Gowri Habba
Encyclopedia
Gowri Habba is a Hindu
festival
celebrated a day before Ganesh Chaturthi
.
It is a significant festival in parts of Karnataka
, Andhra Pradesh
and Tamil Nadu
. It is known as Hartalika in Maharashtra
and Tay orTayi i.e. to indicate that this falls on the third day of the waxing moon, bhaadrapada shukla paksha in Goa
, Konkan
and Kerala
by the Konkani people
.
Goddess Gowri
(Gauri), the mother of Ganesha
and wife of Shiva
, is worshipped throughout India
for her ability to bestow upon her devotees courage and power. Hindu belief has it that Goddess Gowri is the very incarnation
of Aadhi Shakthi Mahamaya. She is the Shakthi
of Lord Shiva. It is believed that on Thadige, or the third day of the month of Bhaadra
, Goddess Gowri comes home like any married girl comes to her parents' house. The next day Lord Ganesha, her son, comes as if to take her back to Kailasa
.
The Swarna Gowri vratha is performed on the occasion, to appease the Goddess.
of Gowri made of turmeric
). These days beautifully painted and decorated clay idols of Goddess Gowri can be bought at the local market. The goddess' idol is mounted in a plate, with a cereal (rice or wheat) in it. As this 'puje' or ritual is to be performed with 'suchi' (cleanliness) and 'shraddhe' (dedication), the ladies go to temples or to another person's house, where it is performed according to set procedures or they can perform the ritual in their own homes.
A mandapa
, generally decorated with banana
stem and mango
leaves, is built around the idol. The Gauri is decorated with garlands, decorations made of cotton, and ladies have a 'gauridaara' (sacred thread with sixteen knots) tied to their right wrists, as blessings of gauri and as part of the vratha. Each of the sixteen knots is worshipped with mantras during the performance of the religious practice.
The most interesting part of the festival is probably offering the baagina. At least five baaginas are prepared as part of the vratha. Each baagina usually contains a packet of arshina (turmeric), kumkum
, black bangles, black beads (used in the mangalsutra), a comb, a small mirror, baLe bicchoLe, coconut
, blouse piece, dhaanya (cereal), rice
, toor dal, green dal, wheat or rava and jaggery
cut in a cube form. The baagina is offered in a traditional mora (winnow painted with turmeric). One such baagina is offered to Goddess Gowri and set aside. The remaining Gowri baaginas are given to the married women.
. The logic behind this practice is that if a child is conceived during Gowri Habba, which falls during the winter, the child would be born nine months later, during the summer, when it would be less prone to infections. This practice has been in place for years, but has declined in recent times due to modernisation.
Hindu
Hindu refers to an identity associated with the philosophical, religious and cultural systems that are indigenous to the Indian subcontinent. As used in the Constitution of India, the word "Hindu" is also attributed to all persons professing any Indian religion...
festival
Religious festival
A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar...
celebrated a day before Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi
Ganesh Chaturthi , also known as Vinayaka Chaturthi is the Hindu festival of Ganesha also called Vinayagar in Tamil Nadu, the son of Shiva and Parvati, who is believed to bestow his presence on earth for all his devotees in the duration of this festival...
.
It is a significant festival in parts of Karnataka
Karnataka
Karnataka , the land of the Kannadigas, is a state in South West India. It was created on 1 November 1956, with the passing of the States Reorganisation Act and this day is annually celebrated as Karnataka Rajyotsava...
, Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh , is one of the 28 states of India, situated on the southeastern coast of India. It is India's fourth largest state by area and fifth largest by population. Its capital and largest city by population is Hyderabad.The total GDP of Andhra Pradesh is $100 billion and is ranked third...
and Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu
Tamil Nadu is one of the 28 states of India. Its capital and largest city is Chennai. Tamil Nadu lies in the southernmost part of the Indian Peninsula and is bordered by the union territory of Pondicherry, and the states of Kerala, Karnataka, and Andhra Pradesh...
. It is known as Hartalika in Maharashtra
Maharashtra
Maharashtra is a state located in India. It is the second most populous after Uttar Pradesh and third largest state by area in India...
and Tay orTayi i.e. to indicate that this falls on the third day of the waxing moon, bhaadrapada shukla paksha in Goa
Goa
Goa , a former Portuguese colony, is India's smallest state by area and the fourth smallest by population. Located in South West India in the region known as the Konkan, it is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and by Karnataka to the east and south, while the Arabian Sea forms its...
, Konkan
Konkan
The Konkan also called the Konkan Coast or Karavali is a rugged section of the western coastline of India from Raigad to Mangalore...
and Kerala
Kerala
or Keralam is an Indian state located on the Malabar coast of south-west India. It was created on 1 November 1956 by the States Reorganisation Act by combining various Malayalam speaking regions....
by the Konkani people
Konkani people
Konkani people , form a group of people mainly found in the Konkan Coast of western India whose mother-tongue is the Konkani language....
.
Goddess Gowri
Parvati
Parvati is a Hindu goddess. Parvati is Shakti, the wife of Shiva and the gentle aspect of Mahadevi, the Great Goddess...
(Gauri), the mother of Ganesha
Ganesha
Ganesha , also spelled Ganesa or Ganesh, also known as Ganapati , Vinayaka , and Pillaiyar , is one of the deities best-known and most widely worshipped in the Hindu pantheon. His image is found throughout India and Nepal. Hindu sects worship him regardless of affiliations...
and wife of Shiva
Shiva
Shiva is a major Hindu deity, and is the destroyer god or transformer among the Trimurti, the Hindu Trinity of the primary aspects of the divine. God Shiva is a yogi who has notice of everything that happens in the world and is the main aspect of life. Yet one with great power lives a life of a...
, is worshipped throughout India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
for her ability to bestow upon her devotees courage and power. Hindu belief has it that Goddess Gowri is the very incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
of Aadhi Shakthi Mahamaya. She is the Shakthi
Shakti
Shakti from Sanskrit shak - "to be able," meaning sacred force or empowerment, is the primordial cosmic energy and represents the dynamic forces that are thought to move through the entire universe in Hinduism. Shakti is the concept, or personification, of divine feminine creative power, sometimes...
of Lord Shiva. It is believed that on Thadige, or the third day of the month of Bhaadra
Bhaadra
Bhaadra or Bhadrapada is a month of the Hindu calendar. In India's national civil calendar , Bhaadra is the sixth month of the year, beginning on 23 August and ending on 22 September. Known as Purattaasi, it is the sixth month of the Tamil solar calendar...
, Goddess Gowri comes home like any married girl comes to her parents' house. The next day Lord Ganesha, her son, comes as if to take her back to Kailasa
Mount Kailash
Mount Kailash is a peak in the Gangdisê Mountains, which are part of the Himalayas in Tibet...
.
The Swarna Gowri vratha is performed on the occasion, to appease the Goddess.
Swarna Gowri vratha rituals
On this day, married women, after bathing, wear new or smart clothes and dress up the young girls of the family. Then they do the 'sthapana' of either jalagauri or arishinadagauri (a symbolic idolCult image
In the practice of religion, a cult image is a human-made object that is venerated for the deity, spirit or daemon that it embodies or represents...
of Gowri made of turmeric
Turmeric
Turmeric is a rhizomatous herbaceous perennial plant of the ginger family, Zingiberaceae. It is native to tropical South Asia and needs temperatures between 20 °C and 30 °C and a considerable amount of annual rainfall to thrive...
). These days beautifully painted and decorated clay idols of Goddess Gowri can be bought at the local market. The goddess' idol is mounted in a plate, with a cereal (rice or wheat) in it. As this 'puje' or ritual is to be performed with 'suchi' (cleanliness) and 'shraddhe' (dedication), the ladies go to temples or to another person's house, where it is performed according to set procedures or they can perform the ritual in their own homes.
A mandapa
Mandapa
A mandapa in Indian architecture is a pillared outdoor hall or pavilion for public rituals.-Temple architecture:...
, generally decorated with banana
Banana
Banana is the common name for herbaceous plants of the genus Musa and for the fruit they produce. Bananas come in a variety of sizes and colors when ripe, including yellow, purple, and red....
stem and mango
Mango
The mango is a fleshy stone fruit belonging to the genus Mangifera, consisting of numerous tropical fruiting trees in the flowering plant family Anacardiaceae. The mango is native to India from where it spread all over the world. It is also the most cultivated fruit of the tropical world. While...
leaves, is built around the idol. The Gauri is decorated with garlands, decorations made of cotton, and ladies have a 'gauridaara' (sacred thread with sixteen knots) tied to their right wrists, as blessings of gauri and as part of the vratha. Each of the sixteen knots is worshipped with mantras during the performance of the religious practice.
The most interesting part of the festival is probably offering the baagina. At least five baaginas are prepared as part of the vratha. Each baagina usually contains a packet of arshina (turmeric), kumkum
Kumkum
Kumkum , is a powder used for social and religious markings in Hinduism. It is either made from turmeric or saffron...
, black bangles, black beads (used in the mangalsutra), a comb, a small mirror, baLe bicchoLe, coconut
Coconut
The coconut palm, Cocos nucifera, is a member of the family Arecaceae . It is the only accepted species in the genus Cocos. The term coconut can refer to the entire coconut palm, the seed, or the fruit, which is not a botanical nut. The spelling cocoanut is an old-fashioned form of the word...
, blouse piece, dhaanya (cereal), rice
Rice
Rice is the seed of the monocot plants Oryza sativa or Oryza glaberrima . As a cereal grain, it is the most important staple food for a large part of the world's human population, especially in East Asia, Southeast Asia, South Asia, the Middle East, and the West Indies...
, toor dal, green dal, wheat or rava and jaggery
Jaggery
Jaggery is a traditional unrefined non-centrifugal whole cane sugar consumed in Asia, Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean. It is a concentrated product of cane juice without separation of the molasses and crystals, and can vary from golden brown to dark brown in color...
cut in a cube form. The baagina is offered in a traditional mora (winnow painted with turmeric). One such baagina is offered to Goddess Gowri and set aside. The remaining Gowri baaginas are given to the married women.
Gauri habbada - mangaladravya
Another specialty of this festival is that the 'tavaru maneyavaru' (the married woman's parents and brothers) send gauri habbada or mangaladravya to the married girls of their family. Some send money as a substitute for mangaladravya. This good practice remains unchanged and keeps people closer. Newly married girls give sixteen jothe baagina to sumangalis (married women) and obtain their blessings. One baagina is kept for Gauramma also. The main food items in this festival's feast are the delectable beLe hoLige/Kaayee-hoLige, Huggi/chitranna and Bajji.Customs
Newly wed couples are invited to the house of their in-laws and served with varieties of festive food. In the olden days, newly wed couples had to wait till Gowri Habba to consummate their marriageConsummation
Consummation is the initial sexual act made within a marriage.Consummation can also refer to:* Consummation , 1970 recordingSee also:* Consummation of days, event predicted in Daniel Chapter 12, verses 1-4...
. The logic behind this practice is that if a child is conceived during Gowri Habba, which falls during the winter, the child would be born nine months later, during the summer, when it would be less prone to infections. This practice has been in place for years, but has declined in recent times due to modernisation.