Mangalore: A Day Before Janmashtami, Markets Get Flooded with Unique Items

Pics: Sphoorty Ullal
Daijiworld Media Network - Mangalore (SP)

Mangalore, Aug 12:  The Hindus, particularly the Vaishnavites, eagerly await Srikrishna Janmashtami Celebrations. The festival is celebrated on the Ashtami (eighth day) of the second fortnight of Shravana month. Lord Srikrishna, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu, is believed to have descended on the earth at the time of Rohini Nakshatra (constellation of stars, with the predominance of Rohini Nakshatra) in 3,228 BC, which in Hindu parlance, was Dwapara Yuga. That was around 5,000 years ago, and the Lord had decided to rid the humans of their sufferings, by annihilating the demons, who, with their wickedness, caused destructions and killed people who did not toe their line of thought.

Lord Krishna was associated with fun, frolic, friendship, love, mingling with everyone, music, intelligent planning and fun feasts. His divine plays(Leela), both as a young toddler, teenager and the youth, have given birth to thousands of stories that are played through dramas, dance-dramas, Yakshagana presentations etc.  Srikrishna Janmashtami is celebrated all over India in different ways but devotional fervour, visiting of temples, celebrations, flower decorations, processions, cradling of the idol of the Lord in infant form, worshipping of the idol of Lord Srikrishna, offering of libation (Arghya) to the Lord etc., being the common features everywhere.

In the coastal Karnataka, the festival is celebrated with lot of enthusiasm. A day in advance, markets are flooded with banana leaves, banana trees, hogs plum, bulbulous roots, basil leaves, greens, flowers etc., Ginger plants, some types of vines, banana trees, basil leaves etc., form an integral part of the Lord's worship,  while hogs plum, several types of bulbulous roots, greens etc., are used to prepare delicacies on the occasion. Gajbaje made from a mixture of vegetables and masala, Alvati made predominantly from a kind of greens, Panchakajjaya, Kotte, Mude, several types of Podis prepared by deep-frying slices of vegetables smeared with special mixtures etc., are some of the items the people of the district make on this occasion. Mude is a much-liked item, made by filling long, hollow cups made out of processed leaves of a thorny bush, with idli batter. Mude leaves have to be processed and then stitched together in the form of long cup-like formations with the help of small pieces of the sticks found in the coconut fronds. This requires skill, as improperly prepared cups can allow the batter to seep.