The article speaks about the significance of Hindu festival of Saraswati Puja and Vasant Panchami. Academicians, students and musicians worship Goddess Saraswati for wisdom.

Saraswati Puja or Vasant Panchami are celebrated on a respective auspicious day (the fifth day of the vernacular calendar) by different communities, especially the bengalies. The 5th day of Magha is associated with the bandana or puja of Devi Saraswati.

 

Devi Saraswati is the Goddess of wisdom, art, science and philosophy and for those reasons the worship of Goddess Saraswati has special significance in the careers of students, academicians, singers and musicians. Every year on the 5th day of magha huge section of the Hindus worship Goddess Saraswati.

 

The devotees worship the Goddess by offering fruits, flowers and sweets. There is famous Saraswati Sloka which says saraswati mahabhage vidya kalamalochane vidya rupe vishalakshi vidyam devi namasthute, jaya jaya devi chara chara share kuchayuga shobhita muktahare vina ranjita pustak haste bhagawati bharati devi namasthute.

 

On the same day of Saraswati puja there is a tradition of children having hathe kori. The priest who chants the mantras give a chalk and slate to a child and with the chalk asks the child to write the first letters of vernacular language. So from that time the education informally begins for the child.

There on it continues formally once the child gets admitted in a school.

 

Girls and women generally wear yellow sarees on the day of saraswati Puja. In 2015 Saraswati Puja had been celebrated on 24th January, 2015.

 

The other festival, that is Vasant Panchami also has very big similarity and is practiced in India on the same day as Saraswati Puja. In Vasant Panchami also the women wear yellow dresses. The festival is associated with Lord Krishna and Radha and by some section of the people with the stories of Kamdeva. Essentially vasanti colour is also yellow.

 

With Vasant Panchami the romantic season of spring is declared. Kamdeva and his wife Rati was associated with romance and during old days twigs for burning holi used to be collected from the day of Vasant Panchami.

 

As far Saraswati Puja is concerned all the different instrumentalists like sitarvadak, tablavadak, musicians, singers all worship Goddess Saraswati. Idols of Saraswati are bought with the vahana the swan. Bhahmans can do the puja themselves. Whenever Saraswati puja is celebrated as a community priests are hired who do the puja.

 

After the days of Saraswati Puja bengalies have another tradition of eating gota seddo. It means black kolai or urad dal is eaten as gota, meaning full, brinjals, potatoes are eaten gota, meaning full.