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[usha123]

Perhaps I should call my entries 'Letters to Trish'. Because she - travelertrish always tells me 'Now put it on your blog!'. And this time, I succumbed :-)

Partly responsible was villager9999 who added me as his friend because he thought an Indian perspective on travel was interesting. Enough to make me feel guilty about my non contribution to my blog. So Scott, here is

Comments

[villager9999]

This is fascinating. I'm reading it several times because it is a lot for me to grasp. I can see that I have to do some home work, not being familiar enough with as much Hindu mythology as I need to be to really comprehend a good deal of what you are writing about. One thing that strikes me as an important observation is that the festivals have as much of a socializing influence as a spiritual one. I'm not a religious person, so I may not be the best judge but I certainly see it to be the same way with Christian holidays. In fact I am a big fan of Christmas and Easter. Here in the U.S., Christmas and Easter seem to have more to do with getting together with family and friends and rejoicing in life than in acknowledging the birth and death/resurrection of Jesus. Unfortunately we seem to be without anything even close to a ten day holiday, and I am truly envious on that account.

[usha123]

yes, I can see the similarities in festive spirit too..I am sorry the post implies some previous knowledge of Hindu mythology, etc, but to explain all that would make it much much longer. What was fascinating for me as I wrote this, was the pattern that emerged of North, South, East and West India celebrating the same festival in such different ways.I hadn't really thought of it that way earlier.

[idahoswede]

I saw some photographs this year from deponti's journal of the tiers of dolls, looks like a smashing festival. Of course, I'm for anything that celebrates woman power as well.

Now correct me on this, please, if I'm wrong, is Durga one of the avatars of Parvati or vice versa?

[usha123]

Yes, this whole discussion started with my giving the reference of Deponti's post on Dasara to Trish (sadly, I couldnt give a link here because I havent yet learnt how to do it!)

In parts of India, we do believe that Parvati and Durga are the same.

In school, we learnt her various names from the ancient Sanskrit thesaurus Amarakosha (Sanskrit has multiple names for everybody and everything)

Uma, Kathyayani, Gauri, Kali, Hymavateeshwari
Shiva, Bhavani, Rudrani, Sharvani, Sarvamangala
Aparna, Parvati, Durga, Mrudani, Chandikambika (Ambika)
Aaryaa, Dakshayani, Girija, Menakatmaja, Chamunda, etc etc

I am curious..how do you know Parvati's names?

(Reply to this)(Parent)

[idahoswede]

I know that Parvati is wife to Lord Shiva and my friends from Uttar Pradesh in the U.S. gave me a nickname of Parvati-lal. I don't know what it means, but I loved the sound of it and was so flattered they wanted to give me a special name.

[travelertrish]

Great! I love being a catalyst. My Nepali friends today told me they don't do a doll thing at all during Dassein. Interesting!

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