JANMASHTAMI - Celebrating the Birth of Lord Krishna
Growing up watching the animated series, Little Krishna, serenely instilled the traditional folklore of the birth of Lord Krishna and his early stages of life in our young minds. We learned that Janmashtami is a gala festival to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna. ‘Janma’ literally refers to ‘birth’ and ‘ashtami’ denotes the ‘eighth tithi’ when the eighth or ashtam avatar of Lord Vishnu, Krishna, saw the light of the world. He is believed to have born on the eighth day of Bhadrapada month. When the world suffered through immense turmoil caused by Kansa, Krishna aimed to save mankind and Kansa had to face his wrath. However, before redeeming his vengeance, Krishna was the most admired and ethereal baby of Gokul with mysterious heavenly powers. On Janmashtami, people generally narrate this whole tale with rituals, perform fasting, cook His favourite food and unite together to celebrate the festival. Not only in India, Janmashtami is celebrated all ’round the globe, even being as significant as a National Holiday in Bangladesh.
Janmashtami upholds the concept or ideology that the good would always be rewarded. So, we should continue to do good irrespective of what destiny has in store for us. As long as we continue to do our duty or ‘Dharma’ life would be worth cherishing each moment.
Jai Shree Krishna!
By Ankita Biswas, Class XII Science-A
With Rumela Chatterjee, Faculty of English.