𝐢𝐤𝐬̣𝐮-𝐝𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐮𝐬

  Yama-Dvitīyā 2021 This festival is the fifth and last day of Dīpāvalī 🪔 . It falls on the dvitīyā (second date) of the śukla pakṣa (bright half, waxing moon) of the lunar month of Kārttika. It is known as Yama-Dvitīyā, or more commonly as Bhrātr̥-Dvitīyā, the dvitīyā of the brother. This becomes Bhāī Dūj in Hindi, and Bhāū Bīj in Marathi. It has traditionally been a day when sisters honour their brother and receive gifts in return. However, I find this unequal and patriarchal. Hence, I am observing it this year as a celebration of siblings irrespective of gender. I see it as a day to worship several divine figures who are siblings. The name Yama-Dvitīyā arises because this occasion is a celebration of the sibling love of the twins Yama (god of death and justice) and Yamī (the river goddess Yamunā), both children of Sūrya, the Sun, and his first wife Saṁjñā. Along with these two, I include many other deities. The pictures are below. You can click on them for a clearer vi...

Radhashtami 2021, and a century of Bharati I have returned to this blog after a hiatus of several months. Today is Radhashtami  –  the birthday of Radha. Ashtami means eighth [day]. In each lunar month, there are two ashtamis: one in the krishna paksha ( dark half/ waning moon)  and the other in the shukla paksha ( bright half/ waxing moon). If one goes by the north Indian calendar, the krishna ashtami of the month of Bhadrapada is Krishna Janmashtami, the birthday of Krishna. The shukla ashtami of the same month is Radhashtami. This year, Janmashtami was on August 30, and Radhashtami is today, September 14, 2021. On this occasion, I present to you  Mahakavi C. Subramania Bharati (11 December 1882-11 September 1921)'s song to Radha, with music by me. Interestingly, the song does not feature Krishna's name anywhere. Bharati was mainly a Tamil poet. However, he was a polyglot. This song begins in Sanskrit and ends with three couplets in Tamil. The Sanskrit part is mor...

 Basant Panchami and Saraswati Puja, 2021 Basant Panchami Winter is drawing to a close. The mustard fields are bright with masses of yellow flowers. The deep scarlet Erythrina flowers attract the bulbuls, parrots and sunbirds. The garden resounds with the calls of barbets and squirrels. The koels, which had hidden themselves in the winter, have made an appearance again. Mango and red silk cotton trees are in full bloom in the southern regions. Tender leaves, translucent pink and yellowish-green in colour, decorate the trees. On this auspicious fifth day (panchami) of the bright half of the lunar month of Magh, which in 2021 falls on February 16th, we celebrate Basant Panchami, the spring festival. It is celebrated in different ways in different places. In Punjab, it is traditionally celebrated by wearing yellow clothes, flying yellow kites, and singing and dancing. Kite flying on this day is very popular in West Punjab (Pakistan) too.  Basant Panchami is also a very important ...

 Pongal 2021 Pon gal ( po ṅkal   பொங்கல்) is a Tamil harvest festival. It falls on January 14th in most years, and on January 15th in some years. This is the day of winter solstice according to the sidereal solar calendar ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidereal_year ).  Pon gal  falls on the same day as Makara Sankranti in other regions of the Indian subcontinent. In the Tamil calendar, Pongal is the first day of the month of Thai ( tai   தை). Many Tamil people consider it the new year's day. Others celebrate the new year on April 14th (13th in leap years), the first day of the Chittirai (சித்திரை) month. But whatever be the case, Pongal is definitely the bigger celebration, and is an important cultural symbol for Tamil people the way Onam is for Malayalis. Every Tamilian celebrates Pongal, irrespective of which community they belong to. It is a Tamil festival rather than a religious one. Given that it is a celebration of newness, it makes perfect sense to me t...