Teej is a colorful festival of  rajasthan dedicated to Goddess Parvati. Teej fairs commemorate the day when the Goddess was united with Lord Shiva. Teej fairs are held at many places but a major Teej fair is organized in Jaipur every year in July or early August. Large number of tourists attend these fairs and add exuberance to the celebration of the festival.

Teej Festival of Rajasthan

Teej is a major festival for the women of Rajasthan and thus the celebrations are also great. Teej is celebrated with utmost dedication and loyalty by the womenfolk of Rajasthan. Numerous fairs are held in Rajasthan at a definite period of time. In the month of July/August, the pink city of India, Jaipur comes up with a major Teej Fair. Along with the people of Rajasthan many domestic and international tourists participate in the cultural and community activities. This provides the tourists a splendid opportunity to have an insight into the Rajasthani life.

Shravan month is full of festivals and this is the reason why it is called as the holiest month of a year. Here is a list of festivals that fall in this month.

Naga Panchami
Shravani Purnima
Raksha Bandhan
Vara Lakshmi Vrata
Rishi Panchami
Sitala Saptami
Janmashtami
Ajaikadasi
Pithori
Pola

Each day of Shravan month has its own ritual with a special significance as different Gods and Goddesses are worshiped on different days.

Monday:- Monday is dedicated in Lord Shiva’s worship.
Tuesday:- The day is dedicated in Gauri (Lord Shiva’s wife) worship especially by women for the wellbeing of their families.
Wednesday:- Wednesday is dedicated in Vithala’s (form of Vishnu or Krishna) worship.
Thursday:- This day is dedicated in Lord Buddha and Guru’s worship.
Friday:- The day is dedicated in the worship of Goddess Lakshmi and Tulsi.
Saturday:- The day is dedicated to Saturn (Shani).
Sunday:- Sunday is dedicated in Sun God’s worship.

The month of Shravan, popularly known as Sawan, is the fifth month of the Hindu calender. Shravan is considered the holiest month of the year. Each Monday of this month, known as Shravan Somvar, is a special day in Shiva temples where the dharanatra hangs over the linga or the idol to bathe it with holy water, day and night. Devotees pile the linga high with Bel leaves and flowers and fast till sunset.
It is considered highly auspicious to wear a rudraksha in Shravan month. As, Mondays or Somvars of Shravan month are specially observed with austerity. All Mondays are devoted to the worship of Shiva as this day is sacred to Lord Shiva. No other Mondays of other months are so greatly honored.
The belief is that in Shravan month, offering milk to Lord Shiva earns a lot of punya.

Gupt Navratri,comes  in the Hindi month of Ashada  aor (June – July). Gupt Navaratri is observed during the Ashada Shukla Paksha .From   tomorrow  Gupt Navratri begins  and ends on July 19 2010.It is also known as  Gayatri or Ashada Navratri, is nine days dedicated to the nine forms of Shakti.

Some people fast on certain days of Gupt Navratri and vegetarian food is consumed during the period. The most important event during the nine-day period is community worship of the nine forms of Durga or Shakti. Women in a locality gather in a household during evening and worship Mother Goddess.

The other famous Navratri falls  during September – October and is celebrated throughout India.

Ramanavami celebrates the birth of Shri Rama or Ramachandra. Ram is considered to be a reincarnation of Lord Vishnu, the preserver. Lord Vishnu took the seventh avtaar named Ram who killed Ravan, the evil king, on the 9th day of the Hindu month of Chaitra, hence the day is celebrated as Ram Navmi. In some parts of India, it is a nine-day festival, coinciding with the Vasanta Navaratri.

Sheetala Mata Mandir is found at Gurugaon village, a suburb of Gurgaon (Guru Dronacharya’s birth place), in the state of Haryana. The presiding deity of this temple is Mata Sheetala Devi, which is also referred to as Shakti Peeth.Mata Sheetala Devi is also called as Bhagat Lalita Maa and Masani Maa. In fact the word Sheetala refers to the disease smallpox. And it is believed that if this deity is invoked with faith, she dispels the disease. Situated near a pond, this temple witnesses hordes of pilgrims throughout the year, except during the month of Shravana (July-August). During the month of Chaitra (March-April), this place resembles like Kumbh-Mela.A section of the visitors come for the mundan ceremony ( the first hair cutting ceremony) of their children and offer the crop of hair at the altar of goddess. Among other visitors married couples also come to invoke the blessings of the goddess for a happy married life.

sheetala mata temple guargan haryana

About Temple – More than three centuries ago two brothers, Padarath and Singha lived in the village of Gurgaon. They were fief holders and owned thousands of acres of land. Singha was a calm, good-natured person who spend most of his time in singing Bhajans. Impressed by Singha’s devotion, Sheetala Devi appeared in his dream and granted him a boon. The boon was that, Singha’s mere touch would free a person from all pains. Singha thus left his luxurious abode and started meditating near the pond. He also made a crude temple like structure and started worshipping the Devi there. One day it seems, while collecting mud from the pond, Singha found the idol of the Devi and consecrated it in the crude structure. This structure later on became the Sheetala Devi temple.

According to another legend, a poor carpenter living in Farukh Nagar had a beautiful daughter of marriageable age. On hearing about her beauty, the Mughal ruler expressed his desire to get married to the girl. The carpenter resented giving away her daughter to a person from a different religion and so appealed to King Surajmal of Bharatpur. The matter being outside his jurisdiction, the king refused to interfere. The disappointed carpenter met Prince Bharatpur, son of King Surajmal while returning home who tried to talk it out with his father but to no avail.Consequently, the prince revolted against his father. On his way to attack Delhi, he passed through Gurgaon and he pledged to the Shri  Mata Sheetla Devi that if he returned victorious, he would build a proper temple. The prince won and upon his return, he built the temple.

There is another version of the same temple. It is said that when prince of Bharatpur was proceeding towards , he and his army rested at Ballabhgarh. But the horses refused to move further from here. The court astrologer was summoned to explain the strange behaviour of the horses, whereupon it was found that since obeisance was not paid the goddess after entering Gurgaon on their way, this had angered her. Thus an elaborate worship of the goddess was arranged and the horses started moving. The prince pledged that he would build a temple on his victorious return

In Hinduism, Goddess Shitala, or Sheetala Mata, is considered an aspect of Shakti. Popularly she is the Hindu goddess of small pox in North India and is known to spread the dreaded disease and cure it. In rural India, she is also considered as an incarnation of Goddess Parvati and Durga, which are two forms of Shakti. Goddess Shitala is popular as Mariamman in Tamil Nadu. She is undoubtedly one of the most popular rural deities and her origin can be traced to the days of Nature Worship.

Legend has it that Goddess Shitala wears a red-colored dress and rides around the villages in North India on a donkey (ass) and inflicting people with the dreaded pox – small pox, chicken pox etc. Symbolically, she represents Nature’s power of generating viruses causing disease and Nature’s healing power and is of tribal origin. She is depicted having four hands. In her four hands she carries a silver broom, winnow fan, small bowl and a pitcher with Gangajal, holy water from River Ganga. Occasionally, she is depicted with two hands carrying a broom and pitcher. Symbolically, Goddess Sheetala idol also emphasizes the need for cleanliness.

According to Puranas, Shitala, the cooling one, was created by Lord Brahma. She was promised by Brahma that she will be worshipped as a Goddess on earth but she should carry the seeds of lentils. In folktales in North India, the lentil is ‘Urad dal.’ She then asked for a companion and she was directed to Lord Shiva, who blessed her and created Jvara Asura (the fever demon). It is said that he was created from the sweat of Lord Shiva.

Shitala and Jvara Asura remained in Devaloka along with other gods and goddess. They used a donkey to transport the lentils to wherever they went. But the lentil seeds one day turned into smallpox germs and start to spread the disease among gods and goddesses. Finally, fed up with Goddess Shitala, gods asked her to go and settle in heaven where she will be worshipped. Shitala and Jvara Asura came down to earth and started hunting for a place to stay.

They went to the court of King Birat, an ardent devotee of Shiva. He agreed to worship her and give a place in his kingdom but she will not get the respect given to Shiva. An angry Shitala demanded supremacy over all other gods and when King Birat did not budge. She spread different kinds of pox on the land and finally, the King had to agree to her wishes. Soon the disease and all its after effects were miraculously cured.

The most important festival dedicated to her takes place in Chaitra month, the Ashtami day after Purnima (full moon) in the month is observed as Sheetala Ashtami. There are famous temples dedicated to Shitala Devi in Haryana, Punjab, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar.

Holi or Holika, also known as holikotsava, is a very popular event observed during the country (India). It is specially marked by unmixed gaiety and frolics and is general to all sections of the people.

This festival is extremely ancient. Known originally as ‘Holika’ it has been mentioned in very early spiritual works such as Jaimini’s Purvamimamsa-sutras and Kathaka-grhya-sutras. It must have as a result existed numerous centuries before Christ.

holi Shree Sanwariyaji, Sanwaliya seth

It was at first actually a particular rite performed by married women for the happiness and well-being of their families and the full moon (Raka) was the deity worshipped by them.

Present are two ways of reckoning a lunar month: Purnimanta and Amanta. In the former, the initial day starts after the full moon; and in the latter, behind the new moon. While the latter reckoning is more common now, the former was very much in vogue in the former days. According to this purnimanta reckoning, Phalguna purnima was the last day of the year and the New Year heralding the Vasanta-rtu (with spring starting from next day).

Therefore the full moon festival of Holika gradually became a festival of merrymaking, announcing the start of the spring season. This maybe explains the other names of this festival: Vasanta-Mahotsava and Kama-Mahotsava.
According to the stories in the Puranas and different local myths, this day is chief for three reasons.

• It was on this day that Lord Siva opened his third eye and reduced Kamadeva (the god of love, Cupid or Eros) to ashes.
• It was on this day that Holika, the sister of the demon king Hiranyakasyapu, who tried to kill the child devotee Prahlad by attractive him on her lap and sitting on a pyre of wood which was set ablaze. Holika was burnt to ashes while Prahlad remained unscathed!
• It was yet again on this day that an ogress called Dhundhi, who was troubling the children in the kingdom of Prthu (or Raghu) was complete to run away for life, by the shouts and pranks of the mischievous boys. While she had secured several boons that complete her almost invincible, this – noise, shouts, abuses and pranks of boys – was a chink in her armour due to a curse of Lord Siva. The day itself came to be called ‘Adada’ or ‘Holika’ since this festival is started.