Mathura, August 15 – Long queues of Devotees outside Sri Banke Bihari Temple Vrindavan to witness, once a once-a-year ritual, where Sri Bankey Bihari ji Maharaj is blessings devotees in a golden swing today on Hariyali Teej. Major temples in the city are to follow suit.
Astrologer Keshav Acharya said Hariyali Teej is an important festival in the region, to show gratitude toward god and nature for the changing landscape. “Seeing green makes one ecstatic”, he added. The temple also started celebrating by including this in its rituals. It is believed that Mata Parvati’s hard penance to get lord shiva concluded on this day. During the period, she ate only bael leaves.
The entire temple is decorated in green, and the deity himself adorned in green attire. Two Gopika’s each on both sides carries Chamar (sacred fly whisk ) and pan prasad.
Ghewar Faini will be offered as prasad in most of the temple.
There was loot in the temple treasury in the early 1920’s. Then it was decided to make a swing out of the gold left in the temple. The responsibility of constructing a swing went to an ardent devotee, Hargu Lal ji. Historian and Temple Sewayat Prahalad Ballabh Goswami said. He arranged the rest of the gold from his side.
“This swing was crafted by two goldsmiths of Varanasi in Vrindavan with one lakh Tola of silver and ten thousand Tola of Gold, 8 decades ago,” Goswami said.
The swing was renovated this year since a section was damaged due to Holi colours. Rajat Goswami, member of the Shri Bankey Bihari Temple High Powered Committee, said. “The temple opened at around 7 .30 am for morning darshans and expected to remain open up to 2 pm; similarly, the temple will be remain open for evening darshans from around 5pm to 11pm.”
He said neither a meeting was convened regarding the arrangement of Hariyali Teej nor were any suggestions invited from us. “We were told in the last meeting that we will be invited to the meeting with the District Magistrate and SSP regarding arrangements for Hariyali Teej celebrations in the temple, but we haven’t received any invitation from their end, ” Goswami added.
Julan Utsav is a fifteen-day festival in Sapt Devalaya of Vrindavan ( the 7 historical temples of Vrindavan), which concludes on Raksha Bandhan. Thakur ji will bless devotees from a gold and silver swing in the evening for the first three days . Dinesh Chandra Goswami Sewayat Sri Radharaman temple, said.
Different Hindolas will be observed on subsequent days. Priya ji (Radha Rani) is also offered a chuniri, which is purely a spiritual attitude rather than a mechanical ritual.
The disciples of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, Sanatan Goswami, Jeev Goswami, and Roop Goswami did mention Swing as part of Thakur Ji’s Leelas in Savan in their books. This is around a 150-year-old ritual and is also mentioned in Hari Bhakti Vilas . It’s a day long event in Shri Bankey Bihari ji , whereas it’s a 15 days festival in Sapt Devalaya of Vrindavan, Vijay Kishore Goswami Sewayat at Madan Mohan temple said.
All seven temples will have gold and silver swings on display for fifteen days, he added.
A briefing meeting was convened for officers yesterday. The District Magistrate Chandra Prakash Singh said that around 50 lakh devotees are expected to visit major temples today . He said round the clock emergencies will be available for the day. Camps are organised, and an ambulance will be available.
He said Golf carts will be available for senior citizens and physically challenged people. He requested people to avoid using plastic and help in making the city a plastic-free city.
SSP Shlok Kumar said that the entire area is divided into 4 super zones and 18 sectors with Magistrates and police force deployment. Parking spaces are identified. A detailed traffic plan is in place to ensure smooth vehicular movement.
Heavy vehicles will be banned for the day in Vrindavan.EOM
