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.
