Vaisakhi – Celebrating the Bounty of Nature

Vaisakhi is a major festival of India which is celebrated with great fervour in different parts of India with different names. In Punjab, it is known as Baisakhi that denotes the starting of the new Solar Year in the Sikh community. Baisakhi is the day when 10th Sikh Guru Shri Guru Gobind Singh ji founded the Khalsa Panth.

The festival is also an important event for Hindus as it marks the first day of Vaisakh month, that falls between April to May, in the Hindu calendar. In Assam, Vaisakhi is famous as Rongali Bihu, whereas it is called Vishu in Kerala, Pohela Boishakh in West Bengal and Puthandu in Tamil Nadu.

People from all these states take part in the festivities of Vaisakhi by wearing colourful traditional attires, rendering beautiful folk dance and song performances.

The Nature Aspect Associated with Vaisakhi

Vaisakhi is also celebrated as a spring harvest festival when farmers in India, thank the Lord for a good crop, harvest the first crop of the season and seek God’s blessings for another good produce.

Worshipping, showing profound reverence and gratitude to the mother nature has been an integral part of the Indian culture since ancient times. Our holy texts like Vedas, Puranas, Upanishads contain many references on topics like environmental protection, ecological balance, weather cycles.. The following verse from the holy Atharva Veda depicts the immense significance of mother earth in Hinduism:

||Mata Bhumih Putroham Prithivyah||

Literal meaning: ” The Earth is My Mother and I am Her son.”

Thousands of years ago, people used to revere nature in the form of rivers, mountains, forests, animals, birds, trees, plants, etc. They had a deeper sense of respect and gratitude towards nature. This ethos is deeply rooted in our culture till today. That is the reason, we still find people celebrating many festivals dedicated to different forms of nature in India. Sarhul, Itu Puja, Kaveri Sankaramana, Chatth Puja, Makar Sankranti, Godavari Pushkaram are some fine examples of this.

The mother nature gives us so much without asking us anything in return. So, it is our responsibility to live in harmony with her. Simple steps like keeping our surroundings clean and behaving responsibly wherever we go, can make a huge difference towards its conservation and preservation. This should be our pledge on this Vaisakhi.