Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday (April 9) extended his warmest wishes to people on Navreh Poshte.
He said the festival is a beautiful manifestation of the Kashmiri Pandit community’s culture, and prayed for prosperity, health and happiness at the occasion.
“My warmest wishes to everyone on Navreh, a beautiful manifestation of the Kashmiri Pandit community’s culture. May this occasion usher in a year of prosperity, health, and happiness. May this year also be filled with the joy of news beginnings and the continuation of old traditions, enriching our life in every possible way,” PM Modi in a post on X said.
Navreh (Kashmiri pronunciation: [naw rʲah]) or Kashmiri New Year is the celebration of the first day of the Kashmiri new year by Kashmiri Hindus, with the largest Kashmiri Hindu community being the Kashmiri Pandits. Kashmiri Pandits dedicate Navreh festival to their Goddess Sharika and pay homage to her during the festival. It takes place on the first day of the bright half (Shukla Paksha) on the month of Chaitra (March–April) of the Kashmiri Hindu calendar.
History
According to the legend, Mother Goddess Sharika’s dwelling was on Sharika Parvata (Hari Parbat) where the celebrated Sapta Rishis gathered. On an auspicious day of 1st Chaitra, as the first ray of sun fell on Chakreshwari and paid honor to her. This moment is considered the beginning of New Year and the Saptarishi era for astrologers. Kashmiri Hindu Tradition and astronomical calculations date the beginning of this era to 3076 BC.
On the eve of the new year, the priest (kulguru) of the family provides a religious almanac (nachipatra) for the next year and a scroll (kreel pach) of the local goddess. Then a customary large plate (thali) is filled with rice and offerings like almanac, scroll, dried and fresh flowers, wye herb, new grass, curd, walnuts, pen, ink container, gold and silver coins, salt, cooked rice, wheat cakes and bread and covered on the eve of Navreh. On the day of the new year, the family members gather together, uncover the thali and view it on the holy day.
The rice and coins represent our daily bread and wealth, the pen and paper a reminder of the quest for learning, the mirror represents retrospection. The calendar signals the changing time and the Deity the Universal Constant, and they together are a reminder of the constancy of changing time. The bitter herb is reminiscent of life’s bitter aspects, to be taken in stride alongside the good. The bitter herb ‘wye’ is usually eaten with walnuts to bring wholeness of life’s experiences in the admixture.
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