There is an ancient tradition of celebrating Nav Jagriti festival in the name of ‘Basant Panchami’ every year on the fifth day of Shukla Paksha of Magh month. During the spring season, the sound of excitement and joy resonates in the entire creation including animals, birds, trees and plants. Lord Shri Krishna in Gita has called spring as the best season and himself as spring.
According to the mythological story, sound was created in the universe on the day of Basant Panchami. Lord Brahma, the father of creation, had created everything from insects to giant animals and from tiny plants to huge plants. After creating the beautiful creation, Lord Brahma realized that there is silence in the creation. The entire creation is silent. There is no noise or noise anywhere. Due to which, instead of joy, there is sadness everywhere. To remove such misery and to awaken enthusiasm in the entire environment, Lord Brahma had taken water from his Kamandal and sprinkled it in the atmosphere. Due to which the beautiful Goddess Saraswati with four arms had incarnated. Book, garland and veena were adorning his hands.
Brahma ji requested the newly incarnated Veena-wielding Goddess to create sound and sound in the creation. Then the Goddess played the Veena and created noise, noise, rustling and chirping in the creation with the melodious sound of the Veena. The name of the goddess who originated the sound-nath-vaani in all living and non-living things was named Vagdevi.
Goddess Saraswati was born on the day of Basant Panchami, hence this day is also known as Bageshwari Jayanti, Madnotsav, Rishi Panchami. Goddess Saraswati, clad in white clothes, incarnate on Basant Panchami, sits on a beautiful white swan bird. Yellow white flowers, naivedya, clothes and other musical instruments including Veena are dear to the Goddess.
The day of Basant Panchami is a very important day not only from the point of view of religion but also in the world of history and literature. According to the mythological story, Lord Shri Ram reached the house of Bhilani Shabari and ate false plums full of love on this day. This is also the birth anniversary of the great king Bhoj. This day has special fame in history, because on this day the brave king Prithviraj Chauhan killed the cruel emperor Mohammad Gauri by shooting a word-piercing arrow.
Suryakant Tripathi Nirala, the immortal great poet of Hindi literary world, was born on the day of Basant Panchami. Nirala ji had composed the timeless Saraswati Vandana like ‘Var De Veena Vaadini Var De’. He used to donate money and clothes to the poor with an open heart. That is why Nirala ji is also called the great man ‘Mahapran’. Mahamana Pandit Madan Mohan Malviya Ji had inaugurated Banaras Hindu University on the day of Basant Panchami itself.
Out of the twelve months of the year, the date of Basant Panchami has the status of the most sacred day. According to astrology, there is ‘Mutva Muhurta’ on this day. In such unexplained Muhurta, auspicious works like marriage, house warming, purchase of vehicle, piercing of ears and nose, initiation of education, Annaprashan can be performed at any time without observing the auspicious time, i.e. Every moment of the day is auspicious. There is also a tradition of donating study material to poor students on this day.
On the day of Basant Panchami, devotees of Goddess Saraswati worship their musical instruments, pens and books while wearing yellow clothes and eating yellow food items. The origin of beautiful, ear-pleasing rhythms in instruments made from inanimate objects like clay, leather, metal, wood is the glory of Vidya Devi’s qualities.
In spring, mustard, sunflower, marigold,
Yellow flowers bloom in the saffron and pigeon pea plants. The smell of the ripening grains of wheat, gram and barley adds to the beauty of nature. Bees, butterflies and bumblebees hum on the flowers of Palash, Semal and Mango plants and drink the nectar of the flowers. Trees and plants also shed their old yellow leaves and adorn themselves with beautiful new leaves. Seeing which the cuckoo starts croaking. Peacocks dance and become the center of public attraction.
‘Hakar’ Basant Panchami is considered to be the indicator of the arrival of Holi, the festival of colors. On this day, a Holika burning site is selected and in villages and cities, after cleaning the site, castor tree branch is buried there. While collecting wooden sticks, people engaged in this work start singing Phag along with the tune of drum.
According to Vedic texts and great sages, a person’s life is meaningless without knowledge, hence on the birth anniversary of Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge, donate letters to the illiterate. While taking a pledge to donate knowledge, remember these lines of Kavishree – Sleep after writing something, read something, sleep beyond the place where you woke up.
Vijay Mishra ‘Amit’
hindi-folk theater artist
