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West Bengal celebrates spring festival

     Kolkata: People in West Bengal celebrated the spring festival of Basant Panchami on Friday. The advent of spring is marked by a riot of colours but the prominent colour is yellow. Saraswati, the Hindu goddess of learning, is the deity of the day whose idol is decorated with mustard, sunflower and other yellow blooms. On this day offerings are made to Saraswati. The goddess is credited with bestowing the greatest wealth to humanity, the wealth of learning. Residents of Kolkata also thronged the temples in the early hours. "Saraswati is the goddess of learning and we worship her to seek excellence in the field of knowledge and academics. But mostly it is the significance of the gathering," said Sudipta Mitra, a devotee. Students, especially girls wearing bright yellow dresses made a beeline to well-decorated pandals and prayed to the deity, who is the goddess of Learning. They believe that their future would be bright if they worship the goddess. "Saraswati, is our goddess of knowledge and learning so, we the students have come here to worship her and to please her. If she is pleased with our Puja, she will bless us for our bright future," said Anupama, a student. Children kept books and writing instruments before the deity and sought the blessings of the goddess. The day is also considered auspicious for initiating children into learning. Tradition has it that children should not be helped by adults into learning until the initiation ceremony is performed before goddess Saraswati. A large number of children are initiated into learning at temples or at home in front of the idol of goddess Saraswati. Basant or spring which coincides with Panchami or the waxing moon at the end of January or early February is considered auspicious by the people in India.
-Feb 3, 2006