Janmashtami - Why Krishna wore jewellery and peacock feather...

Krishna Janmashtami, also known simply as Janmashtami or Gokulashtami, is an annual Hindu festival that celebrates the birth of Krishna, the eighth avatar of Vishnu.

While the Lord wears many ornaments, his constant accessory is a peacock feather in his hair. Have you ever wondered why Lord Krishna wears a peacock feather?

Dressed in a yellow loin-cloth, with a flute to his lips, standing with one leg crossed over the other at the ankles, Lord Krishna is compassionate, all-knowing and the embodiment of Dharma or righteousness.

While the Lord wears many ornaments, his constant accessory is a peacock feather in his hair. Have you ever wondered why Lord Krishna wears a peacock feather? Does the feather have some deeper meaning or significance? And why only a peacock feather? Why not any other feather or some ornament?

1. A symbol of purity

Lord Krishna had mainly 8 wives known as the Ashtabharya and had 16,000 junior wives with whom, he did not share any marital relations. Also, Krishna is known to be the Askalitha Brahmacharya, one who is eternally a Brahmacharya as despite being married his aim was never any sensual pleasures and only the betterment of the world. Thus, Krishna is considered to be completely pure and free from any sensual desire. Peacocks in India are considered to be a symbol of purity. There is a mythological belief (albeit false) that peacocks do not use sex for reproduction but rather, the peahen drinks the tears of the peacock to conceive. Thus, Krishna is as pure as a peacock and that is what the feather signifies.

2. The colour of nature

A peacock feather is said to have all the 7 colours of nature and it appears bluish in the day and black at night. Ether, which covers all of us also, appears blue by daytime and black by night. Lord Krishna, also called the dark skinned one is represented by both these colours. Thus, Krishna wears the peacock which symbolizes the entire range of colours humans are made of and that each one of us a part of the almighty. As God, he is formless but to mortals, he appears Blue by day and Black by night, making him just like a peacock feather.

3.His love for dance

There’s a story that says that once, Lord Krishna decided to play the flue in the forest. So melodious was his music that the peacocks were enamored and began to dance with him. All beings of the forest were completely spell bound. The peacocks danced till they grew tired but Lord Krishna went on dancing for days. Finally, when he stopped dancing, the spell was broken. But the peacocks were so full of happiness and gratitude that the king of peacocks went up to Lord Krishna and as gratitude, asked him to accept him feathers as they were his most prized possession. He dropped some feathers on the ground and Lord Krishna accepted his humble offering. Since then, Lord Krishna always wears a peacock feather in his hair.

4. The rain God

Peacocks love rain and dance during the monsoons. The sight of a sky completely covered by dark clouds is enjoyed by them and makes them happy. Similarly, Krishna being dark-skinned resembles the dark, rain-heavy clouds. When the peacocks see Lord Krishna, he reminds them of rain and thus, makes them very happy. Also, his music coupled with his dark skin helps them dance better. Thus as gratitude, they offer him their feathers which he happily accepts and places in his hair.

 

Janmashtami (popularly known as "Gokulashtami" as in Maharashtra) is celebrated in cities such as Mumbai, Nagpur and Pune. Dahi Handi is celebrated every August/September, the day after Krishna Janmashtami. The term literally means "earthen pot of yoghurt". The festival gets this popular regional name from legend of baby Krishna. According to it, he would seek and steal milk products such as yoghurt and butter and people would hide their supplies high up out of the baby's reach. Krishna would try all sorts of creative ideas in his pursuit, such as making human pyramids with his friends to break these high hanging pots. This story is the theme of numerous reliefs on Hindu temples across India, as well as literature and dance-drama repertoire, symbolising the joyful innocence of children, that love and life's play is the manifestation of god.

In Maharashtra and other western states in India, this Krishna legend is played out as a community tradition on Janmashtami, where pots of yoghurt are hung high up, sometimes with tall poles or from ropes hanging from second or third level of a building. Per the annual tradition, teams of youth and boys called the "Govindas" go around to these hanging pots, climb one over another and form a human pyramid, then break the pot. Girls surround these boys, cheer and tease them while dancing and singing. The spilled contents are considered as Prasada (celebratory offering). It is a public spectacle, cheered and welcomed as a community event.