Basant Panchami 2022:Â Every spring season begins with India celebrating one of its most vibrant festivals, Basant Panchami, also known as Saraswati Puja. Holi follows closely and falls within the same month, either in February or March. This year, the nation is celebrating the festival of Basant Panchami today on February 5.
Basant Panchami occurs when the vivid yellow blossoms of ripe mustard plants are in full bloom across rural India. Surprisingly, numerous spring flowers, including daffodils, are yellow everywhere over the world. Yellow spring flowers in India include marigolds (genda), night jasmine (sheuli), yellow Hyacinth, yellow lilies, and Forsythia shrubs. Therefore, yellow is the predominant colour of Basant Panchami, which, as the name implies, corresponds to the spring season.
The festival is primarily celebrated in honour of Goddess Saraswati, who bestows the greatest wealth ever known to human, the wealth of knowledge. Yellow is believed to be the favorite colour of the Goddess. Yellow-colored clothes are donned by people on this occasion while offering yellow flowers to the Goddess with a yellow tilak on their forehead. Yellow is also deeply associated with auspiciousness, wisdom, and teachers in India.
Lord Dattareya, Lord Dakshinamurti, and Brisaspati or Guru (Jupiter) — all of whom are associated with imparting wisdom — are shown wearing yellow attire in Hinduism. Associating the color with Goddess Saraswati has got a deep significance of portraying her as the Goddess of wisdom. Idols of the Goddess are always adorned with yellow flowers and sarees of the same hue, with white being used occasionally to represent purity and knowledge. Saffron rice, ‘Sheera,’ Boondi ke ladoo, and khichdi, among other yellow-coloured appetizers and sweets, are also popular.
On Basant Panchami, people in Rajasthan wear jasmine garlands, while newlywed couples in Maharashtra attend temples in yellow garments to offer prayers on their first Basant Panchami after marriage. The wearing of yellow turbans is also a tradition in Punjab. On Basant Panchami, people in Uttarakhand worship Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati, and they are known to consume yellow rice or ‘meetha chawal’ and wear yellow clothing.
Hope you have your yellow clothes ready for today.
