Sheetala Ashtami 2023: Rajasthan is not called simply, Rangilo Rajasthan. There are many secrets behind this too. Rajasthan has a tradition of showing respect to everyone. Be it human or animal, poor or rich, everyone gets respect here. Moreover, donkeys are also worshiped here. Women worship the donkey’s feet by applying turmeric-roli tilak on its forehead. Tries to feed them dishes.
When is Sheetla Mata worshipped
According to Hindu Vedic astrology, Sheetlashtami falls on Ashtami of Krishna Paksha of Chaitra month and seven days after Holi. According to belief, on the day of Shitalashtami, worship of Sheetla Mata is done. Worship of Shitalashtami is also known as Basoda. On this day, a dish is prepared at night and after worshiping Sheetla Mata in the morning, stale food is offered to her. Everyone in the family eats stale food.
When women go to worship Sheetla Mata, they also worship a donkey in the temple of Sheetla Mata. Women try to feed the dish to the donkey by applying tilak of turmeric roll. It is believed that the donkey is the vehicle of Goddess Sheetla. That’s why along with the worship of Sheetla Mata, her ride is also worshipped.
Glory of Sheetla Mata
Shitalashtami has special importance in North India. There is a temple of Sheetla Mata in the village and city. There worship is done on Shitalashtami. In many places, after the marriage of the boy, the new bride is also taken to the temple of Sheetla Mata. It is only after worshiping there that the new bride starts any household work.
This time the festival of Shitalashtami will be celebrated on March 15 in Bharatpur and surrounding areas. According to their devotion on the night of Saptami, by preparing dishes like halua, puri, sweet rice, sweet puri, a crowd gathers in the temple of Sheetla Mata from the morning of Ashtami itself to worship. Women worship Sheetla Mata and tell the story why Sheetla Mata is worshipped.
Why was the old woman’s house saved from burning
The story of Sheetla Mata is that once in a city, everyone made a hot and dignified dish for the worship of Sheetla Mata and offered food. Due to this Sheetla Mata’s face got burnt. This enraged Mata Sheetla. Due to the wrath of Mata, the city caught fire. Everyone’s houses were burnt to ashes. There was only one old lady’s house in the whole city which was saved from burning. When the townspeople asked the old woman why your house was not burnt, the old woman told that she had prepared Sheetla Mata Prasad at night and offered stale Prasad to Sheetla Mata in the morning. Due to this Sheetla Mata saved my house from burning. After this, all the townspeople apologized to Sheetla Mata and decided to worship Sheetla Mata Basoda on the coming Saptami and Ashtami dates. Since then, Basoda is celebrated on Saptami Ashtami, which comes after Holi, by worshiping Sheetla Mata.
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