In India, numerous days throughout the year are celebrated as New Year’s Day in different states depending upon the type of calendar being followed. Those regions which follow the Solar calendar consider the month of Vaishakha as the first month of the year and new year is celebrated on the first day of month as Baisakhi (North and Central India), Rongali Bihu (Assam), Puthandu (Tamil Nadu), Vishu (Kerala), Pana Sankrati (Odisha) and Poila Boishakh (Bengal). Those regions which follow the lunar calendar consider the month of Chaitra as the first month of the year and new year is celebrated on the first day of this month as Ugadi (Andhra Pradesh), Gudi Padwa (Mumbai). The celebration in different ways signify the fact that India is a diverse land with people of different religious faiths and beliefs, akin to a one beautiful garden that harbours the flowers of different colours and fragrance not only adding beauty and variety but also making country rich of cultural heritage.
The Kashmiri Pandits also celebrate the New Year’s Day on the first day of the bright fortnight (Shukl Paksh) of the month of Chaitra as ‘Navreh’. The word Navreh is derived from Sanskrit ‘Nava Varsha’ literally meaning New Year. According to legends, the mother Goddess Sharika used to dwell on Sharika Parabata (Hari Parabata) and Shapta Rishi gathered around the Parabata on this day leading on to the beginning of Saptarashi era for astrologers. It is an auspicious day as the first ray of sun fell on Chakreshwari to honour her and Kashmiri Pandits dedicate the day to the Goddess Sharika and pay homage to her during the festival. On the eve of Navreh, the priest (kulguru) of the family provides a religious almanac (Nechi Patri) for the next year and a scroll (Kreel Pach) of the local goddess. The Nechi Patri (Nakshatra Patri) is an almanac that gives an important astrological configurations, auspicious dates (tithis) and other useful religious information for the coming year. It is a tradition in every Kashmiri Pandit household to keep the Nechi Patri handy for consultations especially when religious and even social obligations are performed as it has dates (tithis), mathematically calculated in it.
On the eve of Navreh, a customary large plate (Thaal) is prepared on the preceding night, covered with a piece of cloth and is kept overnight at the centre of the house i.e. kitchen or may be the thokur kuth, a prayer room right next to kitchen – the ritual known as ‘Thaal Barun’. The thaal is filled with rice (in older days it used to be paddy), wheat cakes/ bread, pen, inkpot, some currency notes (gold or silver coins), milk or curd, walnut in odd number, some salt, some flowers (preferably narcissus flower), a small mirror, some newly sprouted grass and a weed known as ‘Wye’. The specialty of Navreh thaal is the New Year’s scroll and Nechi Pater (almanac) – the one with the great image of ‘Vishnu in Space’. In the wee hours of the early morning, eldest woman of the house, grandmother or mother, with the thaal in her hand and blessing on her lips, one by one wakes everyone up and asks each one to look at the thaal, see face in the mirror, take up the pen and write something (preferably OM) – the ritual called as ‘Buth-Vuchun’. After seeing (darshan) the thaal, the walnuts are dropped in the river as a sign of thanksgiving and rice from thaal is used to prepare taher (yellow rice) that is offered to the Goddess at the temple to seek blessings. The same ritual, however, is observed on Sonth or the Kashmiri spring festival as well.
Each of the ingredients in thaal has got a religious, ritualistic and also a materialistic significance. The rice being the principal diet of Kashmiris guarantees abundance of food and daily bread, the coins represent wealth and prosperity, the pen and inkpot designate education, wisdom and knowledge, the curd depicts fullness and stability, the self-image in mirror represents introspection, the salt exhibits the taste in life and flowers the effervescence. The calendar signals the changing time and the Deity exemplifies the Universal Constant, both of which together, are a reminder of the constancy of changing time. The bitter herb ‘wye’ is a reminiscent of life’s bitter aspects, to be taken in stride alongside the good. The bitter herb is usually eaten with walnuts to bring wholeness of life’s experiences in the admixture.
After migration of the Kashmiri Pandit families to the plains in 1990, an inability to perform parikarma and pay obeisance to Maa Sharika on Hari Parabata has created lacunae and vacuum in every Kashmiri Pandit’s heart yet the essence remains same. We are hopeful that Maa Sharika shall invite all of us back to the valley so that we are able to observe this day with the same fervour, perform parikarma and continue with our tradition of Thaal Barun and Buth Vuchun to eternity.
Dr. Pawan Suri
Director & Chief Cardiologist
Global Hospital
Jalandhar, Punjab
Email: psuricardio@gmail.com
Happy Navreh, new year! Peace and prosperity !
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