Makar Sankranti at Jaydev Kenduli - a photo on Flickriver

Devotees gather after a holy bath to offer puja offerings at Radhabinod temple complex on Makar Sankranti day.....

Makar Sankranti is one of the few ancient Indian festivals that has been observed according to solar cycles, marks the first day of sun's transit into the Makara (Capricorn) from Sagittarius (January 14/15), marking the end of the month with the winter solstice and the start of longer days.

Thousands of Hindu devotees from all over Bengal gather at Jaydev Kenduli, take a holy dip in the Ajay river with thanksgiving to the sun for their successes and prosperity. The bathing is believed to result in merit or absolution of past sins. The devotees also perform rituals and prayer (puja and prasada offerings) at the river bank in remembrance of their departed family members and they also seek blessings for their departed souls!

Kenduli Mela
On the auspicious day of Makar Sankranti, one of biggest and 800 years old religious fair of West Bengal is coordinated to remember poet Jayadeva. Several thousand bauls, a community of wandering minstrels who sing devotional songs, assemble for the fair and as such it is also referred to as Baul Mela (Fair). The bauls stay in 160 temporary hermitages at Jaydev Kenduli for around a month. However, in recent years, the greatest baul fair in the state is gradually losing its character, as the bauls have been outnumbered by kirtanias, who perform kirtan (devotional singing) in the mela to gain popularity. Around 2,000 kirtanias come to attend the mela annually.

Jaydev Kenduli is a village at the bank of the Ajay river in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is believed by many to be the birthplace of poet Jayadeva Goswami (born c. 1170 AD), who had composed Gita Govinda in Sanskrit. Maharani Brajakishori of Bardhaman had set up the Radhabinod temple at Jaydev Kenduli in 1683, where the house of the poet Jayadeva, was believed locally to have stood. Subsequently, many ashramas (hermitages) were set up and Jaydev Kenduli developed as a religious centre.

Images of Bengal, India

Taken in: India / West Bengal / Jaydeb Kenduli (show map)

Taken on: January 15, 2016

Tags:

Makar Sankranti

people

tradition

morning

prayer

ritual

holy dip

Kenduli

India

religion

religious

belief

traditional

culture

Asia

Hindu

Hinduism

Bauls

Kirtanias

Kirtan

music

festival

bathing

candid

winter

fog

mist

women

men

devotees

Radhabinod temple

Jaydev Kenduli

Ajay River « less

Sets appears in: • Makar Sankranti at Jaydev Kenduli

Camera: Nikon D7000, f/5.6, 1/200 sec, 14mm (=21mm), ISO 180 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Nikon D7000
Aperture:	f/5.6
Exposure Time:	0.005 sec (1/200)
Focal Length:	14mm (35mm equivalent: 21mm)
ISO:	180
Exposure Bias:	+1 EV
Flash:	Off, Did not fire
Exposure Program:	Manual
Exposure Mode:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	sRGB
Software:	PaintShop Pro 18.00
Show full info

Stats: 2,345 views / 1 comment

close tools panel

Badge creator

Use Flickriver Badge Creator to create a badge linking to your photos, your group or any other Flickriver view.

You can place your badge on your Flickr profile, Blog or Website.

Add to your iGoogle or Netvibes page

Flickriver widget for iGoogle or Netvibes can display almost any Flickriver view - most interesting today, by user, by group, by tag etc. Once added to your personalized homepage, just edit widget settings to select your desired view.

Clickr on one of the buttons below to install:

Embed on your Web site

To embed this view, Copy and Paste the following HTML code:

Black background (preview):

White background (preview):

Firefox and Chrome addons

Adds a 'Flickriver' button to your browser. While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on this button to open the same view on Flickriver.

Install in Firefox
Install in Chrome

Search plugin

Add 'Search on Flickriver' to your browser's search box. Works with Firefox and Internet Explorer. Install search plugin

"View on Flickriver" Greasemonkey script

A Greasemonkey script that adds Flickriver links to various Flickr photo pages - user photos, favorites, pools etc, allowing to quickly open the corresponding Flickriver view.

Also, allows quickly viewing any Flickr photo on black background in large size.

Install "View on Flickriver" script

Bookmarklet

While viewing any Flickr photos page, click on the bookmarklet to open the same view on Flickriver.

To install: drag and drop the following link to your Bookmarks toolbar.
IE users - add the link to your Favorites under the Links folder