Basant Panchmi: The Many Beautiful Stories of this Colorful Day

Basant Panchami

Basant Panchami is the day of celebration of music and arts. In Hindu culture, it holds much significance in the hearts of most students and teachers alike as it is dedicated to the Goddess of Knowlege, Devi Saraswati. This year it will be celebrated on the 5th of February. Basant Panchami is observed on the fifth day of magh month’s shukla paksha and denotes the fifth day of spring.

Devi Saraswati’s significance arises from olden times in an interesting manner During vedic times, all ashrams were made around the banks of river and many rishis set up their homes and schools around the river Saraswati. As much research and schooling was done near the banks and the river sustained the lives around it, it was given the status of a Devi associated with Knowledge and Arts. Remarkably, the color yellow being associated with Devi Saraswati is due to the course of its flow from hills into the fields below. The ice would melt during the start of Spring season and water would gush from the Himalayan mountains into the plain region nurturing the mustard field situated below. The fields would light up with yellow flowers marking the fresh water flow in the river Saraswati and the day of the Goddess.

Story Behind Basant Panchmi

There are many mythological stories around the significance of Basant Panchami. These stories range from the one about the creation of Goddess by Brahma, breaking of Shiva’s meditation and the boon by Krishna to Saraswati. Let us delve into each of these tales with InstaAstro.

One of the oldest mythological stories sheds light on the creation of Goddess Saraswati on the day of Basant Panchami. It is believed that a long time ago Lord Brahma was visiting the Earth to observe how his creations were faring. He wandered around but something was amiss as everything was absolutely quiet. He took some water out of his kamandal and sprinkled it in front of him and a beautiful deity arose who had 2 sets of arms. She held a veena in one hand, another hand was raised in abhay mudra, third had a mala and fourth had a book in it. The Devi started playing beautiful music dissolving the silence of the world created by Brahma. Thus, Devi Saraswati was created as the Goddess of Music and Knowledge.

Another legend states that on this day the meditation of Shiva was broken by Devi Parvati. The story goes as follows. Lord Shiva was in deep meditation for many years. Meanwhile, a demon named Tarakasura was causing a lot of harm and chaos into the world. The demon had a boon whereby only the son of Shiva could slay him. Knowing how deeply Shiva was in his meditation and may never take a wife and have kids, he became fearless in his actions. However, Divine schemes were at play. Devi Parvati had prayed for many years to attain shiva as her cohort. She had gained the respect of all Devtas but couldn’t move the one she wanted to, Shiva. That is when she took help of Kama Deva, the god of sensuality, to break Mahadev’s strict meditation. On the day of Basant Panchami, Kama Deva created an illusion of spring with a riot of colorful flowers. He shot an arrow of love towards Shiva’s heart waking him up from his meditation and angering him. Mahadev opened his third eye, reducing Kama Deva to ashes. Once his anger appeased, he fell in love with Devi Parvati and married her. She gave birth to their son, Kartikeya who eventually killed Tarakasura.

The final story which led to Devi Saraswati being worshipped on Basant Panchami is said to happen in Dwapar Yuga. One day the Goddess saw a young and beautiful Krishna immediately falling in love with him. She appealed to him to make her his consort. Krishna denied the offer and said,” Devi, I am already in love with Radha hence I won’t be able to accept your offer. Since you have offered me your Divine love, I will give you a boon. You shall always be worshipped on Basant Panchami. The ones who pray to you on this day will be blessed with the gift of knowledge and abundance.”

These were some of the stories associated with Basant Panchami. Comment and tell us the ones you liked the best and keep following InstaAstro’s social media to know more such interesting stories and facts around our Hindu festivals.