Today is Vasant Panchami, a day that marks the arrival of the spring season in Braj. Vrindavan is awash with yellow to welcome spring. The fields are lush yellow with mustard flowers in full bloom, temples are decorated with yellow and orange marigold flowers and the people are decked in hues of the bright color. At the temples in Vrindavan, the flowers and decoration, and even the pilgrims are all resplendent in yellow Saturday. The prasad, or temple offering, includes yellow (kesariya) rice, yellow milk with dry fruits and yellow burfi. In the Braj Mandal Vasant Panchami heralds the Holi festivities with sprinkling of gulal (dry colour) at several Vrindavan temples. In Barsana, the birth place of Radha, the goswamis or priests are all decked up in yellow attire. A large number of pilgrims arrive in the temple town of Vrindavan for the festivities. Tonnes of yellow flowers are being used to decorate the Bankey Bihari temple in Vrindavan and Dwarkadheesh temple in Mathura. Pilgrims have an early morning dip in the Yamuna and apply sandalwood paste (chandan) on their foreheads. The festivities begin with music, dance, prayers and the sumptuous bhog-prasad.
Posted on: Sat, 24 Jan 2015 01:45:00 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015