Shravan- holy month of expressing gratitude to the greenery

Shravan- holy month of expressing gratitude to the greenery
Rajendra P Kerkar
Today, is the first day of the fifth month of the lunar calendar celebrated throughout Goa for expressing gratitude to the sun god. The most of all days in the week of the Shravan month are associated with different gods and goddesses that are worshipped generally by offering the seasonal flowers, leaves and fruits available in the wild as well as cultivated during the monsoon.

After receiving the rainfall from the South-West monsoon throughout Goa and Konkan, one can observe lush greenery. The wild flowers that are evolved out of plain green leaves indeed mesmerizing insects with their hues to assist in pollination. Flowers are motifs of nature's creativity which the nature lovers experiences during this month in their surroundings. This beauty of the nature make the people happy and to express their gratitude the tradition of worshipping various creations of the nature have been observed in Goa and Konkan during the varied festivals.

In Goa, the most of the unseen holy spirits locally known as the Devchars are offered mostly non-vegetarian food. However, on the plateau of Farmagudi the devotees assemble during the last two Sundays and offers vegetarian food to Kalamgal dada, a folk deity believed to be the guardian spirit.

The Sunday is associated with the worship of the sun god, the Monday with Shiva, the lord of mountains, the Tuesday with Mangala gaur, the earth mother goddess, the Thursday with Trinity god Dattatraya always worshipped under the Audumbar tree, the Friday with the Laxmi, the goddess of prosperity, the Saturday with the ape-god Maruti worshipped by offering garland of Rui flowers. All these gods and goddesses are worshipped with the seasonal flowers. For expressing gratitude to the sun god the devotees by going into their locality collects mostly the wild flowers and leaves and worship by observing the fast for the half-day and relishing afterward on the special vegetarian dishes that are cooked.

Through the festival of Nagpanchami, the devotees worship the venomous snake Cobra who is considered as the friends of the farmers since the s snake kills large numbers of rodents. The full moon day of Shravan is celebrated as Narali Punav wherein the coconut is offered to the sea-god, for marking the onset of the fishing season. The festival of Gokulashtami is observed as the birthday of Lord Shrikrishna who is known for his love for the cattle.

The people in Goa and Konkan have been influenced by the nature in their vicinity. Living in tune with the nature and environment, they have evolved traditional values expressing their respect to different forms of the nature by associating them with the varied festivals.
During the whole month of Shravan, the most of temples wear the festive look as the devotees throng in big number. The presiding deity is worshipped inside the rectangular frame work decorated with the pseudo stems of banana and the seasonal wild flowers.
Visiting temples during the Shravan make us happy to enjoy the decorations as well as engrossing in the devotional songs that are sung to mark the occasion.
As Goa and Konkan region earlier was predominantly agriculture, the paddy fields were turning green and trees bear flowers and fruits. This is the indication of good yeild of crop and hence to show respect to the mother nature considering whole month of Shravan as the holy has been evolved. 

The period of the four months Chaturmaas that start from the full moon day of the fourth month Ashad of the lunar calendar and ends on the full moon day of the eight month Kartik is the most auspicious period among the Hindus of Goa-Konkan region. Among all these four months the fifth month Shravan has a lot of religious as well as cultural significance as many of the festivals are being celebrated and people preferably relish on the vegetarian foods. On account of the Shravan Nakshatra, a star traditionally known as Shravan is believed to appear in the sky during the period of this month and hence it is called as the Shravan.

Though, the fish curry and rice is considered to be the staple diet of the Goan, in order to experience the culinary art and skill of the vegetarianism the Shravan month has the best occasions. Among the Non-Brahmin married women having husband the ritualistic worship of the sun god is observed on all the Sundays of the Shravan. On each Sunday they relish on the special sweet dish prepared from the rice beside enjoying other dishes.
Before the onset of the television and other means of modern entertainment during all days of the Shravan, there was a tradition of reading the religious scriptures in Marathi namely Bhaktivijay, Harivijay, Shivleela and explaining the meaning in the simple and lucid language to the devotees. Since each day is related with different gods and goddesses, everyday is marked recitation and singing of devotional songs called as the Bhajans.
The special performances of the Kirtan, euologies of gods and goddesses are presented by the folk artists with prose explanation and recitation and singing done on the tune of Harmonium and Tabla.

Makhar tradition of Shravan
During the monsoon, the banana plant bear excellent layers of pseudo stems which are used traditionally for decorating the rectangular frame created for worshipping the idol of the deity in the religious shrine or in the house.
After removing the bunch of bananas, the pseudo stem of the plant, the artist by cutting it with his skills decorate the rectangular frame work of bamboo sticks with variety of artifacts.
Many of the temples from Bicholim, Phonda and other parts of Goa, during the period of the Shravan has the unique tradition of the makhar made from the pseudo stem locally known as Gabe. The Satyanarayan Pooja that are performed always require the makhar of pseudo stems of banana. The makhar made from these pseudo stems are lasting for the period of about five days. As it is biodegradable and eco-friendly, the decoration is not causing pollution like plastic and thermacol.