Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee ji,, the legend of Hindusthan

Atal Bihari Vajpayee (born 25 December 1924) is an Indian statesman who served as the 10th Prime Minister of India, in three non-consecutive terms, first for 13 days in 1996, then for 13 months from 1998 to 1999 and then from 1999 to 2004 for a full five year term.

A parliamentarian for over four decades, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha (the lower house of India's Parliament) nine times, and twice to the Rajya Sabha (upper house). He is the only parliamentarian to have been elected from four different states at different times (Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat and Delhi.) He won his first election from Balrampur and later he moved to Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, until 2009, when he retired from active politics due to health concerns.

Vajpayee was among the founding members of the erstwhile Jana Sangh political party and had also been its President. He was also the Minister of External Affairs in the cabinet of Morarji Desai.

Early life and education:

Atal Bihari Vajpayee was born to Krishna Devi and Krishna Bihari Vajpayee on 25 December 1924 in a middle-class Brahmin family in Gwalior. His grandfather, Pandit Shyam Lal Vajpayee, had migrated to Gwalior from his ancestral village of Bateshwar, Uttar Pradesh. His father, Krishna Bihari Vajpayee, was a poet and a schoolmaster in his hometown. Vajpayee did his schooling from the Saraswati Shishu Mandir, Gorkhi, Bara, Gwalior. Vajpayee attended Gwalior's Victoria College (now Laxmi Bai College) and graduated with distinction in Hindi, English and Sanskrit. He completed his post-graduation with an M.A. in Political Science from DAV College, Kanpur, and was awarded a first-class degree.

Later he became a full-time worker of the Hindu nationalist organisation^. Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). For a while Vajpayee studied law, but midstream he chose to become a journalist. This choice was largely influenced by the fact that as a student he had been an activist in India's struggle for freedom. He edited Rashtradharma (a Hindi monthly), Panchjanya (a Hindi weekly) and the dailies Swadesh and Veer Arjun. Vajpayee never married and remained a bachelor his entire life.

Vajpayee's first exposure to politics was in August 1942, when he and his elder brother Prem were arrested for 23 days during the Quit India movement.

In 1951, he was deputed to work for the newly formed Bharatiya Jana Sangh, a right-wing political party associated with the RSS that espoused the Hindu cause. He soon became a follower and aide of party leader Syama Prasad Mookerjee. In 1954, Vajpayee was with Mookerjee when he went on a fast-unto-death in Kashmir to protest against perceived inferior treatment of non-Kashmiri Indian visitors to the state. Mookerjee died in prison during this strike. In 1957, Vajpayee was elected to the Lok Sabha, the lower house of India's Parliament, from Balrampur. There, his oratorial skills so impressed Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru that he predicted that Vajpayee would someday become India's Prime Minister.

By virtue of his oratorical and organizational skills, he became the face of the Jana Sangh. After the tragic death of Deendayal Upadhyaya, the mantle of the leadership of Jana Sangh fell on the shoulders of a young Vajpayee. He became the national president of the Jana Sangh in 1968 and, along with Nanaji Deshmukh, Balraj Madhok and Lal Krishna Advani, led the Jana Sangh to national prominence.

From 1975 to 1977, Vajpayee was arrested along with several other opposition leaders during the Internal Emergency imposed by Prime Minister Indira Gandhi of the Indian National Congress party. In 1977, heeding the call of social reformer Jayaprakash Narayan for all the opposition parties to unite against the Congress, Vajpayee merged the Jana Sangh into the newly formed grand-alliance, the Janata Party.

Following Janata's victory in the 1977 general elections, he became the Minister of External Affairs in Prime Minister Morarji Desai's cabinet. As foreign minister, that year Vajpayee became the first person to deliver a speech to the United Nations General Assembly in Hindi. By the time the Janata government crumbled in 1979, Vajpayee had established himself as an experienced statesman and a respected political leader.

The Janata Party was dissolved soon after Morarji Desai resigned as Prime Minister in 1979. The Jana Sangh had devoted its political organisation to sustain the coalition and was left exhausted by the internecine political wars within the Janata Party.

Vajpayee joined many of his Bharatiya Jana Sangh and Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh colleagues, particularly his long-time friends Lal Krishna Advani and Bhairon Singh Shekhawat, to form the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in 1980. He became the BJP's first President. He emerged as a strong critic of the Congress government that followed the Janata government.

While the BJP opposed the Sikh militancy that was rising in the state of Punjab, it also blamed Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for her divisive and corrupt politics that fostered such militancy at the expense of national unity and integrity. The BJP did not support Operation Blue Star and strongly protested against the violence towards Sikhs in Delhi that broke out in 1984 following the assassination of Indira Gandhi by two of her Sikh bodyguards. The BJP was left with only two parliamentary seats in the 1984 elections. During this period, Vajpayee remained at the centre-stage as party President and Leader of the Opposition in the Parliament.

The BJP became the political voice of the Ram Janmabhoomi Mandir Movement, which was led by activists of the Vishwa Hindu Parishad (VHP) and the RSS, and which sought to build a temple dedicated to Lord Rama in Ayodhya.

Victory in the assembly elections in Gujarat and Maharashtra in March 1995, and a good performance in the elections to the Karnataka assembly in December 1994, propelled the BJP to greater political prominence. During a BJP conference in Mumbai in November 1995, BJP President L.K. Advani declared that Vajpayee would become the Prime Minister of India. The BJP won in the May 1996 parliamentary elections.

 

Nuclear tests

In May 1998, India conducted five underground nuclear tests in Pokhran desert in Rajasthan. The tests were held just a month after the government had been in power. Two weeks later, Pakistan responded with its own nuclear tests making it the newest declared nation with nuclear weapons.

While some nations, such as Russia and France, endorsed India's right to defensive nuclear power, others including the United States, Canada, Japan, Britain and the European Unionimposed sanctions on information, resources and technology to India. In spite of the intense international criticism and the steady decline in foreign investment and trade, the nuclear tests were popular domestically. Effectively the international sanctions failed completely in swaying India's decision to weaponize their nuclear capability, something that was planned for and anticipated by the Vajpayee administration.

'Baapji' as called by his close friends and relatives has an adopted daughter, Namita. He is fond of Indian music and dance. He loves nature and one of his favourite retreats is Manali in Himachal Pradesh.

Vajpayee has expressed very clear thoughts about his poetry: "My poetry is a declaration of war, not an exordium to defeat. It is not the defeated soldier's drumbeat of despair, but the fighting warrior's will to win. It is not the despirited voice of dejection but the stirring shout of victory."

Travel and diplomatic assignments

Vajpayee has visited several countries, the first being in 1965 as a member of the Parliamentary Goodwill Mission to East Africa. He was also part of the Parliamentary Delegations to Australia in 1967, the European Parliament in 1983, and Canada in 1987. He was part of the official Indian Delegation to Commonwealth Parliamentary Association meetings held in Canada in 1966 and 1994, Zambia in 1980, and the Isle of Man in 1984. He was in the Indian delegation to the Inter-Parliamentary Union Conference, Japan in 1974, Sri Lanka in 1975; and Switzerland in 1984. He was a regular at the UN General Assembly, having been part of the Indian Delegations in 1988, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993, 1994 and 1996. He led the Indian Delegation to the Human Rights Commission Meeting at Geneva in 1993 and the Delegation of Standing Committees of External Affairs to Gulf countries i.e. Bahrain, Oman and Kuwait.

AWARDS

·         1992, Padma Vibhushan

·         1993, D. Lit. from Kanpur University

·         1994, Lokmanya Tilak Award

·         1994, Best Parliamentarian Award

·         1994, Bharat Ratna Pandit Govind Vallabh Pant Award

Positions held

·         1951 - Founder-Member, Bharatiya Jana Sangh (B.J.S) 

·         1957 - Elected to 2nd Lok Sabha

·         1957-77 - Leader, Bharatiya Jana Sangh Parliamentary Party

·         1962 - Member, Rajya Sabha

·         1966-67- Chairman, Committee on Government Assurances

·         1967 - Re-elected to 4th Lok Sabha (2nd term)

·         1967-70 - Chairman, Public Accounts Committee

·         1968-73 - President, B.J.S.

·         1971 - Re-elected to 5th Lok Sabha (3rd term)

·         1977 - Re-elected to 6th Lok Sabha (4th term)

·         1977-79 - Union Cabinet Minister, External Affairs

·         1977-80 - Founder- Member, Janata Party

·         1980 - Re-elected to 7th Lok Sabha (5th term)

·         1980-86- President, Bharatiya Janata Party (B.J.P.)

·         1980-84, 1986 and 1993-96 - Leader, B.J.P. Parliamentary Party

·         1986 - Member, Rajya Sabha; Member, General Purposes Committee

·         1988-90 - Member, House Committee; Member, Business Advisory Committee

·         1990-91- Chairman, Committee on Petitions

·         1991- Re-elected to 10th Lok Sabha (6th term)

·         1991-93 - Chairman, Public Accounts Committee

·         1993-96 - Chairman, Committee on External Affairs; Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha

·         1996 - Re-elected to 11th Lok Sabha (7th term)

·         16 May 1996 - 31 May 1996 - Prime Minister of India

·         1996-97 - Leader of Opposition, Lok Sabha

·         1997-98 - Chairman, Committee on External Affairs

·         1998 - Re-elected to 12th Lok Sabha (8th term)

·         1998-99 - Prime Minister of India; Minister of External Affairs; and also incharge of Ministries/Department not specifically allocated to the charge of any Minister

·         1999- Re-elected to 13th Lok Sabha (9th term)

·         13 Oct.1999 to 13 May 2004- Prime Minister of India and also in charge of the Ministries/Departments not specifically allocated to the charge of any Minister

Autobiography

·         Atal Bihari Vaj mem tina dasaka. (1992).

·         Pradhanamantri Atala Bihari Vajapeyi, chune hue bhashana. (2000).

·         Values, vision & verses of Vajpayee: India's man of destiny. (2001).

·         India's foreign policy: New dimensions. (1977).

·         Assam problem: Repression no solution. (1981).

Poetry

·         Twenty-One Poems. (2003). ISBN 978-0-670-04917-2.

·         Kya khoya kya paya: Atal Bihari Vajapeyi, vyaktitva aura kavitaem (Hindi Edition). (1999). ISBN 978-81-7028-335-5.

·         Meri ikyavana kavitaem. (1995).

·         Meri ikyavana kavitaem (Hindi Edition). (1995).

·         Sreshtha kabita. (1997).

·         Nayi Disha – an album with Jagjit Singh (1999)

·         Samvedna – an album with Jagjit Singh (2002)

Speeches

·         Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, selected speeches. (2000). ISBN 978-81-230-0834-9.

·         President's addresses, 1980–1986. (2000).

·         Presidential address. (1986).

·         Presidential address: Bharatiya Pratinidhi Sabha session, Bhagalpur (Bihar), 5 6 & 7 May 1972. (1972).

·         Atal Bihari Vajpayee and Pokhran

Edited by GANESH NAYAK

ganeshprasadsys@gmail.com

https://www.facebook.com/ganesh.nayak.503

The pathetic condition of SHIRADI GHAT roads, a regular risk to people

SHIRADI GHAT which connects Bengaluru, the capital of Karnataka and also the business hub, is a daily headache to countless number of travellers who use this road both day and also night. Here the road is only for name sake. You can find thousands of holes in the roads all along this Ghat section. This Shiradi Ghat connects Coastal Karavali region with the Old Mysore region. The entire 47 km road has become like deathway. During the night the entire Shiradi Ghat road will disappear in darkness. Lack of effective street lights contribute to this hell. Its better to bring a mechanic along with you when you travel in Shiradi Ghat road because when your vehicle enters the huge hole and comes up in the road your vehicle will stop automatically because of the ear bursting noice. The Government (both Central and State) has not at all cared about this issue. Because they know that thousands of Crores of rupees will be needed to solve this huge issue.Here are some of the photos of Pathetic condition of Shiradi Ghat road,, just have a look at this hell and imagine "how the people travel daily"

GANESH PRASAD G NAYAK
ganeshprasadsys@gmail.com

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Narendra Modi arrives in Hyderabad to launch YOUTH RALLY

Hyderabad: Gujarat Chief Minister and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) poll panel chief Narendra Modi arrived here on Sunday to kick-start party’s election campaign by holding a mega rally ahead of the upcoming 2014 General Elections in the city. Modi is expected to address around one lakh people at around 3 pm and security in the city has been beefed up ahead of his rally "Nava Bharat Yuva Bheri" (New India's Youth Conclave). Modi arrived by a special aircraft at Begumpet Airport shortly after 10 am. State BJP president G. Kishan Reddy and senior leaders Bandaru Dattatreya, Vidyasagar Rao and others welcomed him. He drove to Park Hyatt Hotel, where he will be meeting industrialists and representatives from the information technology sector.

After the meeting, the BJP leader will unveil a statue of Vallabhbhai Patel at the Keshav Memorial School. He will also address BJP office-bearers before leaving Hyderabad at 9 pm. BJP leaders said the stadium has a capacity of 75,000 people, but over 1,00,000 have registered online. Twelve LED screens would be installed outside the stadium for those who are unable to go inside.

“On my way to Hyderabad - I can feel the enthusiasm of the Youth already. Looking forward to Nava Bharat Yuva Bheri!”, Modi had tweeted on Sunday morning.

The party has decided to charge Rs 5 from anyone who wants to attend the rally. The money will reportedly be donated for the rehabilitation of the flood victims in Uttarakhand. Interestingly, the BJP is promoting the event as a "youth rally" targeting a demographic of 18-40.

Jihadis attack Hindus and Security forces in Kashmir, shout Anti-India slogans on Eid

Anti-India feelings run deep in Kashmir, where about a dozen rebel groups have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989. More than 65,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed. The rebel groups have largely been suppressed by Indian troops in recent years, and resistance is now principally expressed through street protests. Indian forces also used tear gas and pellet guns to quell thousands of stone-throwing protesters who took to the streets after the special Eid prayers in Srinagar.

Dozens of protesters, police and paramilitary officers were injured in the clashes, another police officer said. Indian forces imposed an indefinite curfew Friday in a town in the Indian portion of Kashmir after firing tear gas and warning shots to disperse groups of Muslims and Hindus who clashed during Eid celebrations, police said.

The army began enforcing the curfew as rival groups attacked each other with stones and sticks, and burned several shops and vehicles in Kishtwar, a town 200 kilometers (125 miles) southeast of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir. Several people were hurt in the clashes, said one police officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to talk to reporters. The trouble erupted after Hindus objected to Muslims shouting raising pro-independence slogans on the Eid al-Fitr holiday, which caps the fasting month of Ramadan.

State Home Minister Sajad Ahmed Kitchloo, who is from the area, escaped unhurt when his motorcade was attacked with stones by the clashing groups.

The state director-general of police, Ashok Prasad, said "the situation is serious and our priority is not to allow the situation to escalate.... We are trying to enforce the curfew strictly."

The protesters chanted "We Want Freedom," and "Down with India" as they marched through the streets of Srinagar. The injured included 19 police and paramilitary soldiers, said Kishore Prasad, a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police force. Several separatist leaders were put under house arrest on Thursday night to stop them from leading the protests ahead of the holiday, and shops and businesses were closed in the region.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan. They have fought two wars over its control since they won independence from Britain in 1947. The Indian portion of Kashmir is the only Muslim majority state in a predominantly Hindu country.

Source :  The Republic

 Kashmiri Pandits demand CBI probe into Kishtwar violence

Several Kashmiri Pandit organisations today condemned the communal violence in Kishtwar and demanded a CBI probe.

All Parties Migrants Coordination Committee (APMCC), a conglomerate of several displaced Kashmiri Pandit outfits, lashed out Minister of State for Home Sajjad Kitchloo, the local MLA and accused the district administration of inaction.

“We strongly condemn the Kishtwar communal violence triggered due to the inaction of district administration and demand immediate dismissal of Kitchloo and ordering of CBI probe into the circumstances that lead to large scale violence in Kishtwar district yesterday,” the APMCC Chairman Vinod Pandit said in a statement here.

The APMCC demanded action against senior police officers and questioned why the government “had not bothered to issue a single press statement even after such large scale violence”.

APMCC general secretary Arun Kandroo demanded providing weapons to the minorities in Kishtwar for their safety and strengthening of Village Defence Commitees (VDC) with communication system.

Robert Vadra used fake documents to acquire Gurgaon land

Robert Vadra's land deals in a village in Haryana have returned to haunt the Congress party and its chief with whistleblower IAS officer Ashok Khemka alleging that Vadra "falsified documents" for 3.53 acres of land in Gurgaon and "pocketed" large premium on a commercial colony license.

In his "voluminous reply" submitted to Haryana government's three-member enquiry committee set up in October last to look into Vadra-DLF deal, Khemka is understood to have alleged that Vadra, who is Congress president Sonia Gandhi's son-in-law, executed a series of "sham transactions" for 3.53 acres of land in Shikohpur village of Gurgaon.

The IAS officer alleged that the Haryana's department of town and country planning (DTCP) "ignored rules and regulations to allow crony capitalists operating as middlemen to flourish and appropriate market premium of a licence."

"The DTCP aided Vadra in making these sham transactions," he alleged.

Khemka, who submitted his reply on May 21, says that both the sale deed of February 12, 2008 through which Vadra's company 'Skylight Hospitality' bought land from 'Onkareshwar Properties' and letter of intent for granting a commercial licence to his company issued by DTCP in March 2008 are "sham transactions" made to enable Vadra to collect market premium.

"If there was no payment as alleged in the registered deed, can it it be said that the registered deed conferred ownership title over the said land upon Skylight Hospitality by virtue of the sham sale," he questions.

Khemka, who had cancelled a land mutuation deal between Vadra and DLF last October, claims that "there was no promise to pay in the future in the registered deed."

No price was paid as claimed in the registered deed. The sale registered in the said deed cannot, therefore, be called a "sale" in true sense of the term, legal or moral and it cannot be said that Skylight Hospitality became owner of the land in question by virtue of sale registered in the deed, Khemka is understood to have said in his report running into some 100 pages.

While Khemka's reply has gone public, the officer, on being approached by PTI here said, "I will not speak to the media on this issue."

Haryana chief secretary P K Chaudhary said, "We are examining the reply (by Khemka)".

The Haryana government's committee had earlier this year concluded that the orders passed by Khemka initiating an enquiry into Vadra's land deals were "without jurisdiction, inappropriate and not covered under any provisions of any statute or rules."

Besides, the committee also held that the order by Khemka cancelling the land mutation was improper.

Demanding a white paper on the transfer of all such licenses permitted in the past to expose the "loot of public wealth," Khemka writes that the DTCP had issued various types of colony licences for a total of 21,3666 acres in the last eight years of the Bhupinder Singh Hooda government's tenure between 2005 to 2012.

He points that if the market premium for a colony licence is assumed to be as low as Rs one crore per acre, the land licensing scam in the past eight years is worth around Rs 20,000 crore.

"At the premium of Rs 15.78 crore per acre that Vadra earned, this figure would jump to Rs 3.5 lakh crore," he claims.

He alleged in the letter the DTCP permitted Skylight to transfer the license to DLF in April 2012 and the licensed land was finally sold to DLF on September 18, 2012.

"By allowing the transfer of licence issued in the name of Skylight to DLF, the DTCP created a black market for trading in licences where cronies are issued licences which are later sold or transferred with permission of the authority for a fat consideration to the real developers," he writes.

On August 5, 2008 Skylight Hospitality entered into an unregistered collaboration agreement with DLF Universal.

Khemka observes that this led to loss of crores of revenue to the state exchequer due to a collaboration agreement of this kind has to be registered.

The opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) has demanded a probe into the reply by Khemka by a sitting judge of the high court.

INLD leader Abhay Chautala, who is also MLA from Ellenabad, said his party had thrice raised this issue in the Vidhan Sabha, but the Speaker always tried to suppress it.

"All such transactions are done by the Hooda government to appease Sonia," he alleged.

CHOODI POOJA, The Essence of GSB Culture

Choodi Puja is performed in worship of the Tulasi plant and in worship of the main entrance of the home. A series of rituals that is performed by married women belonging to the Gowda Saraswath Brahmin GSB community is known as the Choodi Puja. Tulasi plant gained importance after the Puraana was written. In the Puraana(s) the Tulasi plant is considered to be a sacred plant and gives strength and courage to the people who worship it. It was well known that Tulasi plant had medicinal values. But the information that the Tulasi plant has power to resolve problems in the house and the family was new. The main ritual involves arrangement of flowers and herbs in a small bundle. Usually a bundle includes four to five flowers, darba grass and two or three herbs. Locally available herbs and flowers are used to prepare the choodi. Some of the common flowers and herbs used include Ratnagandhi, Shanka Pushpa, darba grass, Gauri Pushpa etc. 

The flowers are arranged in an artistic manner. First Tulasi puja is offered.  Next is worship of the sun. The freshly prepared Choodi is offered to Tulsi Next a puja is performed at the doorstep of the house and this is followed by a puja in the puja room.

A sweet and delicious mixture of puffed rice, jaggery and coconut is prepared on the day of choodi pooja and offered. Many others prepare panchakajjaya which is a mixture of five ingredients.

GSB women perform Choodi Puja every Friday and every Sunday till the end of the month. The previous day the women make preparations for the Puja. To construct the choodi(s), women collect the specified flowers and darba grass (sacred grass plants), which are bound, into a tiny  bouquet. This bouquet is called the "choodi". It is about 3 inches in length and about one half inch in diameter at its tie.
The specified flowers are those, which grow only in Shraavana month following rains in the previous Aashaada month of the rainy season. The darba grass also sprouts in the ground at this time. Darbankur (sprout of darba grass) is one of the essential requisites to tie the choodi(s) for Puja. About 10 choodi(s) are constructed. In large families more choodi(s) are needed for distribution among the women members. The married woman performs the Puja at her home all by herself. There are no invitees only the members who live in the house could attend the Puja. All the choodi(s) are placed in a tray in front of the idol or portrait of Goddess Lakshmi. An oil lamp is lighted. The Hindus are the only people in the world who use these special lamps. They are designed and manufactured in kilns of brass metal works. They have a round base, a shaft and a top round shallow bowl with five beaks. There are oil lamps of many sizes. The ones used at home for small functions such as the Choodi Puja are about 8 inches in height and their top oil bowls are about 4 inches in diameter. Each beak in the oil bowl can accommodate a cotton wick. These wicks are soaked in cooking oil such as peanut, coconut, cottonseed, palm, mustard or olive oil. The tips of the wicks are lighted using a matchstick. They glow well and look beautiful giving extra grandeur to the scene. Then both Goddess Lakshmi and the choodi(s) are worshipped by performing the Puja to them, first by applying Kumkum and Haldi powder and then waving an aarathi.

The choodi(s) and the oil lamp are then taken to the Tulasi katte located outside, in the front yard of the house, where flowers are mounted on the branches of the plant. Haldi and Kumkum are applied to the tulasi. The plant is watered and one choodi is placed on a branch and another on the monument. Now an aarathi is waved to the plant as well as the monument. This concludes the Tulasi Puja. Now the woman returns to the entrance of the house and sits in front of the door. The door remains open. She places a choodi on each side of the ledge or sill of the door. Then she waves an aarathi to the choodi(s) and the door. Then she offers a choodi to GANGA MATHA (well) and also the sky. This concludes Choodi Puja for the day. The choodi(s) have to be distributed to the female relatives and female friends. Those who live nearby and within the same town as the woman, get the choodi in person. Relatives living in faraway places get the choodi by posts. The choodi pooja also symbolises the everlating bond of love and respect between husband and wife and also the bondage between the relatives. The small children will actively participate in this by playing with Jagant.. 

                                                                 GANESH NAYAK

                                                                  ganeshprasadsys@gmail.com

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                                                   Here are some of the snaps of Choodi's

Why Hindus Tie Cotton Threads Around Trees?

    Cotton Threads of various colours like red, yellow and white are tied around Pipal tree trunks especially in Northern and Western parts of India. This ritual is performed especially on the Vat Savitri puja day (May – June). During Vat Savitri Puja, the Banayan or Pipal Tree symbolically represents Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva. The root of Vat Vriksha is Brahma, the stem is Vishnu and the upper part is Shiva.

The Pipal tree plays an important role in the famous story of Satyavan Savitri. It is believed that Satyavan spend his last moments under a Vat or Banyan tree on the full moon day in month of Jyeshtha. And Yamraj appeared here and Savitri pleaded with Yamraj under the Banyan tree. 

In memory of this event, women go round the Banyan tree for 108 times tying threads and fast for the health and longevity of their husbands. The Pipal tree represents the tree of life and is sacred in Hindu Religion. It supports life of all sorts and is famous for its long life. The pipal tree also has the property to purify air.

The cotton thread is just the opposite The cotton thread represents the fragile nature of life, love, trust, faith – and all things that go on to make up a relationship. A single thread may be weak, but, when it is wound 108 times around the trunk, it becomes strong. It is no longer so fragile and no longer easy to break.

By walking around the tree 108 times, the wife contemplates on these

matters. Love can only be strengthened by trust, faith and desire to make it work! With each step, the woman strengthens her relationship with her husband. She prays not just for her husband’s long life, but an enduring relationship that will last beyond this life and into the next.

                                                                               GANESH NAYAK