Mumbai will celebrate Janmashtami, the birthday of Lord Krishna, on Monday with puja and bhog, or sanctified food. On Tuesday, the streets of the city will erupt with Dahi Handi events where young devotees will enact scenes from Krishna’s childhood.
Janmashtami is celebrated on the eighth day or Ashtami tithi of the Krishna Paksha, the waning phase in the Hindu month of Bhadrapada.
At one of the main temples in the city to the deity, the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON)’s Radha Gopinath Temple at Girgaum Chowpatty, the deities will be adorned in elaborate dresses. The early morning attire called the Mangal Arti dress, will depict the art of Pichwai that originated in the 17th century at Nathdwara, an important Vaishnavite pilgrimage centre in Rajasthan where Krishna is worshipped as Shrinathji. Pichwai paintings depicting scenes from Krishna’s life are used as a backdrop in the altar where the deity is installed. The word ‘Pichwai’ comes from ‘pichh’ meaning back and ‘wai’ meaning hanging, referring to the paintings that were originally hung behind the deity of Shrinathji.
The ritual of dressing up the deity is called shringar. The dress is decorated with zardosi, or gold embroidery, and Swarovski crystals. “The design is conceptualised, focusing on scenes from the life of Lord Krishna. including motifs like cows, lotuses, peacocks, and trees. The dress is hand painted on a base of silk and tissue cloth with acrylic colours. The colors used are typically vibrant and earthy, staying true to the traditional Pichwai palette,” said Lucky Kulkarni from ISKCON.
Other Krishna temples will have similar programmes. On Monday, Ashtika Samaj temple in Matunga, also called Kochu Guruvayur after the Shri Krishna temple in Guruvayur, Kerala, will have day-long programmes that will end at midnight when Lord Krishna was born.
A dahi handi competition called the ‘Pro Govinda Dahi Handi’ was organised in Mumbai last week in the style of the IPL franchise model. Teams competed to create tall human pyramids. The competition was won by a team called Satara Singhams (Jai Jawan Govinda Pathak, Jogeshwari) won the first prize of Rs 25 lakh.
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Iskcon deities in shringar The Sai Mauli Govinda Pathak, Kandivali, practicing for the festival The Sai Mauli Govinda Pathak at Kandivali
On Tuesday, hundreds of bands of young men and women will head out into the city’s streets for the dahi handi ritual, reenacting the playful scenes from the deity’s childhood when he formed pyramids with the help of his friends to get hold of pots filled with curd and ‘makhan’ (butter).
Dahi handi teams, called pathaks, have been preparing for the festival since July. The 180-member Sai Mauli Govinda Pathak at Kandivali has been practicing every evening after members come home from work. Describing their programme on Tuesday, Rahul Lad, a member of the group, said, “In the morning we participate in local events before going to Thane where the big competitions are held. In the evening we come back to our community dahi handi.”
Social activists, however, said that the unbridled competition to create records for human pyramids has resulted in fatal accidents. In 2022, two men died from injuries caused after falling off pyramids. In 2023, a 25-year-old man was paralysed in Nalasopara in a similar incident.
Swati Patil, president of Lokjagruti Samajik Sanstha, whose petition led the Bombay High Court and the Supreme Court to issue a directive to the Maharashtra government to lay down rules for dahi handi, including restrictions on the height of the human pyramids and a ban on participation of children, said that only some of the rules are followed. “Why cannot Maharashtra follow Janmashtami rituals followed elsewhere in the country? Why do we have dangerous competitions like dahi handi?” asked Patil. “The restriction of 20 feet for the pyramids is not followed.”
#WATCH | #Janmashtami2024: President Of Lokjagruti Samajik Sanstha, Swati Patil, Cautions Govindas Participating In Dahi Handi Events, Also Questions Authorities Ignoring Dahi Handi Rules In Maharashtra#DahiHandi #Maharashtra pic.twitter.com/8iLz80errW
— Free Press Journal (@fpjindia) August 25, 2024
However, Patil said that such dangerous competitions are on the decline. “Except in places like Thane, where politicians sponsor big competitions, the festival is now more of a local community celebration,” added Patil who recently wrote to Maharashtra’s Chief Minister, Deputy Chief Minister, and culture minister, to discourage dahi handi mandals from playing film music and vulgar dances during the celebrations. Govinda teams are guarded in their reply to questions about safety. The Kandivali pathak said they no longer send children below 14 to the top tier of the pyramids. The team is an expert at creating pyramids up to eight tiers. “Otherwise, except for 2016 (after the court orders), we have been celebrating the festival as we have done in the past,” said Lad.
