- Source: Gajan (festival)
Gajan or Shiva gajon is a Hindu festival celebrated mostly in the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh. It is associated with such deities as Shiva, Neel and Dharmaraj. Gajan spans around a week, starting at the last week of Choitro continuing till the end of the Bengali year. It ends with Charak Puja on the last day of Chaitra, the last month in the Bengali Hindu calendar. The next day is Poila Baishakh,the first day of Bengali New Year. Participants of this festival is known as Sannyasi or Bhakta. Persons of any gender can be a participant. The complete history of the festival is not known. The central theme of this festival is deriving satisfaction through non-sexual pain, devotion and sacrifice. This Gajan festival is one of the ancient festivals of West Bengal. The festival is seen in parts of Malda, Murshidabad, a few parts in Nadia and large parts of Burdwan. The gajan of Shrikhand village in Burdwan is famous as the gajan of Bhootanathar but actually it is the gajan of Baba Dugdha Kumar Shiva. This gajan was launched by Shri Chiranjeev and Sulochan Anad among the Vaishnava Parshad gajans.
Etymology
The word gajan in Bengali comes from the word garjan or roar that sannyasis (hermits) emit during the festivities. Alternatively, the word gajan is considered a combination of parts of two words - ga is from the word gram meaning village and jan is from the word janasadharan meaning folk. In this sense gajan is a festival of village folk.
Significance
The Gajan festival is for bringing fertility back in the spring. The rituals can be performed by any person who performs austerities to gain eligibility to make offerings to the deities.
= Shiva Gajan
=The Gajan of Shiva takes place in Chaitra (April-May), the last month of the Bengali year.
In Shiva's gajan Shiva is married to Harakali on this day. The sannyasis form the barjatri (bridegroom's party). In Dharma's gajan Dharmathakur is married to Kamini-Kamakhya in Bankura Dist.or Mukti. The most recent studies on the gajan festival are: 1) Nicholas, R. Rites of Spring. Gājan in Village Bengal. New Delhi: Chronicle Books, 2008; and 2) Ferrari, F.M. Guilty Males and Proud Females. Negotiating Genders in a Bengali Festival. Calcutta and London: Seagull, 2010.
= Dharma Gajan
=The Gajan of Dharma takes place in Baisakha (May-June), the first month of the Bengali year.
= Common elements
=The Shiva and Dharma Gajan have three common aspects.
renouncing worldly life during the ritual
undertaking physical ordeals
making offerings to Surya
Fairs
Fairs are often associated with the celebration of gajan.
References
Further reading
Sur, B. (2017). "The Dutch East India Company through the Local Lens: Exploring the Dynamics of Indo-Dutch Relations in Seventeenth Century Bengal". Indian Historical Review. 44 (1): 62–91. doi:10.1177/0376983617712811. PMC 6187071. PMID 30369711 – via ResearchGate.
Satpati, Lakshminarayan (2021). "Gajan: A Cultural Heritage of the Marginalized People in Kulpi CD Block, West Bengal". Habitat, Ecology and Ekistics. Advances in Asian Human-Environmental Research. pp. 193–204. doi:10.1007/978-3-030-49115-4_11. ISBN 978-3-030-49114-7. S2CID 226320030.
"Becoming Shiva: The Gajan Sanyasis celebrate the blue gods marriage to Harkali". Firstpost. 9 April 2019. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
"Extreme piercing: A festival of self-inflicted pain". BBC News. 2020-04-17. Retrieved 2022-03-08.
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