Feast Of Harmony

This is the time of the year when people in Lucknow go bhandara hopping every Tuesday, and throughout the month of Jeth/ Jyeshtha of the lunar calendar, that falls in May and June.

The first Tuesday of Jeth according to the Hindu calendar is called ‘bada mangal’ (big Tuesday) and is considered auspicious. This is the day when Hanuman first met his master and mentor Lord Rama according to the epic Ramayana.

Now, celebrations are held on all four Tuesdays of this month in worship of Hanuman, the deity known for love, devotion, compassion, strength and intelligence.

Apart from extra prayers and rituals performed by devotees, there is the tradition of the ‘bhandara’ or the act of cooking meals with love and distributing the food free of cost to devotees at temples and at street corners.

From traditional servings of the mouth-watering poori and sabzi, a variety of meals are available throughout the day, including kadhi-chawal, and chola-poori. Many students and office workers do not carry lunch from home on the four auspicious Tuesdays and enjoy meals at their favourite temple, and bhandara stands found all over the city in worship of Lord Hanuman.

Bhandara hopping is a fun pastime and yet another occasion for citizens to get together to talk, laugh and taste meals from different kitchens, irrespective of divisive forces like caste, class or religion that are always lurking to sow seeds of dissent and hate in society.

Lucknow's Hanuman Temple

Why do you think Lucknow enjoys the awesome reputation of being the city of cities? It is because the traditions in the city have always been to encourage citizens to openly embrace each other.

In Lucknow the citizen has always been more important than the city, in the bargain making the city one of the most pleasant places to live in.

The rulers of the city from earliest times had looked for occasions to strengthen unity amongst its citizens. Bada mangal or the big Tuesday is yet another festival that is unique to Lucknow. The festival goes back to times when a Queen Begum Janab-e-Alia had laid the foundation stone of a temple devoted to Hanuman.

During the time of monarchs, Lucknow was ruled by a long line of nawabs whose ancestor was of Persian origin. However, within a few decades, the economic migrants from Iran had married local women and become part of a large local family.

They were taught the Arabic and Persian languages as a scholarly exercise in court but they had used the local Awadhi dialect to communicate with each other in private. It was but natural for the Muslim rulers to be familiar with the rites, rituals and beliefs of their non-Muslim part of the family, and Hindu relatives.

Therefore, it was no surprise when a divine presence appeared in the dream of the Queen Begum, wife of the third ruler Shujaudaula.

In the dream, the Queen Begum was asked to build a place of worship for Hanuman. A site was indicated where an idol of Hanuman lay buried.

On waking up the Queen Begum got the site traced, and excavated, where the idol was found. It was cleaned, packed and perched on an elephant and sent to Lucknow. However on the way to Lucknow, the elephant suddenly stopped. He had chosen a spot where he sat down and refused to move.

The Queen Begum was informed and she took it as a divine sign to build the Hanuman temple at the very same spot where the elephant sat with the idol of Hanuman on its back in present day Aliganj.

The temple was inaugurated on the first Tuesday in the month of Jeth in the 18th Century and the opening was accompanied by a large fair open to all citizens. Today the same temple remains the venue of much pomp and show during this time of the year when it is visited by devotees from far and near.

The saffron washed temple stands tall to this day and is home to an idol of Hanuman. The surroundings include a step well where the celebrations during bada mangal are most colourful.

It had not mattered in the past that the religion practised by the rulers of Lucknow was Islam. The rulers were familiar, and in love with the local religion, culture and the people of the place. Half their family was non-Muslim and it was natural for them to build, patronise and to protect Hindu temples.

Lucknow lawyer and heritage lover Muhammad Haider pointed to the crescent and star on the Aliganj temple tower as a powerful symbol of the strong bond that people of different religious communities have enjoyed in Lucknow.

The Queen Begum was such an ardent devotee of Hanuman that she named her son Saadat Ali Khan, the fourth ruler of Lucknow Manglu after Mangal or Tuesday, a day that is devoted to the worship of Hanuman.

Votes Cast

Votes have been cast in two phases in municipal elections in UP. The second phase of voting ended last Thursday, and results will be out on May 13 for 760 municipalities, 17 Nagar Nigams, 199 Nagar Palika parishad and 544 Nagar Panchayats contested by 18 political parties out of which the main face off was between the Samajwadi Party (SP), Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) and the ruling party.