Chandan Sahu was trekking the two hundred fifty kilometre highway for the last five days, carrying on his shoulders a wooden framed colourful canopy, reverentially called the Kavad, balancing two heavy pots of water on both its sides. With brass belled anklets, Ghungrus, tied to his feet, every step Chandan takes sets off the multi hued Kavad to swing and sway rhythmically to the jingling of the anklets much like a peacock simmering its fanned feathers to the melodic tune gliding in the air. And when thousands of such Kavariyas like Chandan join in for the long march, it spreads a panoramic view of dancing colours up till the horizon which is both mesmerizing and spiritually enthralling.

Kavad typically is a rectangular four feet high symmetric structure that is draped with decorative clothes and colourful festoons and tastefully painted with religious motifs and symbols on the sides. The two ends of the Kavad have tower like erections inside which are placed pots of water fetched from the holy river, Ganga. The wooden rod fixed across its centre allows the Kavad to sit easily on the shoulder of the Kavariya while he is on the move and it rests on the four stands when placed on the ground. And every year, for ten days during the month of July, tens of millions of devout Hindus carry, by foot, the Kavads on their shoulders from Haridwar, where the sacred river Ganga flows in copious abundance to their homes and villages hundreds of miles away. The holy water thus brought is offered for ablutions, Abhishek, to the local deities and is a ritual pregnant with spiritual significance. And as millions walk their way in sultry heat and dusty winds, what is in ample display is the manifestation of the eternal continuity of a vibrant civilization that carries its devotional tradition from the timeless past well into the future.

Chandan has undertaken this annual ritual for a couple of years now and it is his way of thanking the Lord for having blessed him with a son and a daughter. For he believes that without the divine providence, all human efforts would be a zero sum game and a life bereft of expressing gratitude to the compassionate Supreme   would be a colossal waste. Both his feet are swollen with blisters as he barely limps along towards the last leg of the walk but the quiet radiance on his face signals immense fulfilment for accomplishing a deeply personal Journey, one more time.  And for Sharada Devi, this is the once a year opportunity to experience spiritual communion devoid of worldly distractions and as she completes the walk ten years in a row now, she only has thankful prayers to her God, Mahadev for choosing her for the arduous journey.  For Chander, this annual pilgrimage is a way to rededicate himself to a life of austerity and self-enquiry.

Though the initiative and desire to take the walk is purely personal, it is the support of the community that is critical to the successful completion of the journey. As the season of the Kavads begin, innumerable Shamiyanas spring up along the route that provide spaces to rest and re-coup and also offer food and medical services, absolutely free! Philanthropists and volunteers in their hundreds take it upon themselves the responsibility to ensure a safe and secure journey for the millions and it is indeed a lesson in brotherhood and comradeship to observe these men and women in action! Thus Kavad, in many ways, is a great social lever where the rich and the less fortunate, the learned and the illiterate, the sophisticated urbanite and the rural simpleton all lose their individual identity only to mingle into the one single confluence of the devotees of the Lord. Each address the other as Bhola, the innocent God, worthy of the highest reverence and respect and in that oneness of purpose to be the recipient of the divine grace, all man-made barriers that divide one from the other collapse and lose their relevance. Perhaps it is in this message of unity and equality, the Kavad owes it continuity through the millenniums.

And as the year’s Kavad Yatra comes to a close, there is a prayer and a promise in every Kavariyas heart to be again a part of this inexhaustible spiritual journey, next year!

Yours

Narayanan