Sharad Purnima (Kojagari)

How it is kept

1. 01

   Kheer left out under the moon overnight and eaten at dawn

2. 02

   Kojagari Lakshmi Puja with alpana and a night’s vigil

3. 03

   Deities in white and the Raas in Vrindavan temples

4. 04

   Valmiki Jayanti observances

01Ko jagarti

Kojagari comes from the Sanskrit ko jagarti, who is awake? On this night, the household katha says, Lakshmi goes from house to house asking it, and blesses the home where someone keeps vigil. In Bengal the Lakshmi Puja of Kojagari is a quiet household rite a few days after Durga Puja, with alpana drawn in rice paste, small footprints leading in, and offerings of narkel naru and khoi. Maharashtra keeps Kojagiri with spiced milk shared on terraces. The same full moon is Valmiki Jayanti, the birthday of the adi-kavi.

02The night of the Raas

The five chapters of the Bhagavata Purana known as the Raas Panchadhyayi (10.29–33) open with autumn nights scented with jasmine and the moon rising red in the east, when Shri Krishna played his flute and the gopis left everything to come to him. Vaishnava tradition sets the Maha-Raas on Sharad Purnima, and in the temples of Vrindavan the deities wear white and are seated in the moonlight. Kheer cooked in the evening is set out on rooftops through the night and eaten at dawn as prasad touched by the moon’s nectar.

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