View allAll Photos Tagged MakarSankranti!
Devotees gather for special Puja for Uttarayan, the mark of beginning of the Northward movement of the Sun, which is considered to be very auspicious day in Indian culture.
Taken in front of Rama temple in Orchha, Madhyapradesh, India
Adiyogi Shiva Statue (112 feet) was unveiled on 15th January 2023 in Chikkaballapur, Karnataka, India.
"The Adiyogi statue has been built at Isha Foundation premises at Nandi Hills in Chikkaballapur district of Karnataka State in India. The Ashram has been set up to promote Indian art, culture and spiritual traditions. Cultural programmes including Bharathanatyam by Radhe Jaggi,"
Adiyogi Statue has been recognised as the “Largest Bust Structure” in the world by the Guinness Book of World Records, and stands 112 feet tall. This iconic image of the first yogi is 150 feet long, 25 feet wide, and made from around 500 tons of steel.
Makar Sankranti is a religious celebration observed all over India on the last day of month Poush in Bengali calender. Different parts of India has different names for it and different rituals are observed to celebrate the occasion. However bathing in river water on this auspicious day is considered to relieve a person of all sins all over India. Hence people from all corners of India flock to the places of pilgrimage to have a holy bath and one such place is Sagar in Bengal. This is the place where river Ganga meets Bay of Bengal.
Every year thousands of pilgrims visit Sagar to have the holy bath. For these people a base camp is being set up at Maidan in Kolkata every year, so that they can take some rest while on transit. One get a chance to have a glimpse of India untouched by globalization and waves of modernization, an India which clings to its beliefs and customs, superstitions and religion firmly, at this place.
In this series I tried to capture the daily life at the base camp in Maidan. The common pilgrims going about their lives, the naked sadhus and their devotees, the onlookers flocking the place from nearby locations, the gypsies and the businessmen selling warm clothes are the subjects of my photographs in this series.
I have created one PDF book with the photographs I took at the camp at Maidan. If you want to get a copy of it please contact me with your details: Full Name, Email, Occupation, Reason for asking a copy (if any). Alternatively you can also contact me through my blog post. You may also have a look at the draft version of the PDF book.
Makar Sankranti marks the end of a long winter with the return of the sun to the Northern Hemisphere and hence the name Uttarayan. It is celebrated all over Gujarat but the excitement runs highest at Ahmedabad, Surat (known particularly for the strong string which is made by applying glass powder on the row thread to provide it a cutting edge) Nadiad and Vadodara. To be in any one of these places during this festival is to feel the heart and pulse of Gujarat and its people.
There is a wonderful set by the Meanest Indian on the colors of Uttarayan here
Ganga Sagar Mela, also known as Ganga Sagar Yatra or Ganga Snan, is the annual gathering of Hindu pilgrims to take holy dip in River Ganga before She merges in the Bay of Bengal Sea during Makar Sankranti at Sagar Island or Sagardwip in West Bengal, India. Ganga Sagar Mela 2015 date is January 15.
The Gangasagar fair begins a couple of day early and ends on the day after Sankranti. Hindu pilgrims from India and around the world arrive at Sagar Island to take a holy dip in sacred waters of Ganga River before She merges in the Bay of Bengal.
Thousands of Hindus take holy dip at the auspicious time on Makar Sankranti day morning and offer prayers to Lord Surya (sun god). The holy dip is believed to wash the sins away and lead to the attainment of Moksha.
After performing Ganga Snan, pilgrims visit the Kapilmuni Temple situated nearby. This is an ancient temple and is one of its kind in India.
Devotees start to arrive in the first week of January and the venue attracts maximum pilgrims on the Makar Sankranti day.
Accommodation for pilgrims is provided on the transit camps set up on Sagar Island.
Lohri is an popular harvest festival in India, especially North India. Come January, and the fields are filled with the golden harvest of wheat and farmers celebrate Lohri during this rest period before the harvesting and gathering of crops. Lohri is usually celebrated in the outdoors by friends and family who get together and have a bonfire in the evening.
During the day, children go from door to door singing folk songs in praise of Dulha Bhatti, a thief in folklore who helps the poor and fights for their rights. These children are given sweets and savories, and occasionally, money. These collections are known as Lohri, and they are distributed at night during the festival. Some may be offered to the sacred fire. Peanuts, popcorn and other food items are also thrown into the fire as an offering to the God of Fire.
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Pongal, Makar Sakranti, Lohri is the harvest festival celebrated in India as Uttarayan starts.
At this time of the year, every state in India celebrates its harvest festival. While it's Lohri in Punjab today, the four-day Pongal festival starts in Tamil Nadu with Bhogi Pongal and thousands of Hindu devotees from across the country have already reached Haridwar for the Kumbh Mela. The harvest festivals are a celebration of 'unity in diversity'. On Makar Sankranti, the Sun God is worshipped as a mark of gratitude for blessing the farmers with a good crop. It marks the Sun's transit into Makara or Capricorn, which means the end of the winter solstice and the start of longer days. In West Bengal, Makar Sankranti is also known as Poush Sankranti, when the famous Ganga Sagar Mela takes place.
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Makar Sankranti marks the beginning of summer which is greeted by the population spending the day on their roofs, flying kites, and trying to cut each other's strings.
Walking swiftly up and down the length of kite thread strung roadside in Ahmedabad, a middle-aged Muslim man coats the thread with Manja, a paste resulting from mixing adhesive (e.g. rice etc.) with finely ground glass to deliver a killer edge to kite thread as it goes up against rival kites on Uttarayan.
On the eve of Makar Sankranti, the city is awash with kites and kite fighting enthusiasm. Young and old alike crowd roadside watching Ahmedabad's Manja Makers bring an edge to their kite fighting dreams.
Travel Blog: windyskies.blogspot.com
On Uttarayan, residents of buildings in one of Ahmedabad’s suburbs gather on terraces of their or neighbour’s buildings to fly kites. It’s an annual tradition and skies over Ahmedabad fill with kites of every colour. It’s not very different elsewhere in Gujarat.
Youth indulge in kite fights and take pride in downing other kites.
Travel Blog: windyskies.blogspot.com
Chirer DoodhPuli. Flattened Rice dumplings stuffed with a mixture of jaggery and coconut. Fried to a golden and added to reduced milk perfumed with jaggery.
an old sadhu is praying to "Sun God" on the auspicious day of "Makar Sankranti" at Gangasagar, the confluence of river Ganga and Bay of Bengal
Happy Sankranti everyone !!!
On the plate
Khejur Gurer Patishapta, Doodhpuli, Teler Pitha, Nolen Gurer Payesh and Soru Chakuli.
Sadhguru Jaggi Vasudev in conversation with a disciple at Adiyogi Statue unveiling ceremony in Chikkaballapur, Karnataka.
Yesterday was Makar Sankranti, a Hindu festival in India. In my hometown, kite flying is an important part of Sankrant festival.
Makar Sankranti marks the first Hindu festival of the calendar year. India is a diverse country with diversity in culture and language to name a few. Thus the significance of each festival is different in different state or culture. Makar Sankranti is one of the few festivals that is celebrated in most of the states across India. It is celebrated slightly differently in different states but by far and large has the same meaning and significance. It marks the beginning of the harvest season and is also known as harvest festival in most states. It also marks the start of northward journey of sun from winter to summer solstice known as "Uttarayana".
The sesame-jaggery sweet, sugar cane , roasted bengal gram and khichdi/pongal/huggi are important part of the celebration. Kite flying is also an important part of the celebration in some states.
All Indian festivals are based on lunar calendar but Sankranti is the only festival based on solar calendar and hence always falls on the same geordian date.
Editing : I am feeling lucky (Picasa)
Kite flying reaches its peak as the people of Ahmedabad enjoy the last hour of Uttarayan.
Uttarayan, or Makar Sankranti, celebrates the northern ascent of the Sun. In Gujarat, the festival is celebrated by flying kites. People of all ages throng the city's rooftops for two straight days flying kites and engaging in kite fights.
The scientific reason behind kite flying is for the population to get a nice sun bath and help generate a healthy dose of Vitamin D. The sun isn't very harsh at this time of the year.
See my "Celebrating Uttarayan" slideshow.
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Here thousands of people take Holy Dip during Makar Sankranti, usually falls on 14 or 15th January every year. Gangasagar pilgrimage and fair is the second largest congregation of mankind after the holy Kumbha Mela. The latter is observed once in four years at alternate locations in north, central and central-west parts of the country, Gangasagar fair and pilgrimage is held annually on the Sagar Island’s southern tip in the Ganges delta atop the Bay of Bengal.
Makar Sankranti
Sagardwip, 128kms away from Kolkata presents an ideal repose for a quiet weekend. A small island in the Sunderban, Sagardwip is bequeathed with a quiet charm amidst the completely unspoilt and silvery beach on the estuary of the mighty Ganga. It has a lighthouse that offers you a panaromic view of the surroundings. Quite a hot spot for Hindu pilgrimage.
The Naga sadhus or 'warrior-ascetics'
Naga sadhus are a large and a prominent Shaiva sect, who have existed since the prehistoric past. The Naga sect is subdivided into Akharas, i.e. 'regiments', like an army. Their display of weaponry -- sticks, spears, swords and especially the trident -- have a mostly symbolic function. Among the Nagas are many sadhus who walk about naked. They are mostly smeared with ash, carry traditional weapons like the trident, smoke cannabis or hashish and can perform incredible feats and yoga asanas.
In their nakedness they do not emanate sexuality. On the contrary, they control, inhibit the sexual 'vibrations', retaining its energy so it can be mystically transformed into psychic and spiritual power.
The chilam, a clay pipe smoked by many sadhus through cupped hands, is filled with tobacco, cannabis and hashish.
at the gangasagar mela transit camp, kolkata
all decked up for the big religious fest
The Gangasagar pilgrimage and fair is the second largest congregation of mankind after the triennial ritual bathing of Kumbha Mela, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagar_Island#Pilgrimage
pilgrims gather here from all parts of india, to proceed to the gangasagar mela which is another 110 kms - the final stretch
the big day is makar sankranti, which was on the 15th of jan this year
this was my second visit to the camp, which was almost deserted
my earlier visit was on the 13th & the camp was teeming with activity
She happens to be a widow (white clothes, lack of sindoor on forehead etc) and had come by train with her village folk from Rewa, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rewa,_Madhya_Pradesh around a days journey from Kolkata
The Gangasagar pilgrimage and fair is the second largest congregation of mankind after the triennial ritual bathing of Kumbha Mela, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sagar_Island#Pilgrimage
pilgrims gather here from all parts of india, to proceed to the gangasagar mela which is another 110 kms - the final stretch
the big day is makar sankranti, which was on the 15th of jan this year
this was my second visit to the camp, which was almost deserted
my earlier visit was on the 13th & the camp was teeming with activity
Makar Sankranti, also referred to as Uttarayana, Makar, or simply Sankranti, is a Hindu observance and a festival. Usually falling on the date of January 15 annually, this occasion marks the transition of the Sun from the zodiac of Sagittarius to Capricorn.
The elderly Muslim caretaker of the tomb adjacent to a medieval-era mosque in Ahmedabad took a kindly view of youngsters running wild in the compound with their kites on Uttarayan even as he tried to shoo them away.
His sternness lacked conviction and the voice had lost its bite. His face was wrinkled; among the lines were those that life lived on the margins had etched.
“They don’t listen when the kite is in their hands,” he told me. I nodded.
The skies over Ahmedabad were surprisingly blue for someone travelling to Ahmedabad from from Mumbai.
Travel Blog: windyskies.blogspot.com
The is from first of its kind traditional Carnival on Makar Sankranti with Kite Flying event organizing in AIRCEL Circle, Hyderabad, India. Wish you all a very happy "Makar Sankranti".
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Gangasagar or Sagardwip, is a place of Hindu pilgrimage. Every year on the day of Makar Sankranti, hundreds of thousands of Hindus gather to take a holy dip at the confluence of river Ganges and Bay of Bengal and offer prayers (puja) in the Kapil Muni Temple.
Sagardwip is an island in the Ganges delta, lying on the continental shelf of Bay of Bengal about 100 km south of Kolkata, India.
A sandwich, if I can use the liberty of an analogy, of two luchis with a divine gurer kanchagolla filling in between. Fried to a gorgeous golden. And dipped into a notun gur perfumed payesh just before serving.
Happy Makar Sankranti! According to the Hindu Vedic Astrology, Sun enters the house of Capricorn (Makar) in the course of its celestial path. This marks the beginning of the Winter Solstice, though scientifically, 21st - 22nd December is the real start of Uttarayan(Winter Solastice). Kite flying is an important part of the celebration of Makar Sankranti in many parts of the country.
Gangasagar or Sagardwip, is a place of Hindu pilgrimage. Every year on the day of Makar Sankranti, hundreds of thousands of Hindus gather to take a holy dip at the confluence of river Ganges and Bay of Bengal and offer prayers (puja) in the Kapil Muni Temple.
Sagardwip is an island in the Ganges delta, lying on the continental shelf of Bay of Bengal about 100 km south of Kolkata, India.
Most Hindu devotees took holy dip in the river Ganga and others enjoyed kite flying to celebrate Makar Sankranti (middle of January) at Varanasi.
Benares is older than history, older than tradition, older even than legend, and looks twice as old as all of them put together – Mark Twain.
Varanasi or Banaras is one of the oldest cities in the world, which have been constantly inhabited. If we look at the archaeological evidences, remains from the year 1200 BC have been found here. While there are also indications that this city could be living since 3000 BC, or even older. (goseefeel.com/varanasi/brief-history-varanasi-banaras/)