Vasant Panchami

Hinduism

Saraswati Puja

Vasant Panchami is a Hindu festival that marks the beginning of preparations for the spring season. Celebrations vary by region. Vasant Panchami also marks the start of preparation for Holika or Holi, which occur forty days later. For many, Vasant Panchami is dedicated to goddess Saraswati, revered as the deity of knowledge, language, music, and all arts. She symbolizes creative energy and power in all its forms, including longing and love. The season and festival also celebrate the blooming of yellow mustard flowers, which are linked with Saraswati's favorite color. People wear yellow clothing or accessories, and eat yellow-colored foods.

Many families mark this day by encouraging their young children to write their first words, and study or create music together. The day before Vasant Panchami, Saraswati's temples are filled with food so that she can join the celebrants in the traditional feasting the following morning. In temples and educational institutions, murtis of Saraswati are dressed in yellow and worshiped. Many educational institutions arrange special prayers or pujas in the morning to seek her blessings. Poetic and musical gatherings are held in some communities in her honor.

In Eastern India, primarily in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Bihar, as well as in Nepal, devotees visit Saraswati temples and also worship Goddess Saraswati at home (Saraswati Puja). In West Bengal, the festival is widely celebrated by Bengali Hindus; most schools arrange Saraswati puja for their students on their premises. In Kolkata, Saraswati Pujo is popularly called 'Bangali Valentine's Day' . The day has come to be associated with couples spending time together dressed in traditional kurtas/pajama and saris. In Bangladesh too, all major educational institutes and universities observe it with a holiday and a special puja.

In the state of Odisha, the festival is celebrated as Basanta Panchami, Sri Panchami, or Saraswati Puja. Homas and yagnas are performed in schools and colleges across the state. Usually, children aged four or five begin their formal education, known as Khadi-Chuan or Vidya-Arambha. This is alternatively known as Haate-Khori among Bengali Hindus.

In southern states such as Andhra Pradesh, the festival is known as Sri Panchami where "Sri" refers to Saraswati as a manifestation of goddess Devi.

Other deities

Vasant Panchami is also associated with Kamadeva, the god of love. Kamadeva is reborn as Pradyumna, the son of Krishna and Rukmini. The festival is also known as "Madana Panchami". He awakens the passions of the earth (and its people) and thus the world blooms anew.

It is remembered as the day when rishis (sages) requested Kama to interrupt Shiva's yogic meditation. Supporting Parvati–who was performing penance to gain Shiva as her husband–the rishis seek Kama's help to arouse Shiva's worldly desires. Kama agrees and shoots an arrow, made of flowers and bees, to stir Shiva's desires. When Shiva awakens from his meditation, he opens his third eye, and Kama is burned to ashes. This initiative is celebrated by Hindus as Vasant Panchami.

Vasant Panchami is associated with the emotions of love and emotional anticipation in Kutch (Gujarat) and is celebrated by preparing bouquets and garlands of flowers set with mango leaves, as a gift. People dress in saffron, pink, or yellow and visit each other. Songs about Krishna's pranks with Radha, considered to mirror Kama-Rati, are sung. This is symbolized with the Hindu deity Kama with his wife Rati.

Traditionally, in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh, after bathing in the morning, people worship Shiva and Parvati. Offerings of mango flowers and the ears of wheat are traditionally made.

Deo temple: Sun God

The shrine of the Sun God in Aurangabad district, Bihar known as the Deo-Sun Shrine, was established on Basant Panchami. The day is celebrated to commemorate the founding of the shrine by King Aila of Allahabad and the birthday of the Sun-Deo God. The statues are washed and old red clothes on them are replaced with new ones on Basant Panchami. Devotees sing, dance and play musical instruments.

Other

People celebrate the day by wearing yellow (white), eating sweet dishes and displaying yellow flowers in homes. In Rajasthan, it is customary for people to wear jasmine garlands. In Maharashtra, newly married couples visit a temple and offer prayers on the first Basant Panchami after the wedding, wearing yellow dresses. In the Punjab region, Hindus wear a yellow turban or headdress. In Uttarakhand, in addition to Saraswati Puja, people worship Shiva, Parvati as the mother earth and the crops or agriculture. People eat yellow rice and wear yellow. It is also a significant school supplies shopping and related gift-giving season. In Gujarat, Vasant Panchami is regarded as an auspicious date for wedding, housewarming, and starting a new business.

In the Punjab region, Basant is celebrated as a seasonal festival by all faiths and is known as the Basant Festival of Kites. Children buy dor (thread) and guddi or patang (kites) for the sport. The people of the Punjab wear yellow clothes and eat yellow rice to emulate the yellow mustard (sarson) flower fields, or play by flying kites. According to Desai (2010), the tradition of flying kites on various festivals is also found in northern and western Indian states: Hindus in Rajasthan and especially in Gujarat associate kite flying with the period prior to Uttarayan; in Mathura (Uttar Pradesh), kites are flown on Dussehra; in Bengal kite flying takes place on Viskwakarma Puja in September. The sport is also found in Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and parts of south India.

On Bali and among Indonesian Hindus, Hari Raya Saraswati (the festival's local name) is celebrated with prayers in family compounds, educational institutions, and public venues from morning to noon. Teachers and students wear brightly coloured clothes instead of their usual uniforms, and children bring traditional cakes and fruit to school for offerings in a temple.

Sikhism

Namdhari Sikhs have historically celebrated Basant Panchami to mark the beginning of spring. Other Sikhs treat it as a spring festival, and joyfully celebrate it by wearing yellow colored clothes, emulating the bright yellow mustard flowers in the fields.

Maharaja Ranjit Singh, the founder of the Sikh Empire, encouraged the celebration of Basant Panchami as a social event in the Gurdwaras. In 1825 CE he gave 2,000 rupees to the Harmandir Sahib Gurdwara in Amritsar to distribute food. He held an annual Basant fair and sponsored kite flying as a regular feature of the fairs. Maharaja Ranjit Singh and his queen Moran would dress in yellow and fly kites on Basant Panchami. Maharaja Ranjit Singh would also hold a darbar or court in Lahore on Basant Panchami which lasted ten days when soldiers would dress in yellow and show their military prowess.

In the Malwa region, the festival of Basant Panchami is celebrated with wearing of yellow dress and kite flying. In Kapurthala and Hoshiarpur, a Basant Panchami fair is held. People attend the fair wearing yellow clothes, turbans or accessories. Sikhs also remember the martyrdom of the child Haqiqat Rai on Basant Panchmi, who was arrested by the Muslim ruler Khan Zakariya Khan after being falsely accused of insulting Islam. Rai was given the choice of converting to Islam or death and, having refused conversion, was executed on the Basant Panchami of 1741 in Lahore, Pakistan.

Nihangs go to Patiala on Basant Panchami and dress in pink and yellow on the month of Vaisakh (not only Basant Panchami day).

Islam

According to Lochan Singh Buxi, Basant Panchmi is a Hindu festival adopted by some Indian Muslim Sufis in the 12th century to mark the grave of the Muslim Sufi saint dargah of Nizamuddin Aulia in Delhi and ever since, has been observed by the Chishti order. According to local Sufi traditions, the poet Amir Khusrau saw Hindu women carry yellow flowers to a temple on Basant and they were dressed in yellow, and he adopted their culture to give some happiness to Nizamuddin Aulia because his nephew died few days ago and he was not recovering from grief, one the Chishti order of Sufi Indian Muslims continue to practice.

Pakistan

Given the shared history and culture in the Indian subcontinent, the Punjabi Muslims in and around Lahore also celebrate kite flying as a sport in Pakistan from home rooftops during the Basant season. In 2007, the Supreme Court of Pakistan imposed a ban on the manufacture, trade, and flying of kites in Lahore on the basis of fatal incidents due to glass-coated stray strings used in the kites in Lahore. Plans to restore the festival in 2013 were cancelled after Jamaat-ud-Dawa threatened attacks on the celebrations, claiming the festival had "Hindu origins" and describing it as "un-Islamic." In 2017, the ban on Basant was briefly lifted and reimposed. The ban was lifted in 2026 (now referred as Basant festival) after 19 years.

Controversy

Vasant Panchami has been a historic occasion of dispute at the archaeological site of Bhojshala (Dhar, Madhya Pradesh) with evidence of an early Saraswati temple (locally called Waghdevi). On the site of Bhojshala is a later era Kamal-Maula mosque, which Muslims use for Friday prayers. The Archeological Survey of India (ASI) has provided annual guidelines, when the Vasant Panchami festival falls on a Friday, announcing hours when Hindus can worship at Bhojshala on Vasant Panchami, and when Muslims can. However, in past years, the Muslim community scheduled earlier has refused to vacate the premises, leading to riots and disorder such as in the 1980s and 1990s.