yajna. Vaisnava, the pujari, stops us before we get too close and asks the bride not to come any further until called. It is very hot at 11am and Vishaka's brother wears a clothe over his head to protect himself from the heat. That is why you will see many Indians wearing turbans - as protection for their heads against the heat. Here it is so hot and humid that I wet a gamsha (like sarong for men and worn around their waists), put it in the fridge if there is room, and wrap it around my head and shoulders when I go out!
Vishaka has brought her diety of Little Gopal and she is handing Him over to Mother Narayani to take over to the fire sacrifice where there is a small altar.


Govardhana Hill is famous for having been lifted by Krishna with the little finger of His left hand when Lord Indra became puffed up and tried to drown all the residents of Vrindavan. Krsna lifted Govardhana and all the residents took shelter under the Hill including the cows and other creatures of Vrindavan. Govardhana Hill is non different from Krishna Himself, so performing such a ceremony like a fire sacrifice at the foot of Govardhana Hill was extremely auspicious. In addition, the day itself was another special day, the name of which I forget, but was a very important day in India where it is believed that anything started that day was guaranteed of success and would last for an eternity. On this day many weddings are performed, pilgrims will travel to Holy places and would circumambulate Govardhana Hill or go on Parikrama (circumambulate) around Vrindavan and many businesses would be started.


As gorgeous as you would expect, Vishaka with her beautiful sari, ornaments and garlands.



The sacrificial arena (again, no animals are involved). The groom is in the background, still waiting for the bride. Here you can see the clay pots with decorations and symbols.


Here is the pujari on the left offering prayers and opening the ceremony. The bride's brother is on the right.





Getting started...
The happy groom, Srutakirti das


SWAHA!


Here ghee is being offered into the fire along with mantras and mudras (shapes and formations made with the hand/s). You can see Govardhana Hill in the background!
GIRI-GOVARDHAN KI JAYA!!


Narayani devi dasi. Madhavi, mother of the bride and a very sweet devotee from Armenia is in the background on the left. Bhaz and I are behind Narayani. And of course, the real star of the show, Govardhana Hill behind all of us. But you can't see how HOT it is!




Observers in the background. By the time the ceremony was over there were about 10 people watching on and we were all about fully cooked! It must have been over 100 degrees in the shade, literally and add to that a fire! That is why the ceremony was suppose to start at 7am, but these things happen...especially in India!











Govardhana Hill with the happy couple in the foreground.





Mayapura Chandra and his daughter whose name I think is Padma.
 Srutakirti complaining to Dad that he has had the hair burnt off his arm!








The ceremony ended at about 2 pm (we had spent the hottest time of the day in the heat at the foot of Govardhana by a blazing fire...as you do...). We couldn't wait to get back to the air conditioned apartment. We enjoyed a wonderful feast of lasagna, homemade ravioli, salad that I also made while waiting for the ceremony to get underway, bael juice followed by a beautiful wedding cake baked and decorated by Champakalata and homemade chocolate and vanilla ice cream that she also made. It was all so delicious and I thought about it for days afterwards! Poor dad couldn't eat too much probably due to heat stroke. Funny, we took plates out to our drivers who preferred to wait outside and they were shocked that there wasn't any rice or dahl! LOL Plus our driver was fasting that day until sunset observing the holy day. Poor thing didn't know what to do with it all, especially the ice cream. He had to give it all the other driver who wasn't fasting. We didn't know this until much later as we were leaving and we were bringing him more ice cream!

We eventually left Govardhana to return to Vrindavan for just enough time to give away the last of our food, meet with the shipper, Satyam, and give him the things to forward to here, Mayapura (AND WE ARE STILL WAITING, grrrrrrrrrrr) and quickly look in on the Deities on such an auspicious day.

Here you can see Their Lorships covered from head to lotus-like toes in sandalwood paste mixed with camphor as it has a very cooling affect during the hot season. Devotees began making the paste by hand for nearly a month by rubbing sticks of sandalwood, about 1.5 inches thick, back and forth on stone slabs while adding water little by little. Even Dad lent a hand. As you can see, they needed a lot of sandalwood paste!





 Sri Vishaka devi
Srimati Radharani
  






Sri Lalita devi

The Divine Couple















Younger brother, Sri Krsna

















Big Brother, Lord Balaram

Sri Sri Gaur-Nitai!
Hari Haribol!


We then paid our obeisances to the holy Dham of Vrindavan. Oh, but to return one day, by Krsna's grace, we were off to Delhi. Sad to leave, but looking forward to arriving in Mayapura and starting a new phase in the adventure...

...Chandan Yatra, PART 2, will be 'just now coming...'

4 comments:

  1. I love the photo's of the Indian countryside, especially of the peacock's with their cute and colorful little heads popping up over the tops of the grains.
    And the bride! So beautiful.
    Please continue to post about your fascinating adventures.

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  2. Lol at "domesticdreamer" above! Sorry, your cover is blown! :P

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  3. Actually, not until that last post! CHELA!!!

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  4. Kids are BRATS alright!!! And for anyone reading this NOT related to me...these are MY kids posting comments above! LOL

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