🔘 Krishna Janmashtami

Krishna Janmashtami

👉🏻 On which date is Janmashtami celebrated?

Krishna Janmashtami, Gokulashtami, Srikrishna Jayanti, Sree Jayanti or Janmashtami is a Hindu festival which is celebrated to commemorate the birth of Lord Krishna. He is believed to be the eighth incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

In the Hindu calendar, the festival always falls on Ashtami, which is the eighth day of Krishna Pasha -- or the waning moon. Janmashtami is usually celebrated in the months of August or September.

👉🏻 How is Krishna Janmashtami celebrated?

- To celebrate the festival, all the Lord Krishna temples are decorated, processions, bhajans, kirtan and satsang meetings are organised at various places to celebrate his birth. 

- The majority of temples organise recitation of holy books, Bhagavata Purana and Bhagavad Gita. 

- The celebration takes place in two parts, Jhulanotsav and Ghatas. During Juhlanotsav, Krishna devotees put swings in their homes and place God's idol inside. Then, the idol is bathed in milk and honey and adorned with jewellery and new clothes. 

- The popular ritual of 'Dahi-Handi' is also celebrated on this day. Boys gather in a compound and form a human pyramid to break the earthen pot fixed at a height of 20-30 feet from the ground. The boy who stands at the top is called Govinda and the groups are either called handis or mandals. 

- Devotees also observe a day-long fast on Krishna Janmashtami and break it on the next day when the Ashtami Tithi is over. Throughout the day, no grains are consumed. The devotees take a meal comprising of fruits and water, called 'phallar'. 

👉🏻 The Next Day - Nanda Utsav -

The next day is referred to as Nanda Utsav, where, as an offering to the Lord, devotees put together a list of 56 food items, which is referred to as the 'chappan bhog'.

This is later distributed among the people after the fast. It constitutes Lord Krishna's favourite dishes and usually includes cereals, fruits, dry fruits, sweets, drinks, namkeen and pickles in quantities of eight under each category.

Some of the common items found in the bhog are makhan mishri, kheer, rasgulla, jalebi, rabri, mathri, malpua, mohanbhog, chutney, murabba, saag, dahi, Khichadi, tikkis, milk and cashews.

👉🏻 Where is Janmashtami celebrated?

Janmashtami is one festival that is celebrated with much enthusiasm all over India, especially Mathura which is the birthplace of Lord Krishna. Every person in town is dressed in their best attire to celebrate the birthday of Bal Gopala

Devotees from different regions of the country have come up with their own local way of celebrating the festival over the years

Celebrations in south India are different from the ones in north India. In some parts of the country, Janmashtami celebrations go on for more than a day too

People in Tamil Nadu draw beautiful patterns called Kolam, made with rice batter on the entrances of their houses and tiny footprints of Bal Gopala entering their houses

Vrindavan, which is about 20 km from Mathura, is also an important place associated with Lord Krishna's life. Here, the celebrations begin 10 days before the festival starts. Raas leela, which is the dance of Krishna and his female devotees (gopis) is also performed in the entire town.

👉🏻 Significance of Janmashtami -

The main significance of this festival lies in encouraging the goodwill and discouraging the bad will. Krishna Janmashtami is also celebrated for the togetherness.

Lord Vishnu in a sacred book of ancient times named Bhagavad Gita said that whenever there will be any dominance of evil in the society and the decline of the religion, I will reincarnate in this world to kill and remove the evil and also to protect the good.

This holy festival brings all the people together. Hence Krishna Janmashtami symbolises faith and unity.

👉🏻 To celebrate the day, Krishna temples are decorated; processions are taken out, while religious sites dedicated to the Blue God see a host of bhajans and kirtans taking place along with satsangs. Many places host dance-drama enactments of the life of Krishna according to the Bhagavata Purana, devotional singing through the midnight when Krishna was born, fasting, a night vigil (ratri jagaran), and a festival the following day to celebrate his birth.

The sole reason of celebrating this festival is bringing people together so that principles of unity strengthen. Dahi Handi is another important aspect of this festival that is observed in the second day of Janmashtami. As a kid Lord Krishna was named "Makhanchor" or the one who steals butter.

 " નંદ ધેરા આનંદ ભયો જય કનૈયા લાલ કી "