The year was 1290 . A crowd had gathered around a clearing, where broken down pillars marked the presence of an ancient temple, now long gone. A young boy, just 14 years old, leaned against one of those pillars, deep in thought. Then, he began speaking, and the crowd fell silent, listening to his every word. He spoke without any notes, translating the Bhagavat Gita, from Sanskrit, which only the pundits knew, to the language everyone in the village knew and spoke – a variety of Prakrit which developed into the Marathi language. Even as he spoke, one of the men in the audience realized how momentous this event was, and how important this composition would be. He began writing down the words the young boy spoke, and this composition was named by its author and composer, the Bhavartha Deepika – the enlightening meaning (of the Bhagavat Gita). Now, the ancient, holy text, was no longer restricted to the pundits, but accessible to all, understood easily by them, composed as it was, in their...
Our first outing of the year was to Jalgaon where we attended a havan and a puja. An auspicious beginning to the new year, wouldn't you say? Considering that we perform so many rituals ourselves at home, I have always been fascinated by all the paraphernalia that we use for them. I used the opportunity at Jalgaon to click pics, not of the puja itself, which everyone else was doing, but of the preparations for the puja.......... Here is the puja site.. all ready and prepared.... That's the havan kund.. where the fire will be lit... Here are the essentials - water, haldi(turmeric), kumkum, chandan...etc. etc. etc... i love that kamadalu-like vessel with the spout.. Don't know its correct name.... look at the tiny different shaped wooden articles next to it. They are used for the havan for making the offerings... Fruits and flowers... and the spoons used for the havan... again, sorry, but the names elude me. The Kalash - the central item.... and fi...