Art Of Teaching

If you look into the history of Valentine’s Day you will see that it has nothing remotely connected with love or passion. It is actually a day which is very sad and it is for commemorating the martyrdom of Saint Valentine who was beheaded by Emperor Claudius II. Saint Valentine was put into prison because he used to perform weddings of the soldiers who were not allowed to marry. As the story goes …. When in jail, he healed the daughter of the jailor, Asterias, who was very sick. Just before he was to be executed, he wrote her a farewell letter and signed it as “Your Valentine”.

It was Geoffrey Chaucer, if you have read English Literature, who in the 14^th century, associated this day as a Romantic Love Day during the period of courtly love of those times.  Thereafter during the 18^th century, when English country side love flourished in a big way, this day evolved into an occasion of gifting of flowers, confectionaries and greeting cards among lovers.

Indians have the habit of following herd culture and that is what is happening on Valentine’s Day. Most of the youngsters celebrating Valentine’s Day are just emulating the Western culture as they always do.

 But the question here is, is celebrating of Valentine’s Day detrimental to Indian culture? Frankly I don’t think so. You just don’t need a special day to commemorate true love. Love is eternal and not bounded by physical desires or monetary gifts.

It is just like any other western days celebrated like Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Chocolate Day, Hug Day, Rose Day, Slap Day, Kick Day, Breakup Day, Twining Day etc. etc. As a College Principal, students came to me asking for permission to celebrate these days. I always feel the more you say ‘NO’. the more children are attracted to the negativity of it all. So, it is better to face the evil, from the front instead of banning the same and then seeing the teenagers carrying out the activities secretly.

So, what did I do? I turned these days into activity days with marks kept for the best performance. The best rose prepared and not purchased, the best card for parents, poems on mother, and Valentines Day was celebrated as kindness day where a student had to speak about what he or she did for another most favorite student, keeping the spirit of St. Valentine intact.

 Also, it is a way to stop the gift galleries etc., who encash on the emotions of the youngsters and make huge profits. You have to make the youngsters realize in your own way that festivals like Karva- Chaut and Vat- Savitri in the Indian context are also expressions of true love between a couple and has nothing to do with patriarchy as painted nowadays. We, Indians believe in the institution of marriage and therefore the eternal love between couples is celebrated in Indian Society and not among youngsters as in Western Society. Love has a very deep meaning in Indian Society and we try to keep the institution of marriage long- lasting and not hollow. We try to keep our relationship stable. Also Love for us is something internal, it is quiet and never loud.

Celebration of true love is not detrimental in itself but overlooking what love stands for and quashing the Indian ethos and ethnicities, does not reverberate with the description of globalization and is certainly damaging.

I end by saying that we also have a Valentine’s Day in our Hindu tradition but hardly very few know about it or celebrate it.

We celebrate Basant Panchami on the 5^th day in the month of Magha during the light phase of the moon. The eastern parts of India celebrate Saraswati Puja on this day.

But many people are not aware that this day has another significance. God Kamdev, the God of Love and his consort, Rati is worshipped on this day.

After Goddess Sati killed herself, to stop Lord Shiva’s Tandava which was destroying the universe, Lord Vishnu mutilated her dead body into small pieces after which Shiva stopped his destructive Tandava and went into deep meditation. In the meantime, a Rakshasa by the name of Tarakasura was creating havoc due to the boon of Lord Brahma. Sati took rebirth as Parvati in the house of King Parvateshwar and was totally devoted to Lord Shiva and wanted to be his consort. It was prophesied that Tarakasura could be destroyed only by Shiva’s son. So, the Devas pressurized Kamdev to break Shiva’s meditation and make him fall in love and marry Parvati. Kamdev went to Kailash and saw Parvati worshipping Lord Shiva with flowers. He beckoned to Spring i.e. Basanta to Kailash and immediately the mountain peaks full of snow started blossoming with flowers. Then Lord Kamdev shot his Kamvan at Shiva, resulting in his breaking of meditation, and the beautiful Basant season, along with the effect of Kamvan and Parvati’s beauty made him fall in love with her and marry her.  

Thereafter when he realised Kamdev’s treachery, he opened his third eye in anger and Kamdev was reduced to ashes. Rati was grief-stricken and fell at Shivas feet to get her husband back. Siva realised that his anger was misplaced as Kamdev did the bidding of the Gods, so he gave a boon to Rati that Kamdev would take birth as Pradyumna, the son of Lord Krishna and Rukmini in Dwapar Yug. He would be the one to kill the Rakshasa Sambar and would be reunited as Rati’s husband.

We see therefore in many parts of India, especially in Gujrat’s Kutch, Rajasthan, in Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Maharashtra, Basant Panchami is celebrated as Indian Valentine Day where sentiments of love and emotional expectations are celebrated. Bouquets and garlands are made out of mango leaves and marigold and showered as gifts by people who wear dresses of saffron, orange and pink colour and pay visit to one another.

Some parts of Gujrat like Kutch, also in some western and central parts of India like Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Himachal Pradesh, etc Basant Panchami is seen to be welcomed and celebrated with sentiments of love and emotive anticipation. Bunches and garlands of flowers are prepared with mango leaves and given as gifts. People’s clothing are in saffron, orange and pink colour and they visit each other. Shiv Parvati is worshipped in some parts of Maharashtra, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh where offerings made of wheat and mango flower are seen in the temples.

In parts of Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Maharashtra, people worship Shiva and Parvati as the deities of eternal love and are worshipped with offerings made of mango flower and wheat.

Our very own Desi Valentine Day.

Jai Hind.