Also known as: Basant Panchami, Saraswati Puja, Sri Panchami, Shripanchami · Observed: North and East India, Bengal, Odisha and the Telugu states
Significance of Vasant Panchami
Vasant Panchami heralds the coming of spring, when mustard fields turn yellow across North India, mango trees begin to blossom and the cold of winter starts to ease. It is above all the day of Goddess Saraswati, the deity of knowledge, music, the arts and speech. Students, teachers, musicians, writers and artists seek her blessings, and the day is considered one of the most auspicious for beginning education, learning a new art or starting creative work. It is also regarded as a self-auspicious day for weddings and new beginnings in many regions.
Yellow is the colour of the day, worn in clothing, offered in flowers and cooked into food, representing the brightness of spring and the ripening of the crops.
Legends of the Day
A popular tradition holds that Brahma, after creating the world, found it silent and lifeless. From his kamandalu he sprinkled water, and from it arose a radiant goddess holding a veena, a book and a rosary. When she played the veena, all beings received speech and the world was filled with sound; this was Saraswati, and the day of her appearance is celebrated as Vasant Panchami. The day is also associated with Kamadeva, the god of love, and his consort Rati, since spring is the season of love and renewal; in the old Sanskrit literature, Vasantotsava was a royal spring festival. In Braj, the festival marks the start of the forty-day Holi season, and in some places the Holika pyre is first set up on this day.
How Vasant Panchami Is Celebrated
In Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Assam, Saraswati Puja is celebrated with great enthusiasm in schools, colleges and homes. Images of the goddess are installed, books, pens and musical instruments are placed before her for blessing, and students refrain from studying until the next day, when the books are taken back. Young children are initiated into writing in the ceremony of hate khori. Offerings include palash flowers, kul (jujube) fruit, which many wait until this day to eat, and khichuri.
In the Telugu states the day is called Sri Panchami, and children perform Akshara Abhyasam, writing their first letters, especially at the Gnana Saraswati temple at Basara on the Godavari. In Punjab, the day is celebrated with kite flying and yellow clothes, and Sufi shrines hold Basant festivals. In Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh, people offer yellow flowers and prepare kesari halwa, saffron rice and boondi. Musicians honour Saraswati by playing and singing Raga Basant and Raga Bahar.
How the Date Is Determined
Vasant Panchami falls on Magha Shukla Panchami, the fifth tithi of the bright fortnight of Magha, about forty days before Holi. Saraswati Puja is performed in the forenoon, so the festival is fixed on the day when Panchami prevails during purvahna, the first part of the day between sunrise and midday. When Panchami begins after sunrise and continues into the next morning, almanacs choose the day according to which morning it covers more fully.
Rituals and customs
- Saraswati Puja with books, pens and instruments
- Wearing yellow and offering yellow flowers
- Akshara Abhyasam or hate khori for young children
- Kite flying in Punjab
- Offering palash flowers and jujube fruit in Bengal
- Kesari halwa, saffron rice and khichuri