Every festival is an amalgamation of impressive Ritual's & Tradition's . Distinctive Symbolization guided by the spiritual, religious & practical significance, many being peculiar to the State where its celebrated!
Typical of Maharashtra, our first exposure to the exchanging of Sona (Gold) leaves, on Dusherra, was, while in school. Since then, I continue to look forward to this offering & receiving of Sona, amongst family & friends. If we did visit a temple, the Priest too would give us a few leaves! The childish happiness at counting the number of leaves we had received, if the leaves are conjoined, not damaged ….. somewhere, even then, we were hoping that the simple Leaves would be converted into real thing or maybe someday, we would receive the real Gold leaves!
To add some weightage to this absurdity, one of my Blessings this year was – May you Prosper with Health, Happiness & next year, make sure give me a real Gold Leaf! The immediate response (expected in a way), was," You are thinking about yourself " …. To which my simple answer was," I am thinking of you, if you don't prosper, how will you manage to get me the gold leaf"! Age and experience, give’s absurdity, a conscious insight!
However, with the passage of time, I do feel, this exchange has declined, the excitement missing (mostly in cities, is my presumption)! And for the first time in so many years, I wanted to know the significance behind this tradition.
So, here goes …..
Ritual
On Dusherra day, people worship the Aapta tree or sona-tree (Bauhinia recemosa) and exchanging its leaves. The leaves symbolize gold (as the name Sona, suggests).
The tree is also worshipped with the following mantra, for a prosperous future.
Ashmantak Mahavruksha MahadoshnivaranI
Istana darshanm dehi kuru shtruvinashnamII
Roughly translated : O great Aapta (Ashmantak) tree, you are the one who overcomes great defects. Unite me with my friends and destroy my foes
Tradition & Legend
**As per one tradition, on winning a war, the victorious Maratha's , returned home with good deal of gold. These soldiers were welcomed home by their wives and sisters with Aarti. In return, the soldiers gave them some gold ornaments & the rest was given as offerings at the temple, seeking, blessing of the Deities and Elder.
**This other tradition, is based on a mythological legend. Kautsa, the son of a Brahmin, insists on paying Guru Dakshina to his guru, Rishi Varatantu, after completing his education. The rishi refuses to accept dakshina, but on Kautsa's insistence, asks him to give him 140 million gold coins. Kautsa requests King Raghu of Ayodhya, for the gold coins, who prays to Lord Indra, asking for a solution. Indra instruct's Kuber, the god of wealth, to shower gold coins on the Aapta tree's of Ayodhya. These coins are then collected by Kautsa and offered to his Guru and remaining to the poor people of Ayodhya. This is why the leaves of this tree are referred to as gold.
Commercial & Medicinal Use's
~~~~These leaves are also called Bidi leaves because the leaves are used for making bidis. But what many don't know is the medicinal uses of these leaves. Here are some scientific research studies that elaborate on the same:
~~~~They help fight bacterial and fungal infection's. They help fight asthma .They help fight diabetes.
A few Details
Martha's - people of Maharashtra
Aarti - a prayer sung with the waving of a lamp
Aapta tree : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhinia_racemosa
Google, in case ! : https://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/vijayadashmi-triumph-righteousness
To add some weightage to this absurdity, one of my Blessings this year was – May you Prosper with Health, Happiness & next year, make sure give me a real Gold Leaf! The immediate response (expected in a way), was," You are thinking about yourself " …. To which my simple answer was," I am thinking of you, if you don't prosper, how will you manage to get me the gold leaf"! Age and experience, give’s absurdity, a conscious insight!
However, with the passage of time, I do feel, this exchange has declined, the excitement missing (mostly in cities, is my presumption)! And for the first time in so many years, I wanted to know the significance behind this tradition.
So, here goes …..
Ritual
On Dusherra day, people worship the Aapta tree or sona-tree (Bauhinia recemosa) and exchanging its leaves. The leaves symbolize gold (as the name Sona, suggests).
The tree is also worshipped with the following mantra, for a prosperous future.
Ashmantak Mahavruksha MahadoshnivaranI
Istana darshanm dehi kuru shtruvinashnamII
Roughly translated : O great Aapta (Ashmantak) tree, you are the one who overcomes great defects. Unite me with my friends and destroy my foes
Tradition & Legend
**As per one tradition, on winning a war, the victorious Maratha's , returned home with good deal of gold. These soldiers were welcomed home by their wives and sisters with Aarti. In return, the soldiers gave them some gold ornaments & the rest was given as offerings at the temple, seeking, blessing of the Deities and Elder.
**This other tradition, is based on a mythological legend. Kautsa, the son of a Brahmin, insists on paying Guru Dakshina to his guru, Rishi Varatantu, after completing his education. The rishi refuses to accept dakshina, but on Kautsa's insistence, asks him to give him 140 million gold coins. Kautsa requests King Raghu of Ayodhya, for the gold coins, who prays to Lord Indra, asking for a solution. Indra instruct's Kuber, the god of wealth, to shower gold coins on the Aapta tree's of Ayodhya. These coins are then collected by Kautsa and offered to his Guru and remaining to the poor people of Ayodhya. This is why the leaves of this tree are referred to as gold.
Commercial & Medicinal Use's
~~~~These leaves are also called Bidi leaves because the leaves are used for making bidis. But what many don't know is the medicinal uses of these leaves. Here are some scientific research studies that elaborate on the same:
~~~~They help fight bacterial and fungal infection's. They help fight asthma .They help fight diabetes.
A few Details
Martha's - people of Maharashtra
Aarti - a prayer sung with the waving of a lamp
Aapta tree : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bauhinia_racemosa
Google, in case ! : https://www.hindujagruti.org/hinduism/vijayadashmi-triumph-righteousness
No comments:
Post a Comment