Basoda or Sheetala Ashtami will fall on March 9 or 11 this year, according to some. The name comes from ‘basiyaura’, meaning stale, a word better known as ‘baasi’ in Hindi. It is a low-key but popular and intimate event in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. I was introduced to this festival decades ago when I lived in Jaipur for a couple of years. Basoda involves offering baasi or stale food to the goddess Sheetala, a form of Devi. The food has to be cold and made the previous night, since cooking fires were traditionally not lit on Basoda day. Hence the tag ‘baasi’. The usual offerings are fruit, curd rice and sweets like halwa, kheer and malpua, a delicious fried sweet in sugar syrup that is already in great demand during the festive week for Holi. No hot or spicy food is offered. The family's main meal is the Basoda thali, which usually features bajra roti (millet flatbread) as the main dish, served with ghee. Paneer is often served as a side dish.
As ever, beyond these old Indian customs, there is a science to them. The hot weather starts hitting the northern plains hard after Holi. Eating the mildly fermented offerings for Basoda is considered a probiotic protection for the body against heat-related ailments. How our ancestors figured out ‘the science of life’ millennia ago is a marvellous testament to ancient Indian observation and analysis. Even more marvellous is the psychology our ancients employed to ensure that people observed Basoda for their own health and well-being. They dedicated the festival to Ma Sheetala, the goddess of good health, whose very name means ‘cool’ and ‘cooling’. The common prayer is to say Om Shreem Sheetalaaye Namaha when offering food.
Thus, Basoda is a meaningful occasion for many Indians, emphasising the importance of not only health and well-being but also of reverence and gratitude for divine blessings. Whether through fasting, prayers or food offerings, the day seeks to renew the cultural and spiritual practices that can make life meaningful and beautiful. Especially, I like this practice prescribed for Basoda—we are advised to refrain from having negative thoughts, quarrelling, saying or doing mean things and absolutely from grumbling, complaining and cursing, because this is believed to attract negative and even malefic energies into our lives and harm us physically and mentally. In effect, we become what we think. Long before modern science, our ancients understood that feelings are chemicals. So, the biggest and deepest observation recommended for Basoda is to maintain a peaceful and positive mindset throughout the day. It’s positioned as a detox day for the mind and a healing day for the body.
Similar festivals are celebrated by Sindhis, Gujaratis and Oriyas. Long back, I had a share of Thadri, a festival celebrated by the Sindhi community, usually seven days after Raksha Bandhan. This festival is directly comparable to Basoda, as a day to consume cold food cooked the previous day to please Goddess Jog Maya. Typical dishes included lola (sweet paratha), koki (savoury paratha) and methi thepla made by a Sindhi neighbour.
These festival foods reflect ancient dietary patterns. The Srimad Bhagavatam tells us that Mother Yashoda packed curd rice for Sri Krishna when he went to graze the cows with the gopa boys. The diet of ancient Indians was primarily based on agriculture and cattle tending with a natural, locally sourced diet. Key staples included cereals like barley (yava), wheat (godhuma) and rice along with dairy products like milk, butter, ghee and curd, assorted lentils, sesame, pepper, turmeric, vegetables like lotus root, pumpkin, brinjal and bottle gourd, and fruits such as mangoes, bananas, citrons and berries. Honey was a popular sweetener. Even today, fermented foods (probiotics) across India, like dosa, idli, kaanji, pakhala (fermented rice) and dhokla quietly enhance gut health and improve digestion.
If we look analytically at calendar events like Basoda and Thadri, they tell us that Indian festivals are evidence of a very caring culture. Unfortunately, we have been conditioned through ‘modern’ education to pooh-pooh and sneer at our Indian customs, manners and ceremonies. We have been schooled to dismiss them as ‘blind superstition’ and ‘irrelevant to modern life’. What nobody seems to tell us is that our culture wants us to be happy. It is not ritual but intent and attitude that matter.
Ananda, or joy, emerges as the shared principle of tribal, folk and old urban Indian culture. They express a strong connection with Nature and a positive attitude often marked by song and dance and always with special food. Some of the earliest-known Indian prayers say things like ‘Sarve jana sukhino bhavantu, ma kaschid dukh bhag bhavet’, meaning ‘May all people be well and happy, may no one suffer’. Charity is enjoined as a religious duty, a commandment not only in scriptural theory but in story after story, to maintain social balance by helping the needy. A nurturing worldview emerges through our stories, even as early as the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad. The words damyata (restraint), datta (generosity) and dayadhvam (compassion) appear in the Brihadaranyaka Upanishad in a parable by Rishi Yajnavalkya, conveying a message from the universe contained in the roar of thunder. These are keywords for our existence as an interdependent race. If we but look, they are reflected in several ancient festivals that aim to build up our lives through best practices in health, a positive attitude and happiness.
Renuka Narayanan | FAITHLINE | Senior journalist
(Views are personal)
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