How to Get Kicked Out of a Puja in Under 15 Mins.
Trip Start
Aug 11, 2007
1
7
23
Trip End
Jul 30, 2008
Landour,
India
Wednesday, September 5, 2007
Apparently Krishna was said to be born at midnight, so the festivities did't begin until late and went late into the evening.
The celebrate Krishna, Indians fast for the whole day and, starting in the early evening, congregate at Hindu temples to play music, dance, sing and chant. They break their fast at midnight when a figure of baby Krishna is ritually washed, dressed and given offerings of fruit, etc.
Near us, there were several celebrations going on, and I really wanted to go to experience my first "puja" (ritual). The larger celebrations were happening down the mountain at the larger temples in Landour and Mussoorie. However, since some of us didn't want to walk all the way down into town in the dark at 9 or 10pm, we decided to go to a local celebration that was taking place at a makeshift temple in the army defense area nearby our language school. I found out about the smaller celebration from one of my Hindi teachers who invited us to come join her and the other villagers who lived in the area. She suggested that we come after 9pm, since the festivities didn't really get started until late in the evening.
After a bit of indecision and some kajoling, I managed to motivate some of the other fellows to come to the celebration that my teacher had told me about.
It was raining as we walked up the steep hill towards the makeshift temple in the defense area. And at first we thought it might not be happening because we couldn't hear any chanting or music being played. However, as we approached, we began to hear people singing and clapping, and musicians playing various drums and bells.
We approached the celebration from the back of the makeshift temple (really an open-air gazeebo-like building) and saw a large group of men, women and children sitting on carpets on the ground clapping and singing as 6-8 musicians played and led chants into a microphone on a raised platform at the front.
We stood around awkwardly for a minute, not knowing if it would be appropriate for us to go in. Then a kind man approached us and told us to come in and that he would be our guide.
We took off our shoes and followed him around the side of the gathering and up to the steps of the temple where the shrine to Krisha was kept. As we were making our way around, I spotted my Hindi teacher and we both waved to eachother...it was nice to see a familiar face in the crowd!
One-by-one, we entered the temple. Inside, a man was seated on the ground with a dish of red paint and many yellow and red pieces of string set out in front of him. He used the paint to give each of us a red bindi and also tied a string around each of our right wrists. I saw the money sitting on the shrine beside him and thought it appropriate to give a small donation to Krishna in exchange for being included in the ritual.
After being "bindied and stringed," we exited the small temple and took a seat on the carpet behind some women who were clapping and singing along to the music.
We looked around us to see what everyone was doing, and my friend and I noticed that the man who had so kindly welcomed us into the celebration was now standing in the back getting what looked like a firm talking-to from another man.
We were confused and suspected that we may have caused some trouble by coming to the celebration, although I thought that there shouldn't be a problem since my teacher had invited us.
We sat and clapped for about 10 minutes before one of my friends noticed that one of the boys in our group was standing in the back and motioning for us to come join him.
We got up and crept as quietly as possible to the back to see what he was trying to tell us. He said that a man had told him that because this was government property, we, as foreigners, were not allowed to be at the celebration and had to leave.
I was a bit confused and a little frustrated, since I had really wanted to stay until midnight to see the puja take place. However, we didn't want to upset whoever had requested us to leave, and so we put on our shoes and left the celebration, only 15 minutes after we had arrived.
I'll have to ask my teacher about this when I see her, though she was probably also unaware of the restrictions on foreigners coming to this particular celebration.
At least we got to see a small piece of what an Krishna's birthday is all about...and next time there's a puja I'll be sure to go to a temple that's not located on government property!
