Chalk decoration at
the end of the main driveway
After he did some work on his field trials this morning, my
colleague SD and I went to the Saraswati Puja at BAU: as he explained it, it’s
a celebration of education and the one day of the year on which students aren’t
expected to study!
The completed palace
for Saraswati
Two of the ceremony’s organisers
are at the front right
We turned up a little after ceremonies had commenced: it’s a
drop in celebration – people turn up for a little while throughout the day, as
their interest and other commitments permit.
The small palace I’d seen being built all week was now complete, including
a small room with a platform on which the now-uncovered statue of Saraswati
stood. As we arrived the goddess was
being adorned with jewellery and wreaths, accompanied by a chanted commemoration of her achievements. A small
plate of fire was offered up before her. We stood outside the room, which was pretty
crowded with students; plenty of people were mingling and chatting outside too. After the ceremony the plate of fire was
taken through the crowd, to spread the goddess’ blessings.
Honouring Saraswati
All the students had dressed up in their finest clothes (the
staff who were present stood out for being in everyday clothes) – the men wore
brightly coloured kurtas (tunics to the knee or mid shin); the most spectacular
I saw was a purple and black paisley brocade kurta with large faux-diamond
buttons down the chest, but there were many others in impressive colours, often
with glitter threads woven in. The women wore a sari, a shalwar kameez suit or a more formal, similar, suit which had a long
dress, generally with a floaty chiffon overdress, instead of the shalwar. Everyone looked very elegant: there were lots
of spangles, gold and glitter and a fabulous array of colours! The organising committee (who are in their
final semester at BAU) had large rosettes pinned to their kurtas, shalwars or
saris; they were still working hard and had done an impressive job organising
the event.
Students inside the
goddess’ room
Students inside the
goddess’ room
After the ceremony was completed SD and I went into the
small room to see the goddess up close. This
was a time for people to pay their respects to the goddess in person, and have
their photo taken with her. Saraswati is
portrayed with a swan, the animal she rides.
After the ceremony her statue will taken to the river and floated away (metaphorically, I think),
to symbolise her return (on a swan) to the heavens.
Saraswati with swan
When we left the room Prasad (a gift of sweet food from the
goddess) was being distributed. SD, a really
decent guy, shared his box with one of the grounds staff at the guesthouse, while I
was very interested to see what mine contained.
Prasad box from BAU
Inside were a range of sweet foods: puffed rice; slices of carrot,
nashi pear and apple; grapes; cashews; raisins; green fruit the size of a small
plum which has a firm, slightly astringent taste and apparently no English name
(very pleasant); a small banana; a caramelised date (this is a taste sensation
which should be much more widely known than it seems to be!!! I wonder how difficult it is to caramelise a date? I think I’ll be doing some experiments to
find out when I'm home...); a round ball of cooked milk curd soaked in sugar
syrup; a packet of puffed rice soaked in saffron syrup; and a brown sweetmeat with
cashews – this was not as sweet as the other cakes, and I really enjoyed it.
Prasad from BAU
SD and I spent about 30 minutes at the ceremony; it didn’t
seem custom to remain there for long (though I think it’s a social event for students,
so they stay longer).
In the afternoon as I worked on the guesthouse verandah groups of students wandered the grounds, taking photos of themselves in their finery - much as students do in Australia on graduation day!
Saraswati Puja at the
BAU hamlet
In the early evening I went for a walk around the
agricultural campus: down to the field trials and back to the guesthouse through
the hamlet where live, I think, the domestic staff and field trial technicians
who work at BAU. Walking through the
hamlet I discovered another, very modest, Saraswati Puja underway! Here a smaller statue of the goddess was
housed in a much smaller room: this one, rather than a flashing LED gateway had
a harpy’s face at the front, with flashing red eyes and a large mouth of
gnashing teeth through which Saraswati could be seen. There were a few strands of lights outside,
under which children were playing. I
stopped to take a photo (sorry about the poor light) and was given Prasad: this time a small bag in which were a piece
of banana; slices of carrot and apple; puffed rice; and chickpea-based nibbles.
Prasad from hamlet
After sunset I went back to the celebrations at BAU academic
campus: there more people out and about, enjoying the lights and paying their
respects to Saraswati. Mostly I think
everyone had changed into warmer, more casual clothes for the evening...the
wraps were back in action too!
I was asked to be part of many people’s photos. I always wonder what the attraction of having
a random stranger in your photos of a festival day is – mostly people just want
the photo, they don’t really want to know my name, where I'm from, or why I'm here. It seems strange...I don’t really enjoy being
a tourist attraction (it’s one of the reasons I try not to take photos of
people unless I can ask their permission first) but it would be churlish to
refuse – particularly with my lack of Hindi and thus inability to explain – so in
the end I got the photographers to take some on my phone, too...
I was offered Prasad again (the students are very friendly
and welcoming), but it seemed to me three lots in one day would just be greedy!
(and probably very bad for my karma)
There was a really relaxed, friendly party atmosphere – it was
a great day!!
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