Asim Bando's KOLKATA BLOG

Jhulan Yatra is one of the most important festival of devotees of Lord Krishna. It is the third biggest festival of Vaishnavas after Dol Yatra and Janmastami. It usually falls in the Bengali month Shravan. According to Gregorian calendar July-August is the month when Jhulan Yatra occur. This year it will begin on 1 Bhadra,  according to Bangla calendar (18 August) on the day of Ekadashi. It will run for 5 days and on Purnima (full moon day) Jhulan Yatra will end. The day is called Jhulan Purnima.        Jhulan Yatra is the religious occasion for Hindus and Vaishnavas. It mainly observed in 'Bonedi' families and in Moth and temples,  but the children especially are enthusiastic to decorate 'Jhulan' in the entrance of their houses during all 5 day long, with sand, stones, woods, clay dolls and toys, small trees, puppet huts and wooden swings for the jhulan of Radha-Krishna. The family members use to perform rituals and puja of the house-god lord Krishna on th

In old Kolkata, Rath Yatra celebration was very gorgeous. It was the British Raaj in India, the aristocrats used to observe Rath Yatra in Kolkata with pomp and grandeur. Sheth and Basak family of Bowbazar used to organise rally of Rath on the road with their Kul Devta Govind ji. The Rath was 70 feet high. The Rath used to pull on Bowbazar Street upto Laldighi of Dalhousie.  A gorgeous Rath used to run at Posta area of Kolkata. People of all ages used to enjoy the rally with colourful flags in hand, khol kartal were the musical instruments used to play throughout the rally. Some used to spray atar, keora, aguru and sandalwood water among the devotees.  Batasa was the prasad used to throw from the chariot amongst devotees and they used to pick those. Ramkanai Adhikary's Rath of Bowbazar was very famous in old Kolkata. It was almost 150 years old. But now a small chariot use to pull within family.  A silver Rath was very famous in old Kolkata.  Its owner was Rajchandra Das's fam

I visited the Sati Shaktipeeth Kankalitala with my own and my younger brother's family last winter. It was a pleasant journey by car from Rampurhat of Birbhum district. We started our journey at about 9 am from my elder sister's house at Rampurhat. On the way we took rest at some market place for breakfast. After that, we again moved by car for our destination Kankalitala.            Finally, we crossed about 63 kms and reached at the desired Shaktipeeth after one and half an hour.           When we reached there, we saw that a good number of beggers were sitting on both side of the entrance road. We slowly crossed the road and entered into the main premises of the temple. The temple is a traditional 'pacca' construction with adjacent 'Nat Mandir' for the devotees and pilgrims. At that morning time, some of family's were busy with the rituals of goddess and some of them came for marriage also. Then I'

Today is Makar Sankranti. More than 4 lakh devotees taken the holy dip on the Gangasagar at Sagar Island 180 Kms from Kolkata. Last night rituals with fire was performed and before the dip, rituals on the water also performed. Then, lakhs of pilgrims took holy dip on Gangasagar. -- A. B.