Geetha Jayanthi

The Bhagavad-Gita is one of the holy scriptures in Hindu religion. The slokas in it are the advice Lord Krishna gives to Arjuna (or Arjun) right before the Kurukshetra War in the Mahabharatha epic. These slokas are not only advice to Arjuna, but to everyone who reads the Bhagavad-Gita and listens to the advice Krishna gives us. They are lessons for life.
In Arizona, a family of Krishna devotees take Bhagavad-Gita classes for people who wish to learn it. Indian parents send their children to these classes and they themselves sometimes attend classes.
Saturday, December 10th, 2016 (the date changes every year, according to the Tamil calendar, which follows the stars), marked the yearly anniversary of the day Krishna imparted this holy advice to Arjuna. This class of Bhagavad-Gita students celebrated Geetha Jayanthi by presenting some slokas from each chapter with their meanings to the parents present there.
(P.S. I went to this event because my cousins are in this class and they were presenting and I JUST got my driver's license so I wanted to drive and my aunt and uncle let me!)

I took videos of the presentations! Unfortunately, there was something wrong with my phone so i could only take about 3 minute long videos, and that caused me to skip some parts f the presentation. But I'm posting the 13 videos I did take with whatever I captured and I hope you enjoy learning a litle about the Bhagavad-Gita slokas and what they mean!

25 Random Stuff About India

Okay, so it struck me that I haven't really given a good introduction to the culture and lifestyle of India much. People need to understand that India is more than just “culture and colors”. Its richness cannot be described in just those two words. The thing is, there are lots of almost unrelated stuff that all collectively make India the country it is. Therefore, I have compiled a list!

1. India HAD 28 states and 7 union territories. NOW, it has 29 states and 8 union territories. Two years ago, Andhra Pradesh (A.P.) broke up into A.P. and Telangana. Hyderabad is the joint capital for the next ten years until the new A.P. can form its own capital.
   
2. India has about a million festivals. I mean, there's ALWAYS something to celebrate, at least once or twice a month. Especially since India accommodates every religion in the world. We all celebrate Hindu, Christian AND Muslim festivals. More holidays from school! Yay!
3. The culture, food and lifestyle are usually generally categorized as North Indian and South Indian. South Indian (i.e., of the states Tamil Nadu, Kerala, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh) culture and festivals are all somewhat similar, while North Indian (basically everything else) culture and festivals are all somewhat similar.
4. EVERY STATE has their own language and set of cultures, traditions and festivals. Don't even get me started on food.
5. North Indians all speak either Hindi or a language similar to Hindi because its roots were originally in Hindi.
6. South Indians speak Tamil in Tamil Nadu, Malayalam in Kerala, Telugu in Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and Kannada in Karnataka.
7. Of course, these languages I mentioned are not limited to being spoken within that state.
8. India has 14 officially recognized languages. And then about a hundred more because regional dialects change ever so slightly and end up becoming different languages.
9. No one actually speaks Sanskrit, okay? Although kids still learn that in school, which is sometimes mandatory.
10. India is not all jungle or rural areas. We have cities too. We have busy areas and not-so-busy areas. No, we don't have pet elephants.

    

    A picture of a part of Chennai, the capital of Tamil Nadu

11. HOLI IS THE FESTIVAL WHERE PEOPLE THROW COLORS. No, it is not to be confused with Diwali or anything else. Holi is a North Indian festival that is usually celebrated in February or March and is always around annual exam time for school children in India. You'll hear more about this when the time comes.
    

    
12. Hindi is a language. Hindu is a religion. Please don't mix them up.
13. In the olden days, Indian society was divided into Brahmins, Kshatriyas, Vaishyas and Shudhras.
14. Today, Hindus are just classified as Brahmins and Non-Brahmins, in general.
15. Brahmins are staunch vegetarians and extremely religious. They were the families of priests in the olden days. It is said that each Brahmin family is a descendant of a sage.
16. Non-brahmins are usually non-vegetarians. They have different versions of Hindu traditions.
17. IF YOU'RE VEGAN, I'M SORRY BUT YOU JUST CANNOT EAT ANY INDIAN SWEETS! We use milk and ghee, along with other milk products and ingredients, in every sweet we make.
    

    

    
    
18. Ghee is melted butter. It's actually something VERY common in India and I assumed everyone all over the world knew that melted butter is called ghee. I guess I was wrong. Well, now you know!
    

    
19. The national bird of India is a peacock.
    

    

    
20. The national flower of India is a lotus.
    

    
21. The national game is HOCKEY.

    

    Indian Women's Hockey Team, which qualified for the Rio Olympics in 2016, but sadly lost at a crushing defeat to Australia's team.

22. INDIANS ARE CRAZY ABOUT CRICKET - DO NOT MESS WITH THEM ABOUT THAT OR YOU’LL DIE AN EARLY DEATH.
23. Also, Indians go CRAZY at weddings. They have different types of weddings all over the country. The ceremonies usually last 3-4 days and there's LOADS of fun!
24. Contrary to popular belief, most Indians do NOT speak like Raj from Big Bang Theory. Some Indians may have rather comical accents, but most of us are clear speakers. 
    
25. A large proportion of the Indian population understand and can speak English to an extent. This tends to take many people by surprise, but the English language is quite common and in some cities, prevalent. In fact, there are many English-medium schools where the primary language the children must speak in at school is English.

That's it for now. Remember, these are just a handful of things everyone should know about India. This isn't even the beginning, believe me. But, for now, I hope you enjoyed reading this!

Garba and Raas

Garba and Raas

Ranj is back with another article!

On Saturday, November 5^th, I attended an event called USSA presents Garba and Raas at the SDFC (Sun Devil Fitness Complex) on the ASU Tempe campus. This was more of a North Indian event, specifically a Gujarati event (meaning a festival that originated from the state Gujarat in India). Keep in mind that I am a South Indian so this was a new experience for me.

Garba and Raas (or Dandiya) are two forms of Gujarati dances.

Many traditional Garbas are peformed around a centrally lit lamp or a picture/statue of the Goddess Shakti. Garba is performed in a circle of the belief that time is a continuous cycle. As the cycle of time revolves, from birth, to life, to death and again to rebirth, the only thing that is constant is the Goddess, that one unmoving symbol in the midst of all of this unending and infinite movement. The dance symbolizes that God, represented in feminine form in this case, is the only thing that remains unchanging in a constantly changing universe.

Raas or Dandiya Raas is a traditional folk dance form of Gujarat, India, and is associated with scenes of Holi, and Leela of Krishna and Radha at Vrindavan. Along with Garba, it is the featured dance of Navrathri evenings in Western India.

The main difference between Garba and Raas is that Raas is played with Dandiyas (pair of colorfully decorated sticks), while Garba consists of various hand and feet movements. Most of the Dandiya steps require even number of people while in Garba there is no such requirement on number of people.

For Dandiya, sometimes instead of sticks, people also use "Swords". The circular movements of Dandiya Raas are much more complex than that of Garba. As people play with sticks, it is important to be careful while playing Dandiya.

I've captured a few videos of Raas, or Dandiya, for you guys to see!

Diwali: The Festival of Lights

Diwali:

The Festival of Lights

Ranjani is back with another post!!!

Last week, I told you about two of the stories behind Diwali.

Saturday and Sunday were celebrated as Diwali, and there was joy and fun everywhere with family and friends. Technically, Saturday was celebrated as Diwali for South Indians while Sunday was celebrated as Diwali for North Indians.

Diwali is actually a 5 day festival in North India.
 Day 1: Dhanteras 
     On this day, people buy gold, new vessels, and other things related to the Goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth).
 Day 2: Choti (Small) Diwali or Naraka Chaturdasi 
     On this day, it's just a small pre-Diwali celebration, so they light a few diyas (lamps).
 Day 3: Diwali 
     The actual Diwali celebration take place on the third day, which happened on Sunday, October 30 this year.
 Day 4: Govardhan Pooja 
     On Govardhan Pooja, Lord Krishna is worshiped. Lord Krishna once lifted an entire mountain, Govardhan Parvat (mountain), and held it on his little finger to shelter the people of his village from a terrible storm caused by an upset Lord Indra. To celebrate this, people prepare sweets that are said to be Krishna's favorite.
 Day 5: Bhaidooj 
     Bhaidooj is a day to celebrate brothers. On this day, sisters put a tilak on their brother's forehead and pray for their long life. They feed their brother sweets and their brother in return give his sister gifts.

On Diwali, it is traditional to light diyas (lamps).

People also bust firecrackers and light fireworks on Diwali! There are a great many types of firecrackers and fireworks. I use the distinction firecrackers for the explosive types, typically burst during the day, and fireworks for the beautiful types that produce light and are usually lit at night. My faves are the sparklers, flower pots and rockets! Although, in recent years, many people have begun to avoid crackers due to the immense noise and air pollution, they remain a definite mark of Diwali.

This is a satellite picture taken by NASA from space of India on Diwali in 2011. The entire country is lit up with lights from the festival!

In the below video, you can see different kinds of firecrackers and fireworks one typically sees on Diwali in India. You see them in this order: 

1. Flower pot

2. Redford garlands, called walas, that typically come in strings of 100, 200, 500, 1000, 5000, and 10000. They are therefore called 100-wala, 200-wala, 500-wala, and so on.

3. Some kind of small explosive, categorized under atom bombs.

4. Chakkars, or Chakram in Tamil.

5. A rocket.

Shivakasi is a village in India that is entirely dependent on the sale of firecrackers and fireworks for Diwali. The village specializes in making firecrackers and fireworks all year long for Diwali. You can check out the 2016 list of fireworks!

On Diwali, it is also a custom to wear a new outfit. This, of course, is only supposed to be prohibited if someone has died in the family that year, although the rule is not enforced and it depends entirely on your family.

People spend time with relatives for this festival. Sweets of all varieties and snacks like ‘murukku’, ‘ribbon pakoda’ and ‘thattai’ are prepared (usually beginning from a few days in advance because it takes so much time to make all this stuff) and distributed among family, friends and neighbors on Diwali.

Sweets and snacks prepared for Diwali at my aunt's house for Diwali 2016

Thanks to my friend Bhargav, and some Whatsapp group chats with family and friends, I have acquired videos of the beautiful firecrackers and fireworks of Diwali. 

The above two videos are of Flower Pots.The second one is in slow motion! The one below is of other fireworks similar to flower pots. Notice that the firecrackers and fireworks are lit by sparklers in the video.  In India, they are also usually lit by incense sticks.

Here is a fireworks show on Diwali!

That's me in a half saree with a sparkler. My dad's standing behind me. Happy Diwali!

The Story of Diwali

The Story of Diwali

Hello there! This is Ranjani. I’m really excited to tell you about Diwali, which is right around the corner and one of my favorite festivals ever!

                          

Diwali is known as the festival of lights in India. It is one of the biggest festivals, celebrated all over India with firecrackers and fireworks from early morning to late into the night. I will explain more about Diwali in the next post, because Diwali is this Saturday, October 29, 2016! (Again, the dates for Hindu festivals change every year. Last year, in 2015, Diwali was on November 10^th.)

There are many stories behind Diwali, depending on which state of India they are from and their religion. I'm going to introduce you to two of the ones I've heard. The first of these stories is one of the two great epics in Hindu mythology: the Ramayana (RAA--MAA--ya-NAA). The second one is the story of Lord Krishna, who goes on to be one of the main characters in the other great epic, the Mahabharatha (ma-HAA--BHAA-ra-THA), and the God whose words comprise the entirety of the holy book, the Bhagavad-Gita (BHA-GA-VAD--GEE-THAA).

Rama’s Return to Ayodhya

The Ramayana is the story of Lord Ram, or Rama (RAA-MAA), who was sent on a 14-year exile from his kingdom Ayodhya (ah-YO-DHYA), on the day he was to be crowned prince.  Although Rama is the only one exiled, his wife Sita and brother Lakshmana (LACKSH-ma-na) (one of three brothers Rama has) follow him. During his exile, his wife, Sita (SEE-THAA), is kidnapped and taken to Lanka by the demon Ravana (RAA-va-naa). Rama goes on a journey searching for her and makes friends with monkeys, who constitute his army, and fight Ravana’s demon army. They actually build a bridge of stones called the Rama Setu from the tip of India to Sri Lanka – rocks that float all on their own and can support the weight of anyone – which still exists today. Watch this video that tells you more about this amazing bridge.

The day Rama returns back to Ayodhya after his 14-year exile is said to be celebrated as Diwali.

One thing you need to understand about Indian epics is that there are literally thousands of stories within that one big story, and so much happens! Growing up, my parents had bought a DVD of the Ramayana story in English for me and my brother to watch. Here’s a link to that. I encourage you to watch it!

In the center, we have Sri Rama. To his right, we see his brother Lakshmana, and to his left, we see his wife Queen Sita. At Rama's feet, we see his devotee Hanuman.

Krishna vs Kamsa

Lord Krishna (Krish-NAA) is one of the most popular gods in Hinduism. Again, there are lots of smaller stories about Krishna – perhaps more than those about Rama – but the gist of it all is this: Krishna’s uncle Kamsa (COME-saa) heard a prophesy that the eigth son of his sister will kill him. Fearing for his life, he locked up his sister and her husband in a stone prison. He killed every child of theirs, but on the night of Krishna’s birth there were supernatural occurrences that aided in his escape. His father carried the newborn baby all the way to Vrindavan (VRIN-DAA-VUN) to the cowherder Nanda’s (NUN-DA) house and exchanged Krishna for their newborn daughter while everyone was asleep. Thus Krishna grew up in Vrindavan. Kamsa found out Krishna has escaped and was out there somewhere and sent demon after demon to slay him. However, when the time came, Krishna himself went to Mathura (MA-thu-raa), the city he was born in, and slayed Kamsa.

Diwali is celebrated as the day Krishna slayed his wicked uncle, Kamsa.

I’ve mentioned that Krishna’s story continues further into the Mahabharatha epic. This article gives you more detail on Krishna’s story, although there are still many smaller stories that are not mentioned. 

This is Lord Krishna, portrayed with his flute (Krishna ALWAYS has a flute he's playing) and a cow or two behind him denoting his childhood rearing cows in Vrindavan.

Another popular story behind Diwali is that of the slaying of a demon called Narakasura (na-ra-KAA-su-RAA); however, I am unfamiliar with that one. 

And on that note, HAPPY DIWALI, EVERYONE!

Navrathri

NAVRATHRI

Navrathri (NAV-RAA-THREE) is a festival dedicated to the worship of the Hindu goddess Durga. The word Navrathri literally means “Nine nights” in Sanskrit (‘nava’ means nine and ‘rathri’ means night), so the festival is celebrated for nine nights and ten days.

The story behind Navrathri is the battle between the goddess Durga (DOOR-GA) and the demon Mahishasura (MA-HEE-SHAA-SU-RAA). There is also another story to explain this festival: In the Ramayana, Lord Rama had a huge battle with the demon Ravana in Lanka and this festival celebrates the days of that war culminating in victory. You can read the detailed stories here. Ultimately, Navrathri is the celebration of the triumph of truth over evil. 

Navrathri is celebrated in different ways in different parts of India. In South India (Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the Union Territories of Andaman and Nicobar, Lakshadweep and Puducherry), it is called Golu; in East India (Bihar, Jharkhand, Odisha, West Bengal, and also the union territory Andaman and Nicobar Islands), it is celebrated as Durga Pooja; in West India (Goa, Gujarat and Maharashtra, along with the Union Territories of Daman and Diu and Dadra and Nagar Haveli) it is celebrated as Garba; and in North India (Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Rajasthan, and the Union Territories Delhi and Chandigarh), it is celebrated as Ramlila. In this article, we will tell you about the South Indian way of celebrating Navrathri - Golu. Check out this article to know more about the other kinds of Navrathri!

Golu is mainly a social event. There are poojas (rituals) toward the end of the festival - the 8th day is Saraswathi (SA-RA-SVA-THEE) Pooja and the 9th day is Vijayadasami (VI-JAYA-DUH-SUH-MEE). I'll explain more about this at the end.

A "golu" is basically a a set of steps set up and decorated with dolls and idols (made from clay or paper mache usually) arranged on it that we generally buy in shops and roadside stalls in South India. Sometimes, aside from the dolls of the Gods and Goddesses, some people set up scenes of regular day to day things like a marketplace scene or a park. Some even have scenes of a marriage, a pooja, or a cricket game. It's all up to creativity!

Here are some pictures of some Golus:

Here's an example of the golu at one of Ranjani's relative's houses in India

You can see a close up of the dolls and arrangement in the pictures above

Here's the golu at Ranjani's friend Sowmya's house in India. Instead of setting up steps, they decided to use the shelves in the wall to arrange their golu on. 

When there's more stuff to display, people usually decorate an extra table or something next to the golu steps

Another golu at one of Ranjani's relative's houses

 Above are pictures of the golu at of Ranjani's friend Divakar's house in Chennai in India

These were the golus at Ranjani's house in two different years in India

Below are some more pictures from these

This was Ranjani way back in 2013, wearing a gaghra choli (a type of North Indian outfit)

This is a marriage scene. The dolls and pieces for these type of scenes are usually sold as sets.

Ranjani decorated the sides of her golu with streamers. One can decorate their golu extravagantly or keep things simple. It is ultimately up to their creativity!

This is the golu at Ranjani's aunt's house

Navrathri is also celebrated by Indians in the United States! Indians here either get their dolls and steps shipped from India or order them all off amazon (which is what is most used). The problem with shipping these from India is that some dolls are made from clay and therefore very heavy and all the dolls are very delicate and can might break while shipping if the package is not handled carefully. 

These steps are set up and the dolls are arranged on them and decorated and this arrangement is kept throughout the duration of the festival. During Navrathri, people who set up golus in their house invite friends and relatives over to see it and they go to other people's houses too. When you go to see someone's golu, you can choose to sing in praise of the goddesses or just sit down and look at the golu. When you are leaving, you get something like a return gift as a "thank you for coming" sort of thing. This is generally only for the women and young girls, by the way, because Navrathri is first and foremost a ladies' festival, but these days people buy stuff to give to young boys too when their moms drag them along to these things. Typically, a return gift consists of two betel leaves; something called "paaku" in Tamil (it would be called something different in other languages); a fruit; and "kungumam" and "chandanam" (again, these are the names for the things in Tamil and it would be called something different in other languages). 

Ranjani was invited to her friend Manas's house and her aunt's house for Navrathri. We both went to her friend Manas's house on Saturday, October 1st, the first day of Navrathri in 2016 (the dates for festivals change every year since the Hindu calendar is based on the moon and stars). 

The golu at Ranjani's friend Manas's house

From left to right: Ranjani, Sarah and Manas, standing in front of Manas's golu. Ranjani is wearing an anarkali, Sarah is wearing a gaghra choli, and Manas is wearing a sari.

There are two rules to Navrathri:

1. Once you start, you must keep the golu in your home every year. The only exception to this rule is if a family member dies, in which case you cannot celebrate any festival for a full year.
2. You must add at least one new doll every year.

   

   During Navrathri, we must perform a pooja for the goddess every day, morning and evening, and prepare a sweet (we'll devote a whole blog post to Indian sweets soon - there are thousands of different sweets one can prepare at home) or sundal (SOON-DAL) (a traditional South Indian dish prepared from chickpeas, peanuts, black eyed peas, or moong beans, etc.) as offerings and give as 'prasadam' (PRA-SAA-DUM) to the guests who visit our house. 

   

THE END OF NAVRATHRI:

   The 8th day of Navrathri is called Saraswathi Pooja. It is a day devoted to the goddess Saraswathi, so on this day we must not study anything. Students in India usually have a holiday from school for this day. On the morning of Saraswathi Pooja, each person in the household takes some of their books, a notebook, and a pen and/or pencil and piles it all up in front of the goddess (it could be in front of the golu or in the pooja room or the prayer area). Then we cover it with a cloth and do a pooja (ritual) for the goddess Saraswathi and leave everything like that for the rest of the day, until the next morning.

In the above pictures, you will see the books and notebooks covered by an orange cloth and the Mridangam instrument kept in front of the golu for Saraswathi Pooja

   The 9th day of Navrathri is called Vijayadasami. This is an auspicious day to start learning something new. People going to music, dance, or any kind of class are usually called by their teacher for just a short class on this day even if they usually don't have class that day of the week to learn something new. A pooja is performed again and the cloth is removed off the books. Each person is given their books and they read something in each of their books and write something in their notebooks. This symbolizes the goddess's blessings in studies in those subjects and further learning. There is also a tradition of writing in raw rice. A platter of uncooked rice is placed in front of everyone and they each take turns writing with their fingers in it - first the chant "Om Sri Maha Ganapathaye Namaha" thrice in Sanskrit, then usually the alphabet and some numbers. Ranjani usually traces the English and Hindi alphabet with her fingers in the rice and then the numbers from 1 to 10 or 20 or any number she wants. This symbolizes the blessings of the goddess in reading, writing and math. On the night of the 9th day, the dolls are supposed to be lain down on the steps, to "put them to sleep". If there is not enough space, people usually lay down one or two dolls.

   The 10th day of Navrathri is the day all the dolls on the steps are taken down and carefully packed into boxes to store away until next year. The steps are dismantled and the decorations taken down and everything is stored away safely. The only exception to this is if the tenth day falls on a Tuesday or Friday, which are auspicious days for the Goddess Ambal (AAM-BAAL), in which case the golu will be taken down the days after that.