Wednesday, June 17, 2009

A Day of Traffic Jam

Dear Folks,
On 17th June, the largest event of Phaltan's religious and social calendar passed through Wakadewadi, Pune. 400,000 people are walking for over fifteen days and 250 km from a town near Pune to a temple in Panderpure on a journey called the Palki. They follow the path of the 13th century Saint Nyaneshwar (literally: god of wisdom) who was a religious child prodigy. After writing a poetic companion to the Bhagavad Gita and purportedly performing a number of miracles, including causing a bull to speak from the Holy Scriptures, he chose to starve himself to death at the Panderpure temple when he was only 22 years old. The procession has been in existence since the time of Chaucer and is only one of several parades leading to the same holy site.
The procession, which carries symbols of the god's footprints on a silver chariot, passes directly in front of our office, blocking the whole traffic for a day. The women carried all of their clothing, bedding, and often food on their heads in giant parcels, as wide as they are tall. They also balanced holy basil plants to give to the god upon arrival. Videos of the same show the trails of faith and religious fervor.

GVK

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