Author: Susmita Shekhar
Publisher: Srishti
Year: 2008
Language: English
Pages: 199
ISBN/UPC (if available): 8188575828
Description
During the great pujahs which consume so much of our means, women are left in the background. Their special province is these ceremonies, Vratas, as they are called. Each has a Katha or tale tacked on to it, which is piously recited by the most elderly of the assembled female worshippers.
Each story is illustrative of the might and glory of the particular God or Goddess that is being honored and in itself forms a highly interesting part of the ceremony. Most of the tales may seem to unbelievers to be as wild and childish as nursery legends, yet they are delightful.
They please less by the variation of ‘moving accidents’ than by the homeliness of their construction. They are extremely interesting also for the light they throw on the recesses of the Indian woman’s heart.
Contents
Foreword
The Manasa or Naga-Panchami Ceremony
The Savitri Ceremony
The Itu Ceremony
The Budhashtami Ceremony
The Mangal-Chandi Ceremony
The Janmashtami Ceremony
The Kul-Mangalbar Ceremony
The Dan-Sankranti Ceremony
The Kalika Ceremony
The Satya Pir Pujah
The Satyanarayan Ceremony
The Nil-Sasgthu Ceremony
The Manthan Sashthi Ceremony
The Joymangalbar Ceremony
The Aranya Sashthi Ceremony
The Pashan Chaturdasi Ceremony
The Cawrw-Cawry Ceremony
Chhatt