जय हनुमान ञान
गुण सागर ,जय
कपीश तिहुँ लोक उजागर।।
As covid19 is spreading it's fangs in lockdown period, it is natural to miss the things which we took for granted like visiting malls, cinema halls, restaurants and social gatherings. What I missed most in May 2020 was the celebrations of Bada Mangal. There are four to five Bada Mangals, and their celebrations are unique and special for the lucknowiets.
As the first Bada Mangal approaches we find "parikramis'' or the "mannatees'. doing parikrama on the roads . These young boys would wear only a piece of red cloth around their waist and lie prostrate on the ground and keep the stone as far as their arm could reach on the road. Then again they pick up the stone and lie prostrate on the ground repeating the parikrama again till they reach the temple of Bajrangbali Baba. It is believed that the devotees whose wishes are fulfilled undertake the parikrama. Even Lord Indra used to grace these devotees with light showers sometimes making the weather pleasant in the scorching heat.
Our School days were fun and the summer vacations more so. The only worry on our carefree horizon’s were the Final exam results. Which from our side we would ask Bajrangbali Baba to take care of every year. During vacations we used to go on morning walks with our friends. It was more of fun than a fitness exercise. Once we decided to change our regular morning walk route and found ourselves towards purana Aliganj area. The area was very isolated and far off. There we came across a rambling old temple structure and out of curiosity we went inside. It was an open campus and an idol of Bajrangbali was there. It's forehead was smeared with sindoor and few flowers were strewn at his feet. We rang the bells enthusiastically and bowed our head in obeisance. An old priest came out and gave us prasaad of ilayachi daana and ganga jal. From that day I became an ardent devotee of Bajrangbali Baba and used to attend the BADA MANGAL every year. We came out little knowing that it was the highly revered Puraana Aliganj Mandir that we had chanced upon.
History says that this temple originated during the mughal rule some 400 year’s ago. It was built by Nawaab Saadat Ali Khan in 1798 for Alia Begum when her prayers were answered by Bajrangbali Baba’s grace. Alia Begum insisted on building the temple and the Nawaab complied. This temple became famous far and wide as the PURANA ALIGANJ MANDIR where prayer’s of devotees are answered.
Later it was the Naya Aliganj temple which became popular and the Bada Mangal Mela came to be associated with it. It is said that prasad during mughal rulers was in the form of "GUR DHANIA", which consisted of roasted gaihoon and gur . Later on "peda, bataasha and jal” was distributed as prasaad. Now besan ladoo and jal is offered as prasaad. For us as children "Darshan' was important but mela was an added attraction. During the Bada Mangal Mela for all five Tuesday’s the main aliganj road would be decorated with buntings. Announcements were made on mike. Hawkers could be seen displaying their attractive articles on a piece of cloth on ground. I still remember the clay choolah chakki, the clay idols of old man and woman whose head shook as they were fitted on spring, the small plastic lanterns, tiffin carrier and table fans. Then there would be a man selling colourful gas balloons. In one corner a man sat with a cage and parrot. People crowded around him to know their fate. The parrot would pick up a chit and predict the future. This whole kaleidoscope of the Mela used to fascinate us to no end.
On the other side of the road was a manually operated HINDOLA which swayed as it went up and down. I would love to have a ride in it and feel as if lot many butterflies were fluttering in my stomach as the hindola went up and down. At the entrance of the temple one could see shy village belle’s with their faces covered and twinkling eyes having their arms pierced with a needle to have a tattoo design mostly of their Husbands name.
Then there were small shops selling spiritual and religious books, lockets and key chains of BAJRANGBALI BABA. From the sweet shops we would buy 250 gms of besan ka laddoo and flowers. We would leave our slippers at the sweet shop and wash our feet from a hand pump in the temple campus. One could see women jostling each other to get a full "DARSHAN ' of baba. In one push from behind we would land inside the temple as if flying in the air. Here the tall people would get the full shringaar darshan . But the shorter ones would have to stand on their toe’s to get the darshan. We were "Tript' by that darshan as those bright, smiling and gentle eyes of Bajrangbali Baba knew all our inner feelings. We could feel his eyes blessing us. I would just look at him with full devotion and at times forgot to utter hanuman chalisa which I had learnt by heart. After receiving the prasad box and the sindoor teeka on it, one push from behind and we would land out in the corridor of the temple. After that we would take a parikrama and visit the other deities. Then we would ring the bell five times and come out of the temple.
Till date the mela is still going strong . People flock to have a DARSHAN of BAJRANGBALI BABA and attend the mela . It has evolved over the years. Now it is more organised and orderly for the DEVOTEES . The traditional mela is there with modern changes. Now it is decorated with electrical lights and there is a regular chanting of Sunder Kand and Hanumaan Chalisa. Barricading is done to avoid any type of chaos. Swings are electrically operated. And one can find the latest household items on sale. Stalls of all variety can be seen starting from chola batura, chaat, paani puri, sweet candies and even icecream.
From the past many years the culture of bhandaara has evolved where we can see people under a small canopy offering puri kachori sabji and boondi etc as prasaad. It's not only the poor who come and take food there but people from well off families would take the the food as prasaad with reverence. Most of all it is the smiling faces behind the bhandaar stalls greeting everyone with the happy smile and serving food with whole hearted goodwill. These BHADAARAAS are organised throughout lucknow spreading the message of faith, love and harmony. Earlier these bhandaar’s as were organised by Organisations but now nearly every second household holds a bhandaar according to their capacity on one or the other Bada Mangal. These Bhandaara’s reflect the magnanimity of heart and generosity which makes the whole atmosphere so pure and pious.
Today when I see the deserted streets, worried faces of men and women in masks, and the locked temples, I just pray to Bajrangbali Baba that by next year when it is time for BADA MANGAL, all the worries and the pandemic would have been left far behind us and we would again be celebrating BADA MANGAL with renewed enthusiasm, gaiety and devotion.....
NAMITA RAI
