Sanjhi Festival
A Folk Tale on Sanjhi Devi
According to the Shiva Puran, Sandhya Devi who is also known as Sanjhi Devi is Brahma’s mind-born daughter. But Brahma and all the Prajapatis start lusting after her when they see her radiant form. Sandhya feels disgusted by their behaviour. So, she performs an austere penance and invokes Vishnu.
When Vishnu appears before her, Sandhya Devi asks Him for three boons. She says, “Men who succumb to lust should lose their manhood. I wish to marry a knowledgeable and friendly man who is beyond lust and I should fulfil the wishes of all women who worship me.”
Vishnu says, “I will modify your first boon. Manavas will not succumb to lust during their childhood and old age. And since you want to establish Dharma in the cosmos, I will ensure that you get a permanent place in the cosmos as Arundhati the star. Henceforth, as the chaste wife of Vashishta, you will always symbolise a woman’s, pure heart. I will fulfil your two other wishes after you quit this body of yours. Please enter the Agnikund of rishi Meghatithi’s yagna.”
Sandhya Devi does so immediately. Agni carries her divine body to the Surya Mandal. Surya divides her divinity into two parts and gives her a place on his chariot. Sandhya Devi’s upper body symbolises the morning Sandhya and her lower body symbolises the evening, Sandhya.
Sanjhi: The Folk Festival
Sanjhi, a beautiful ancient folk festival is celebrated for 16 days in Gujarat, Malwa, Haryana, western UP, Bundelkhand and Maharashtra. Here, it begins on the first day of Navratri and ends on the Amavasya that falls after Dushera.
Unmarried girls worship Sanjhi Devi, the goddess of twilight during the evening hours, an auspicious time which is usually reserved for prayer and contemplation. Some people believe that Sanjhi Devi is a friendly goddess of the peasants who understands their problems and blesses them with health, wealth and prosperity. Others say Sanjhi Devi is a form of Durga.
But all girls invite Sanjhi Devi into their homes by creating her image on the outer walls of their homes for 16 days. They craft simple symbolic motifs like the sun, moon, stars, monkeys, crows, bears etc using natural elements like cow dung, flowers and leaves. And they also weave in other cultural aspects like diyas, utensils, bullock carts, palkis etc. into their art. In some villages, the girls use necklaces, bangles, vermillion etc and adorn Sanjhi Devi with colourful clothes too.
Every evening all the unmarried girls assemble around the image of Sanjhi Devi. They then hold lighted earthenware lamps and sing century-old folk songs together to please her. The girls ask Sanjhi Devi what she needs and what she would like to wear and eat through their songs. And promise to fulfil all her wishes. In return, the girls hope Sanjhi Devi will bless them with good husbands.
On the last day, they perform Sanjhi Devi’s visarjan. The girls scrape off the cow dung, flowers and other embellishments from the walls of their homes keeping the head of Sanjhi Devi alone intact. They then collect it in a small earthenware vessel which has been pierced with several holes. They light a lamp inside this vessel and set their respective vessels afloat in a local water body. The village boys ensure that none of the vessels reaches the other end of the water body because they believe that it will bring misfortune to the village.
The Essence Of Sanjhi Festival
The Sanjhi festival is a metaphor that urges us to strike a balance between Nature and Culture, Prakriti and Purusha.
That is why the girls draw symbols of dokras and dokris (nomadic craftsmen) and things like diyas, pots and pans, bullock carts and wheels along with natural elements like the sun, stars, flowers etc.
But we get the most beautiful insight from Naisarni, the ladder that the girls create at the centre of the Sanjhis. Naisarni symbolises the pathless gateway that connects us to the divinity that lies within our souls. Yes, we can learn the value of striking a beautiful balance between Prakriti and Purusha even through such simple festivals as Sanjhi.
Sanjhi Leela
A Folk Tale On A Woman Called Shyama Sakhi
A village senior promises Radha that she will get a wonderful husband if she worships Sandhya Devi with mystic symbols. Radha wants to marry only Krishna. So she performs the pooja religiously.
When Krishna hears about Radha’s pooja, He goes to Barsana to help her. But He realizes that only unmarried girls can perform the Sanjhi pooja. So He transforms into Shayama Sakhi and arrives at Radha’s home with a basket of fragrant flowers. Shyama helps Radha create splendid mystic patterns. But they are so engrossed in creating their floral Sanjhis that they lose track of time. So Radha insists that Shyama spend the night with her. And that is how Krishna gets to stay the night with his beloved in his own wondrous way, as usual.
*In some versions, it is Krishna who creates beautiful floral Sanjhis to appease Radha’s anger.
Sanjhi Leela : The Folk Art Of Vraj
Vaishnavite scholars transformed the rustic Sanjhi festival into an indigenous sophisticated form of folk temple art. But in Vraj, Sanjhi leela takes place during the Pitr Paksha, a time reserved for offering oblations to our ancestors.
Highly skilled artists use dry colours and spend long hours behind closed doors to create Sanjhis on an octagonal platform. The colours are mixed with great care and paper stencils are accurately placed to create each Sanjhi. On some days artists create Sanjhis using flowers too. Sometimes they create Sanjhis above and below water too.
The octagonal platform symbolises an eight-petalled lotus and represents the structure of a Hindu temple too. It is believed that Krishna sits in the middle of the Sanjhi and radiates divine energy in the eight directions through these Sanjhis. That is why they draw lovely images of Radha and Krishna’s leelas at the centre of the Sanjhi.
In Pushti Marg temples Vaishnavs who are unable to fulfil their desire of going on a pilgrimage perform a Manasi yatra through Sanjhi art. They depict Krishna’s leelas in different pilgrim centres through their Sanjhis every day.
The Pichwai depicts the bhaav of Radha and the gopis. Some gopis collect flowers from the garden for the Sanjhi. Others are on the way to the market to sell their milk, milk products and flowers. But they all have Radha and Krishna’s names on their lips. Always.
Every artist that engages in the Sanjhi emphatically states, “Whenever we create a new Sanjhi we experience Ananda. And Ananda is an indescribable emotion. Why even feasting our eyes on a Sanjhi is akin to doing Krishna’s darshan and blesses us with the same merit as seeing his swaroop.”
Yes, at a superficial level, the Sanjhi leela may appeal to our senses alone. But when we engage with this art form completely, we realize that we can experience Krishna’s many leelas through Sanjhi too.
What we can learn through Sanjhi
Without Prakriti’s abundant blessings we cannot create anything in our lives. Everything is cyclical in Nature. And since we are Prakriti’s creations, we too will eventually merge with Prakriti. And someday we too will belong to the realm of our Pitrs. That is why it is so very important that we connect with Prakriti instead of always trying to dominate and control it.
First photo given by Hardevji.
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