Janmashtami Celebrations-a Night to Remember

Many years back I had the good fortune of attending the Janmashtami (birth of Lord Krishna) celebrations at the Gangotri temple. Gangotri in Uttarakhand, India is one of the holiest places and is one of the CharDhams (Four pilgrimages that a Hindu should undertake in his/ her lifetime).

The following day we drove to Uttarkashi where a nice surprise was waiting for us. Uttarkashi was celebrating Janmashtami that day. We rejoiced as most religious festivals are celebrated on the same day throughout the country.

At night, almost the whole town had gathered at the old temple with everyone wearing a shining red chunni (short scarf) on their foreheads with Jai Shree Krishna written on it. We were curious to see groups of little boys & girls dressed up as little Krishna and Gopis (Lord Krishna and milmaids -usually his companions/ consorts) .

Children dressed as Krishna and Gopis

As the ‘program’ began, the groups took ‘stage’ and danced to the bhajans. I have to add that I find DJ remix bhajans that are usually sung to the track of popular but often lewd, raunchy Bollywood numbers to be utterly disgusting! And there, these groups of tiny tots from different schools, mohallas and communities, were dancing innocently to the same. After each ‘performance’, people would clap. After a while, I could hear murmurs of ‘should we clap as in a function?’ ‘Isn’t this a devotional event’ ‘yeah we should be celebrating it the old way’. Eventually the dances were brought to a halt and the singers (performers called from the city) were asked to take over.

The loud but rhythmic clapping of the Dhol (Indian drums) must have been very calming as the little Krishnas and Gopis fell asleep on their mothers & fathers’ laps. As the clock neared the midnight hour, the clapping of the dhol grew louder with the sound of everyone jumping in with a high pitched chantings of ‘Hare Krishna’, ‘Jai Jai Govind, Jai Jai Gopala’’. It would be hard not to be touched by the religious fervour that reached its climax at exact midnight and thus, Krishna was ‘born’.

The tiny Krishnas and Gopis with smudged makeups were woken up as everyone made a beeline to get the tika (Hindu ritual of marking someone’s forehead with a fragrant paste, such as of sandalwood or vermilion) and blessings from the priest. Sweets & other Prashad (offerings) were distributed at the gate after which everyone scurried home to catch up on their sleep while the three of us waited for our driver to bring our car. With the grace of Lord Krishna and much to our relief, he had no trouble in starting his battered diesel-powered Ambassador. We bade our ‘Jai Shree Krishna’ to the temple and drove to our hotel.

PS: Our driver had parked the car on a slope :-)