Reminiscences 03 Poem by Unnikrishnan Sivasankara Menon

Fasting, A Way of Life

Hindus have many gods. And different days are dedicated to different gods.

Movement of moon is defined in the Indian Almanac, with clarity.The 15 days starting with the day after the Full Moon day is Krishna Paksham, when the moon wanes until it is not visible at all on the New Moon day. The next 15 days ending on the Full Moon again is the Shukla Paksham. These 30 days constitute a Lunar Month. Most of Indian calendars are Lunar.

The days starting the first day after Full Moon / New Moon are numbered as thidhis and are called prathipadam, dwitheeya, thrutheeya etc. The sixth day is called "Shashti", which is the sacred day for Lord Skanda (also called Lord Muruga, Shanmugha, Subrahmanyam, Karthikeyan etc) , a day of partial fasting. Mother used to have one frugal meal on every Shukla Paksha Shashti.

Eleventh day is Ekadashi and each Shukla Paksha Ekadashi is a day of fasting, to please Lord Vishnu. It is almost total fasting. Mother used to have a tender coconut and a few bananas in the whole day. Devotion to Lord Vishnu ensures a life sans miseries and a peaceful death. Death is defined as ‘attaining Vishnupadam' (വിഷ്ണുപദം പൂകുക) .

Mondays are special for Lord Siva and his consort Parvathi; young unmarried girls need to fast (orikkall) on the day to get a ‘good' husband. Saturday orikkall pleases Lord Ayyappan so that He wards off the spell of evil planets like Shani, Raahu, Kethu etc.

Krishna Ashtami, Rama Navami and Ganesh Chaturthi are celebrated as the Birthdays of the respective Gods, albeit once a year.

Mother used to undertake all these fasts (except those on Mondays, as they were reserved for unmarried girls) , quite religiously. She would continue with her regular routine even on her days of fasting, so that none of ever noticed that she was on fasting.

My father used to join her in her fasting on Guruvayur Ekadashi, which falls in the month of Vrischikam (November-December) . Amma would have no rest on the day because she has to do the regular cooking for us, the children and special cooking for those on fast, viz. father and the relatives who drop in to partake the delicious fasting food cooked by Amma.

Thus, Guruvayur Ekadashi would be a day of celebration while other Ekadashis would go unnoticed by all, but for our regular labourer Jacob who would pluck tender coconuts for Amma.

Jacob is no more. Maybe, I will write more about him on another occasion.

Of late, there is a lot of discussion on the health benefits of intermittent fasting. For Amma, fasting was her way of life. That is why, I think, she was able to lead a healthy life upto a ripe age of 94, until she passed away in 2021.




Vocabulary
1) Krishna Paksham = the 15 days of darkness. Krishna is black or dark and Paksham is a period of 15 days.
2) Shukla Paksham = the 15 days of brightness. Shukla means white.
3) Partial fasting indicates ‘only one meal a day'. ഒരിക്കൽ (orikkall) in Malayalam.
4) Krishna Ashtami, the Shukla Paksha Ashtami of Chingam month in Malayalam Almanac (Shravan in the Shaka Calendar. August-September) is celebrated as Birthday of Lord Krishna. Ashtami is the eighth thidhi.
5) Rama Navami, celebrated as the Birthday of Lord Ram falls on Navami (the ninth thidhi) of Shukla Paksham in Chaitra month (March-April) .
6) Ganesh Chaturthi, Birthday of Lord Ganesh is on the Shukla Paksha Chaturthi (fourth thidhi) of Chingam in Kerala and Shravan elsewhere. Readers may refer to the series of poems "Ganesa" by Poet Geeta Radhakrishna Menon, hosted on PoemHunter.
7) Vishnupadam: The holy feet of Lord Vishnu