New Year celebrations abound
Prayers and piety marked various festive celebrations, reports TIM BLIGHT
Dances, music, prayer and visits to temples ushered in the New Year for many Indian communities throughout April. The traditional New Year was celebrated across at least twelve states in India, including Bengal, Andhra Pradesh, Orissa, Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Punjab.
Noboborsho
Bengali New Year (Noboborsho) fell on April 14, and was celebrated by the Bengali Association of Victoria (BAV). The occasion, which was a public holiday in the states of West Bengal and Assam and in Bangladesh, marks the beginning of the ancient kingdom of Bengal and is derived from the Hindu solar calendar. Coinciding with the festive period, BAV presented its Annual Cultural Programme on March 19 to commemorate the 150th birth anniversary of Bengali Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore. Arguably the greatest poet and thinker India has ever produced, Tagore has the distinction of being the only person to have authored the national anthems of two sovereign nations: India and Bangladesh.
Over 350 people congregated at the Forest Hill Secondary College to witness what turned out to be a magical evening, of two distinct parts. It began with the staging of Tagore’s devotional dance drama titled, Bhanushingher Padabali which narrates the mythical stories of eternal lovers Radha and Krishna, through intricately woven poetry. The entire production was choreographed by BAV’s Sudeshna Bhattacharya. Antara Chowdhury, daughter of the musical maestro, late Salil Chowdhury, enthralled attendees with her late father’s haunting melodies. Recounting intimate anecdotes from moments spent with her father, she treated the audience to emotional renditions of Hindi and Bengali classics, notably the moving ‘Kono ek Gayer Bodhu’. After dinner, the evening concluded with children being led on stage to form the chorus of ‘Dhitang Dhitang Bole’.
Telegu Ugadi
Telegu New Year (Ugadi) was celebrated on April 4t, an occasion also shared by Maharashtra, Karnataka and wider Andhra Pradesh. The Telugu Association of Australia Inc (TAAI) arranged a family sports picnic and cultural function at Bentliegh. Attended by over 300 people, guests played sports and activities throughout the day before lunch was served. Following that, the cultural programme began with a prayer and welcome speech by TAAI President, Srinivasarao Gangula. Local singers sang Telugu poems and other literary works before Sri Sudhir Mandalika conducted the New Year ceremony and Sravanthi Editor Sri Konchada recited the horoscope for the year, Panchanga Sravanam. Soon after, TAAI secretary Anu Munuganti offered a vote of thanks before the programme concluded, with an offering of Ugadi Pachadi, a traditional pickle. Served in the Telegu community at New Year, it symbolises all aspects of life with a mélange of sweet, sour, salty and bitter tastes.
Odia New Year
Odia New Year (Maha Vishuva Sankranti) also fell on April 14 and was celebrated throughout the eastern Indian state of Orissa, as well as the neighbouring states of Jharkand and Bihar. Marking the day when the sun enters Aires, Orioz (The Association of Odias in Australia) held a cultural event called Phula Baula Beni” in Sydney on April 22. Parramatta Town Hall came alive with more than one hundred Odias from as far afield as Victoria, Canberra and Brisbane, to celebrate the New Year. The programme kicked off with Lord Jagannath’s prayer (Janana) followed by Odia folk songs, courtesy Raja and Kumar Purnami, and live music. The array of programmes transformed the whole evening into a cultural feast with evergreen Odia songs, dances (including Sambalpuri), a short play (Nataka) and a Magic Show. “The programme was excellent and a real treat. I felt as if I was in Odisha!” said the General Secretary of Orioz Mr Rajendra Padhee, who had travelled from Brisbane. Mr Charu Mishra one of the senior members of Orioz said, “It was worth driving 1,000 km. I am happy I did it. It was fabulous and I am proud to be here.”
Of particular mention were organizing committee members Srinath Acharaya, Bijay Jena, Bharadwaj Mishra, Lalatendu Padhihari, Tapas Senapati, Sovesh Chhotray, Priya Das and Sujeet Jena. Orioz, the Association of Odias in Australia, started with a humble beginning in the year 2002, and now has grown in leaps and bounds with members all over Australia. Orioz is planning for its biennial national get-together (Samilani) in Perth in April 2012.
Pudu Varsha Porappu and Vishu
Meanwhile, the Tamil New Year (Pudu Varsha Porappu) and Malayalee New Year (Vishu) were celebrated jointly by the Canberra Murugan Group and the Canberra Ayyappa Samajam. Tamil New Year also fell on April 14, and Abhishekam of the Murugan deity in the temple was performed on that day, before the major celebrations the following day. On the evening of April 15, about 150 devotees attended the celebrations at the temple which began with a puja, the Abhishekam of the Ayyappa deity. It was performed by Pundit Shailesh Diwediji and was followed by bhajans by Ayyappa Samajam members and the Murguan group. Aarti and bhojan prasad of traditional Kerala and Tamil dishes, all prepared by local families, rounded out the successful evening.
Tamil and Malayalee New Year celebrates the date when Ayyappa, son of Shiva and Vishnu is believed to have been incarnated on the banks of the River Pampa in Kerala around the fourteenth century. The Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre in Florey has the first fully consecrated idol of Ayyappa in Australia. The statue was sculpted by Shilpis in Kerala and installed with a three-day consecration ceremony on January 14, 2011 (Makar Sankranti Day).
Many thanks to Ishani Bhowmick and Tarun Bhattacharya of the Bengali Association of Victoria (bavwebsite.org.au), Srinivasarao Gangula of the Telegu Association of Australia Inc (taai.net.au), Sujeet Jena of Orioz (orioz.org.au) and Krishnakumar Shankar of the Hindu Temple and Cultural Centre (htcc.org.au) for their generous contributions.
