"Join me for a fasting lunch", she said - "it's Chaitra Navratri" - this festival is in honour of Shakti or Durga and requires nine days of fasting. Spicy food, garlic and onions are avoided, sago, curd and potatoes are permitted. Nothing is eaten for breakfast or dinner. It seemed extreme and I secretly wondered if she wasn't tempted to cheat a bit. Surprisingly, my gift of a box of Kaju Bafi sweets made with edible silver was on the list of 'do's' rather than don't s.
Apart from the religious connotations to do with good behaviour, pujas and prayers for a fruitful financial year, it is scientifically good for the health, prior to the heat of the long summer season - several kilos would be lost over 9 days and the digestive system is given a complete rest as the seasons change. I found myself marveling at the handing over of power for self-determination, to an external Hindu system of belief. Hinduism is not a religion, it is a way of life, an Indian friend explained to me - it requires a sacrifice of the self for a group identity. No matter how long an Indian lives outside of India, on returning to India, they become Indian. Even though my friend had lived in Florida in the US. for many years, she had slipped back into her Indian identity immediately on her return and adhered to all the traditions unequivocally !
The tenth century temple sculptures were a riot of energy - coming face to face, as you circumnavigate the pyramidal structures in a clockwise direction for good luck, with....warring soldiers, warring elephants, hunting, daily life and lust... Not an inch of the towering walls was left without decoration, in a dizzying display of every aspect of life in all its sheer energy - India, as much then, as it is now.....a seething mass of humanity with the focus on living and surviving every minute. This was a celebration of life on earth - reminding me of 'The Garden of Earthly Delights' by Hironymus Bosch, painted about 400 years later, but without the consequence of a fall from grace !
