You Can't Give Banganga A Miss On Ram Navami
By Nandini Rao
On Ram Navami, it would be simply blasphemous to ignore the festival's connection with Banganga - Mumbai’s most famed association with the Vishnu avatar - in the festival. More than a million regular visitors swear by the almost-magically therapeutic values of the sweet water that emerges from the spot where Rama is said to have shot an arrow to draw out Ganga to quench his thirst.
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| The devout firmly believe in the therapeutic values of the sweet water of Banganga |
“Even cancer gets treated by merely drinking this water,” says 26-year-old Subhash Rafutiya, a flower dealer who lives at Shivaji Nagar. Subhash has being visiting this place daily since his birth in 1984. Now, Subhash comes with children Roshni, Radhika and Ayush to teach them about Hindu prathas and a culture that is faced with extinction.
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| On Ram Navami, locals get together and hold a bhandara |
It is sad that there are many who are in complete oblivion of the venue’s existence. Even if residents living in and around the area are aware of the venue’s existence, they know very little about the philosophical connotations of the Banganga.
“We’ve got a pond as ancient as Rama himself in Walkeshwar? It’s unbelievable,” quips merchandiser Rachi Sindhar, who was blissfully unaware of the existence of the Banganga. Incidentally, Rachi lived for a full 21 years since birth at Peddar Road that is a stone’s throw away.
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| Banganga is linked to the religio-cultural history of India |
On Ram Navami, locals get together and hold a bhandara (feast) on the occasion which witnesses hundreds of local slum children being fed puris, sevaiyan and accompanying goodies on a day which might have otherwise warrant a soirée involving others besides locals.
After all, Banganga isn’t just associated with the history of Mumbai, with Ram involved, it’s linked to the religio-cultural history of India.
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