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Ganesh Chaturthi – Origin Story

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General Information about Item:

  • Verbal folklore: origin story
  • Language: English
  • Country: India

Informant Data:

The informant is an Indian woman who is the wife of the informant for the Diwali origin story. She is originally from Mumbai and now lives in New Delhi.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: This origin story explains how Lord Ganesh got his elephant head, a key element of the festival’s rites and prayers.
  • Cultural Context: This story features key characters in Hindu mythology. It sheds light on Shiva and Parvati’s relationship and how Ganesh came into being.All three characters have roles in other Hindu myths.

Item:

  • Audio file of the origin story of the Lord Ganesh

Associated File:

Transcript of Associated File:

“Ganesh was actually the son of Goddess Parvati who was married to Lord Shiva. Parvati had created Ganesh from dirt to protect her against intruders while she was bathing but Ganesh did not know who Shiva was and did not allow him to enter his house. So Shiva then cut off his head in anger. When Parvati found out, she got very angry and sent Shiva out to retrieve Ganesh’s head. Shiva could not find it but cut the head off an elephant he saw in the jungle and attached it to Ganesh’s body. This is how Ganesh got his elephant head.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant heard this story as a child but said there are a few other versions of the story too depending on where you grew up.

Collector’s Comments:

I asked the informant to give us the version of the origin story that she knows.

Collector’s Name: Yohann Curmully

Tags/Keywords:

India, holiday, Ganesh Chaturthi, Verbal folklore, origin story

Ganesh Chaturthi – Aarti

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Prayer
  • Language: Marathi
  • Country: India

Informant Data:

The informant is an Indian woman who wrote out the aarti with her pundit and recites it every Ganesh Chaturthi.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant sings the aarti with her family during Ganesh Chaturthi. The pundit leads the aarti and she reads off her sheets with him.
  • Cultural Context: The aarti is performed twice a day for the duration the idol is in the house. It is a devotional song sung by the people in praise of Lord Ganesh.

Item:

A picture from the informant of the aarti performed during Ganesh Chaturthi. This is the aarti the informant’s family has used for many years and the informant translated it to English for our collection.

Associated file:

Transcript of Associated File:

“Lord who provides joy, removes sadness and clears all obstacles in life,

Who gives love to everyone as his blessing,

Who has saffron fragrance over his body,

Who has a necklace of pearls around his neck,

Hail the God, Hail the idol,

All our wishes are fulfilled by Darshan,

Offering you a seat with jewels for the son of Gauri,

Smearing you with sandalwood paste and Tilak on your head,

Diamond crown suits you,

Whose anklets tingle on his feet,

Hail the God, hail the idol,

Lambodar (Big Tummy) who wears Pitambar (cloth),

Who has straight trunk and is an ego breaker and son of Shiva,

I am waiting for you in my home like a devotee,

Please help us and protect us during bad times,

Hail the God, hail the idol.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant’s aarti is written in Marathi, but is translated into English for this project and the translation is in the transcription above.

Collector’s Comments:

This prayer has been in the informant’s family for many years.

Collector’s Name:

Celine Guan and Yohann Curmully

Tags/Keywords:

India, holiday, Ganesh Chaturthi, Verbal Folklore

Diwali – Cleaning/Decorating the House

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary folklore: tradition
  • Language: Hindi
  • Country: India

Informant Data:

The informant is a Hindu woman from India who celebrates Diwali.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The informant lives in India and celebrated Diwali last month. She prepared the house and organised the materials necessary for the pooja.
  • Cultural Context: When God in the form of a picture or idol is brought into a house, the God is thought to reside there. So people clean and decorate their houses in preparation.

Item:

Images of her house after it has been cleaned, showing lit diyas, rangolis (chalk designs) and flowers that are used as decoration/ornamentation.

Associated File:

Transcript of Associated File:

  • “We clean the house to welcome Lakshmi into our home and bless us with knowledge and wealth.”
  • “Neighbours and guests come over to attend the pooja and we keep the house clean for them. In Hinduism the concept of atithi devo bhav (guest is equivalent to God) is very important so you must have a clean, well decorated house when people come to visit.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant was curious about Dartmouth

Collector’s Comments:

Informant also talked about how Diwali reaches the common masses and how people gather to pray at public temples

Collector’s Name:

Yohann Curmally

Tags/Keywords:

India, holiday, Diwali, Customary folklore

Diwali – Origin Story

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General Information about Item:

  • Verbal folklore: origin story
  • Language: English
  • Country: India

Informant Data:

Informant is an Indian man who lived in New Delhi and Mumbai and celebrates Diwali with his wife every year. As the ex-editor of an Indian newspaper, he was well-versed in the origin stories for both Diwali and Ganesh Chaturthi.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The origin of Diwali stems from the Indian epic ‘Ramayana’ which Hindus read in conjunction with their sacred texts.
  • Cultural Context: The Ramayana was written by the sage Valmiki. People celebrate Diwali today to signify the victory of good over evil.

Item:

An interview with our informant about the origin story behind Diwali.

Associated File:

 

Transcript of Associated File:

“Rama was the oldest son of King Dushrath of Ayodhya. Dushrath’s wife Kaikai wanted her son Bharat to become king so she forced Dushrath to send Rama into exile for 14 years. Rama’s wife Sita accompanied him to the forest and they lived there till Ravan who is the evil king of Lanka came and stole Sita away. Rama enlisted the help of a monkey general and his army and attacked Lanka, killing Ravan and freeing Sita. When he returned home to Ayodhya, the people lit diyas to light his way. So people today continue the tradition and light diyas in their houses.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant emphasized that this was a very bare-bones version of the story and that it is still much more complex, with different versions.

Collector’s Comments:

The informant gave me a summary of the origin story upon request.

Collector’s Name:

Yohann Curmully

Tags/Keywords:

India, holiday, Diwali, Verbal folklore, origin story

Ganesh Chaturthi – Pooja

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Rituals, Customs
  • Language: Marathi
  • Country: India

Informant Data:

  • Informant is an Indian couple who perform the ceremony every year for Ganesh Chaturthi. The man is involved in the ceremony (as seen in picture)

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The Pooja is the traditional prayer that occurs during Ganesh Chaturthi. These prayers are directed at a clay idol of god Ganesh, the remover of obstacles as well as the god of beginnings.
  • Cultural Context: This holiday is celebrated in early autumn and the pooja involves the chanting of Hindu prayers and Vedic texts.

Item:

Picture of the pooja being conducted. The male informant follows the pundit’s instructions to honour Lord Ganesh. The female informant is the one taking the picture.

Associated file (a video, audio, or image file):

Informant’s Comments:

The pooja is done once when the idol comes into the home and once before it leaves. It is meant to first acquaint the God and people of the home, then as a goodbye when the God leaves.

Collector’s Comments:

This couple has been performing the pooja for decades, as passed down through their families.

Collector’s Name:

Yohann Curmully

Tags/Keywords:

India, holiday, Ganesh Chaturthi, Customary Folklore, customs

Diwali – Diyas

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General Information about Item:

  • Material Folklore: Ritual object
  • Language: English
  • Country: United States

Informant Data:

This informant is a junior at Dartmouth from Massachusetts. Her father is Indian and she celebrates Hindu holidays. She attended the Diwali celebration and the lighting of the diyas on the Green.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: Part of the Diwali celebrations at Dartmouth was lighting diyas on the Green, one of Dartmouth’s major landmarks. We interviewed our informant, a 19, who attended the ceremony.
  • Cultural Context: Diyas are lamps or candles that are traditionally lit to celebrate Diwali. They are used to symbolize the victory of light over darkness, or of good over evil, which is mentioned Diwali’s origin story. During Diwali in India, one can see thousands of diyas during Diwali. Even at the celebration on campus, there were at least a few hundred.

Item:

An image of the diyas being lit during the evening on the Green. We also transcribed the 19’s description of the lighting of the diyas.

Associated File:

Transcript of Associated File:

“We decided to have everyone go to the Green in order to light the diyas, which are an important part of Diwali. Diwali’s known as the festival of lights, so we wanted to make the display really beautiful. A lot of people ended up staying and eating the food afterwards.”

Informant’s Comments:

The informant helped organize the Diwali celebrations at Dartmouth this year.

Collector’s Comments:

I interviewed the informant immediately after the celebration, so she could recall it clearly.

Collector’s Name:

Celine Guan

Tags/Keywords:

India, holiday, Diwali, Material folklore

Diwali – Pooja

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General Information about Item:

  • Customary Folklore: Rituals, Customs
  • Language: English
  • Country: United States

Informant Data:

  • This informant is an Indian-American freshman at Dartmouth. He attended the Diwali celebration and the Pooja at Rollins Chapel.

Contextual Data:

  • Social Context: The Pooja is the traditional prayer that occurs during Diwali. At Dartmouth, the pooja for Diwali is done at Rollins Chapel, our center for religious worship. The 21 who we interviewed attended this Pooja and spoke about his experience.
  • Cultural Context: People pray to Lakshmi, the goddess of fertility and prosperity.  They ask for her blessing for good luck for the upcoming year. This is typically done with family members.

Item:

An image of Rollins Chapel during the Puja. In this picture, you can see the diya (lamps) that are traditionally lit for the celebration of Diwali.

Associated file:

Transcript of Associated File:

“The Diwali pooja is a prayer ceremony which happens in the Hindu temple inside Rollins Chapel on campus. It involves chanting mantras and singing devotional songs, as well as lighting diyas for certain Gods, especially the Goddess Lakshmi. At the end of the ceremony, everyone performs an aarti of the idols of the Gods which involves rotating a plate with diyas in a circle a certain number of times and then offering flowers at the feet of the God. Finally, the pundit conducting the pooja gives everyone prasad which is a sweet food.”

(Write-up from informant about ceremony in Rollins Chapel)

Informant’s Comments:

It was the informant’s first year at Dartmouth, so it was his first time celebrating Diwali in America, away from home.

Collector’s Comments:

I interviewed the informant immediately after the celebration, so he could recall the pooja clearly.

Collector’s Name:

Celine Guan

Tags/Keywords:

India, holiday, Diwali, Customary Folklore, customs