Festivals

"This year the most Holy and significant event in human history will take place in America."

"This is a festival not for you or me. It is for the whole world and maybe the whole universe."

"Isn't it about time you all get together and help me bring peace to this Earth?"

"It's really fantastic and really beautiful to see you here, the Millennium program will start tomorrow and it'll really be fantastic, it'll be incredible ... and soon people will get together and finally understand God. ... There's so much trouble in the world, Watergate is not only in America, it exists everywhere."

"You want to be the richest man in the world? I can make you rich. I have the only currency that doesn't go down ... People think I'm a smuggler. You betcha I am. I smuggle peace from one country to another. This currency is really rich. But if you think I'm a smuggler then Jesus Christ was a smuggler and so was Lord Krishna and Mohammed."

"Try it, you'll like it."

"Imagine if you wanted a Superman comic real bad. And you go all over asking people if they've got one. You go to all the bookstores and to all the kids in the colleges, and all the people on the streets and no one has one anywhere. And you're real depressed and you're sitting there in the park and this little kid comes up and says "Hey man, how'd you like a Superman comic." And you say, "G'wan. You don't have one." And this kid pulls it from out of his shirt and it is a genuine; a gen-u-ine Superman comic: and you look at it and say, "Hey man; this must be very expensive," and he says, "No, take it, it's yours. It's free." And you don't believe him but then you take it. He just gives it to you. Well if you can imagine that, you can imagine what Knowledge would mean to you."

"The thing is that this life is a big car, and inside the car there is a big engine. And in the engine there is a carburetor, which is hooked up to a fuel line. In some cars, before the fuel line hits the carburetor, there is a thing called a filter that makes sure the fuel going into the carburetor is pure. So in this life, the filter for our minds is the Knowledge, and if we are not being filtered properly, many dirty particles enter our minds and eventually the whole engine is destroyed."

"They must be drunk. When the real antichrist comes they won't even recognize him. He'll be too professional."

"I don't know whether it's the air conditioning, but you can really feel something. [emphasis in original]"

"A bearded premie from Boston, though no Krishna-symp, voiced disillusionment with the Divine Light treatment of the Krishnas. 'Rennie Davis, who is supposed to be such an advocate of free speech, isn't letting these folks have theirs. He's working with the police against these people.'"

"It's the great spiritual energy that Goom Rodgie gives off. When he is giving a talk, you'll see lots of premies just dozing off to sleep. His energy simply stuns them."

"I am meditating right now, as I talk to you ... But I cannot describe to you the Divine Knowledge any further than that if you haven't experienced it. Our Knowledge is not a religion, but an experience. Can I describe to you the taste of a mango before you have tasted it?"

"Lila, did you see that lila? [a young girl runs out of the landing strip waving her arms excitedly.] He surprised us, he played with us by coming down on the wrong landing strip!"

"'I haven't been into acid much', a boy lying next to me says, 'just about a hundred trips or so.'"

"This is nothing, should have seen us in India, mate. We had to carry batons there. Loving words won't always stop people from comin' onstage y'know. Sometimes you got to bonk 'em."

"I've come to the point where I know there is a Supreme Being and He is one with that 15-year-old boy."

"These people are feeling better-that's why you don't see any scowl lines on their faces. I think one of the greatest evils in the world is the phrase 'I need. It comes from our ego, the 'me' position, the 'my' position. Now, notice these people in the Divine Light Mission. You won't hear them saying, 'I want this' and 'This is for me,' and they won't be fighting with each other. Watch the traffic guards in the hallways, and watch how the devotees listen to their authority. There's no battle with authority."

"You couldn't help being a little 'blissed-out' yourself watching thousands of people freak out of their minds."

"One T-shirted youth, trying to find an unlocked entrance so he could leave the stadium, said angrily. 'I came to check it out. but this is a real bummer. No one who was really God would let himself be put up on a throne like that.'"

"And then, nodding out toward the arena, [the uniformed policeman] said, real friendly-like: 'Ain't this just the damnedest thang you have ever saw?'[sic]"

"I'm going to check out this Knowledge, [a prepremie in a crazy cowboy outfit says,] because it's like putting your cock into a new woman, you've got to do it before you know what it's like."

"I don't like this movement!"

"Most of the devotees with whom we spoke reported a significant drop in the number of people receiving knowledge starting from late 1973. This created a condition of financial strain which became critical when Millennium '73, an all-out extravaganza held in the Houston Astrodome where Guru Maharaj Ji was crowned 'Lord of the Universe,' proved to be an economic flop. ... DLM underwent significant organizational and ideological transformations. It no longer projected itself as a movement that would include all of humanity in its membership."

"I'm not worried about the security particularly. If people have enough to do, there won't be trouble."

"The cream of the underground will be there. Everybody's coming from all over the country. There'll be drugs and psychedelics and music and riots."

"My parents knew there'd be drugs there, that it'll be a bit wild. They didn't want me to come. I know there'll be drugs everywhere and I wonder what it will all be like. I've never been away from home before. I wonder what will happen to all of us."

"Anybody who tries to comes here is crazy. Sullivan County is a great big parking lot."

"As far as I know the narcotics guys are not arresting anybody for grass. If we did there isn't enough space in Sullivan (county) or the next three (sic) "countries" to put them in."

"Stop Max's Hippie Music Festival. No 150,000 hippies here. Buy No Milk."

"Don't bother Max's cows. Let them moo in peace."

"Good morning! What we have in mind is breakfast in bed for four hundred thousand."

"It's about the quietest, most well-behaved 300,000 people in one place that can be imagined. There have been no fights or incidents of violence of any kind."

"If we had any inkling that there was going to be this kind of attendance, we certainly would not have gone ahead. … We've had a very averse situation here... Financially speaking, of course, the festival is a disaster."

"You aren't taking poison acid. The acid's not poison. It's just badly manufactured acid. You are not going to die. We have treated 300 cases and it's all just badly manufactured acid. So if you think you've taken poison, you haven't. But if you're worried, just take half a tablet."

"I hope David can hear it."

"We're vestiges of our former selves."

"The whole thing is a gas. I dig it all, the mud, the rain, the music, the hassles."

"I guess this was meant to happen, and everybody is still with us. We're going to go on all night with the music."

"Like wow, these people are really beautiful, the cops, the storekeepers, the army, everybody."

"Notwithstanding their personality, their dress and their ideas, they were and they are the most courteous, considerate and well-behaved group of kids I have ever been in contact with in my 24 years of police work."

"I think it was fantastic. I think the only way its been overdone was thinking it changed the world, politically and as far as the war went. It was only a part of things. It wasn’t it."

"We were ready to rock out and we waited and waited and finally it was our turn... ...there were a half million people asleep. These people were out. It was sort of like a painting of a Dante scene, just bodies from hell, all intertwined and asleep, covered with mud."

"And this is the moment I will never forget as long as I live: a quarter mile away in the darkness, on the other edge of this bowl, there was some guy flicking his Bic, and in the night I hear, 'Don't worry about it John. We're with you.' I played the rest of the show for that guy.""

"Men reached the moon in July 1969, and Woodstock began three weeks later. With the benefit of hindsight, we can see that this was when the hippies took over the country, and when the true cultural war over Progress was lost. Today's aged hippies no longer understand that there is a difference between the election of a black president and the creation of cheap solar energy; in their minds, the movement towards greater civil rights parallels general progress everywhere. Because of these ideological conflations and commitments, the 1960s Progressive Left cannot ask whether things actually might be getting worse."

"The word "Diwali" means an arrangement or a row of lights. Traditionally, Diwali is celebrated on the darkest night of the year when the necessity and the beauty of lights can be truly appreciated. Light is a symbol in the world's religions for God, truth and wisdom."

"Given the antiquity of India, the diversity of its religious traditions and the interaction among these, it should not surprise us to know that many religious communities celebrate Diwali. Each one offers a distinctive reason for the celebration that enriches its meaning. For every community, however, Diwali celebrates and affirms hope, and the triumph of goodness and justice over evil and injustice. These values define the meaning of Diwali."

"Diwali, also spelled Divali, one of the major religious festivals in Hinduism, lasting for five days from the 13th day of the dark half of the lunar month Ashvina to the second day of the light half of Karttika, corresponding to October/November."

"Over the centuries, Diwali has become a national festival that is enjoyed by most Indians regardless of faith: Hindus, Jains, Buddhists, and Sikhs."

"Aurangzib's order to the subahdar of Gujrat, 20 Nov. 1665, is clear :—“In the city and parganahs of Ahmadabad (i.e., Gujrat), the Hindus following their superstitious customs light lamps in the night of diwali, and during the days of holi open their mouths in obscene speech and kindle the holi bonfire in chahlas and bazars, throwing into the fire the faggot of all people that they can seize by force or theft. It is ordered that in bazars there should be no illumination at diwali, nobody’s faggot should be taken by force or theft and flung into the holi bonfire, and no obscene language used." (Mirat, 276.) It was really a police regulation as regards holi, and an act of bigotry only in connection with diwali"

"The name [Divali] is derived from the Sanskrit term dipavali meaning “row of lights,” which are lit on the new-moon night to bid the presence of Lakshmi, the goddess of wealth. In Bengal, however, the goddess Kali is worshiped, and in north India the festival also celebrates the return of Rama, Sita, Lakshmana, and Hanuman to the city of Ayodhya, where Rama’s rule of righteousness would commence."

"The Diwali holds an imperative meaning among the Hindus, since, the day is reckoned with Lord Rama’s coronation ceremony as the King of Ayodhya after his return to the kingdom from 14 years of exile along with his wife Sita and brother Lakshman."

"[The observance of certain Hindu customs by Muslim women filled Sirhindi with grief. He observed,] “There would hardly be any women who does not perform one or the other ceremony of Shirk (polytheism) ... Showing respect to the sacred days of Hindus and performing the ceremonies prevalent amongst them are nothing but kufr. For instance, during the Dewali of the kafirs, the ignorant ones amongst Muslims, particularly women, perform the ceremonies of kufr. They celebrate it like their own Jd and send presents to their daughters and sisters like the hafirs and Mushriks ... They attach much importance and weight to this season. All this is Shirk and kufr’"

"Even in India customs can vary greatly. Celebrations in other countries can also be quite different. In some places it is a three-day festival, but it usually lasts for five days. Diwali includes the beginning of the new financial year."

"Hindus interpret the Diwali story based upon where they live:In North India they celebrate the story of King Rama's return to Ayodhya after he defeated Ravana by lighting rows of clay lamps. South India celebrates it as the day that Lord Krishna defeated the demon Narakasura. In western India the festival marks the day that Lord Vishnu, the Preserver (one of the main gods of the Hindu trinity) sent the demon King Bali to rule the nether world."

"Five Days of Diwali: On the first day of Diwali, housewives consider it auspicious to spring clean the home and shop for gold or kitchen utensils. On the second day, people decorate their homes with clay lamps or diyas and create design patterns called rangoli on the floor using colored powders or sand. This is the main day of the festival when families gather together for Lakshmi puja, a prayer to Goddess Lakshmi followed by mouth-watering feasts and firework festivities. This is the first day of the new year when friends and relatives visit with gifts and best wishes for the season. On the last day of Diwali, brothers visit their married sisters who welcome them with love and a lavish meal."

"The Diwali’s main days starts with 1st day Dhantrayodashi ('Dhan' means some "gold"/"silver" purchase occurs); 2nd day Narakachaturdashi; 3rd day Lakshmi Pujan (main day of Diwali), 4th day Bali Prati Pada and 5th day w:Bhau-beejBhai Beej or Bhaiya Dooj."

"First Diwali day called Dhanteras or wealth worship. We perform Laskshmi-Puja in evening when clay diyas lighted to drive away shadows of evil spirits.In Diwali, goddess Lakshmi visits all people. Cows are worshipped for they are incarnations of Goddess Lakshmi."

"Second day is called Naraka Chaturdashi or Chhoti Diwali. Narakasur, after defeating Lord Indra, snatched the magnificent earrings of Mother Goddess Aditi and took sixteen thousand daughters of gods and saints to his harem. Lord Krishna killed the demon, brought all women and earrings of Aditi. Lord Krishna came home early in the morning with demon blood on his forehead. Women massaged scented oil on Krishna and washed away dirt from his body. So we take oil massage and bathe before sunrise this day."

"The third day Lakshmi Puja of the festival is the most important day of Deepawali and is entirely devoted to the propitiation of Goddess Lakshmi. On this very day Sun enters its second course and passes Libra which is represented by the balance or scale; Hence this design of Libra is believed to have suggested the balancing of account books and their closing. Despite the fact that this day falls on an Amavasya (the night of New Moon) day it is regarded as the most auspicious."

"It is extremely important to keep the house spotlessly clean and pure on Diwali. Goddess Lakshmi likes cleanliness, and she will visit the cleanest house first. Lamps are lit in the evening to welcome the goddess. They are believed to light up her path."

"Lakshmi Puja consists of a combined puja of five deities. Ganesha is worshiped at the beginning of every auspicious act as Vignaharta; Goddess Lakshmi is worshipped in her three forms – Mahalakshmi the goddess of wealth and money), MahaSaraswathi (the goddess of books and learning), and Goddess Mahakali; Also Kuber, the treasurer of the gods is worshipped."

"On the fourth day, Govardhan puja is performed. On this day Krishna saved Gokul by lifting up the Govardhan Mountain on his little finger and holding it over the people as an umbrella."

"The fifth day is celebrated as Bhai dooj. On this day, sisters apply tika on their brother’s foreheads and pray for their well-being and long life."

"Throughout the festival, Hindus decorate their homes, temples and other buildings with rows of lights. In the past small clay lamps called Divas (or diwas) were used. ‘Diwali’ is a short form of “Deepavali”, which means “rows of lights”. Today, small electric lights are often used instead of lamps. Glitter and tinsel are also used for decorations."

"In India Hindus will leave the windows and doors of their houses open so that Lakshmi can come in. Rangoli are drawn on the floors - rangoli are patterns and the most popular subject is the lotus flower."

"Diwali last for five fun-filled days and nights. Each day honors a Hindu legend. These legends each teach an important lesson."

"Playing cards is very popular during Diwali. According to a Hindu legend, people who do not play card games during Diwali will be born as donkeys in their next lives."

"Aryans made the Dravidians to celebrate the Deepavali festival, Rama’s birthday, Krishna’s birthday. Similarly the Northerners made the Dravidians celebrate August 15th as the Independence Day. That is all. There is no other benefit or laudable reason."

"Ganesha is frequently depicted with Saraswati, the Goddess of learning and music, and Lakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity. Since Ganesha is associated with similar attributes as the goddesses, many devotees believe that they are his wives in previous incarnations. This assumption is reinforced by their worship along with Ganesha, especially during Diwali. But no myths support this notion. The deities are worshiped together simply because they represent similar goals."

"Like Christmas in the West, Diwali is very much a time for buying and exchanging gifts. Traditionally sweets and dried fruit were very common gifts to exchange, but the festival has become a time for serious shopping, leading to anxiety that commercialism is eroding the spiritual side of the festival. In most years shopkeepers expect sales to rise substantially in the weeks before the festival."

"Diwali is also a traditional time to redecorate homes and buy new clothes. Diwali is also used to celebrate a successful harvest."

"Diwali is also an important festival in Jainism. For the Jain community, many of whose members belong to the merchant class, the day commemorates the passing into nirvana of Mahavira, the most recent of the Jain Tirthankaras. The lighting of the lamps is explained as a material substitute for the light of holy knowledge that was extinguished with Mahavira’s passing."

"Religious group of the Jains, celebrate Diwali in a strictly religious way. They even fast, or stop eating, for three days! They offer their sufferings to their Gods."

"It [Divali] is an occasion for rejoicing and gratitude for a life spent in rigorous religious search, realization and teaching centered on non-violence."

"Since the 18th century Diwali has been celebrated in Sikhism as the time Guru Hargobind returned to Amritsar from a supposed captivity in Gvalior—apparently an echo of Rama’s return to Ayodhya. Residents of Amritsar are said to have lighted lamps throughout the city to celebrate the occasion."

"For Sikhs, Diwali is particularly important because it celebrates the release from prison of the sixth guru, Guru Hargobind, and 52 other princes with him, in 1619."

"The Sikh tradition holds that the Emperor Jahangir had imprisoned Guru Hargobind and 52 princes. The Emperor was asked to release Guru Hargobind which he agreed to do. However, Guru Hargobind asked that the princes be released also. The Emperor agreed, but said only those who could hold onto his cloak tail would be allowed to leave the prison. This was in order to limit the number of prisoners who could leave. However, Guru Hargobind had a cloak made with 52 pieces of string and so each prince was able to hold onto one string and leave prison. Sikhs celebrated the return of Guru Hargobind by lighting the Golden Temple and this [[tradition continues today."

"Makar Sankranti (January 14) is a festival held across India, under a variety of names, to honor the god of the sun, Surya. Though often relegated to a secondary position relative to the three prominent Hindu deities — Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva. Surya was a key figure in the ancient Hindu texts, the Vedas, and is the subject of the most repeated texts of Hindu liturgy, the Gayatri Mantra."

"Makar Sankranti heralds the end of winter and the arrival of spring throughout the Northern Hemisphere. Through the next six months, called the Uttarayana period, the days will become longer and warmer, and the whole period is considered an auspicious time. The day is also tied to the just-celebrated Bhishma Astami, which remembered the death of the hero Bhishma from the ancient Hindu epic the Mahabharata, who chose to die just as the Uttrayana period began."

"Makar Sankranti is observed in the month of Magha as the sun enters Capricorn on or near January 14 on the Common Era calendar. It is also celebrated as Uttarayana Punyakala Makara Sankranti (in Karnataka), Uttarayana Punyakalam Pongal (in Tamil Nadu), and Pedda Panduga (in Andhra Pradesh)."

"A variety of stories are told of Surya, which have implications for observance of this day(s). The sun god, for example, had a number of children, among them the Lord Shani, one the nine primary celestial beings in Hindu astrology; Shani is identified with planet Saturn. When Shanti was born, it is said, an eclipse of the sun occurred. It is also said that Surya and Shani have their differences, but always on Makara Sankranthi, Surya visits with Shani- thus fathers should visit their sons. Food, especially sweets, will be prepared using til sesame seed oil), which is valued for its stickiness or binding quality. Thus, the sweets that people will give those close to them are a symbol of being bound together, whatever differences might arise."

"Makar Sankranti is also fraught with implications for the early phases of the agricultural cycle. It is a time to pray for a prosperous growing season and a good future harvest, and a time to bathe one's cows, so essential to all aspects of agricultural production.It is a time to remember [[ancestors and, in the evenings, to celebrate around bonfires."

"The largest gathering for Makar Sankranti is on Sager Island in West Bengal at the point the Hooghly River, a branch of the Ganges as it spreads out approaching the Indian Ocean and meets the Bay of Bengal. Each January, several hundred thousand pilgrims gather on the island for the beginning of spring. Makar Sankranti occurs in the middle of the lengthy"

"Kite flying has become a popular activity in India, and for the more secular minded, it has become the dominant aspect of this day. The city of Delhi holds an annual Kite Flying Day festival on January 14, and the celebration has spread across the country."

"On January 14 every year, Makar Sankranti, is the only Indian festival celebrated on a fixed calendric day of the solar calendar."

"Makar Sankranti is unique as it goes entirely by the solar calendar. The clue to this mystery lies in the fact that Makar Sankranti is also called Uttarayan, or the day on which the sun begins its northward journey."

"January 14 is the day on which the sun begins to rise in the Makara Rashi, Sankranti meaning entering."

"While the exact day on which the winter or summer solstice occurs remains steady (within one day error), there is a slight change in the way the Earth's rotation axis is aligned to the sun. Hence, over a period of a few hundred years, this drift means that even though the sun begins its Uttarayan on December 21, it is not in the Makara rashi as it was about 1,500 years ago. So, 1,500 years ago, during the time of Aryabhata, the Uttarayan and Makar Sankranti coincided. Now Makar Sankranti comes on January 14, but Uttarayan happens on Dhanu Sankranti!"

"So what day to celebrate? Well, if you want to celebrate Uttarayan, do it on December 21, but if you want to celebrate Makar Sankranti, January 14 is about right. Incidentally, it also means that winter, which is at its peak in January and February, used to be at its peak in February and March at the time of Aryabhata."

"In India with the new year comes the festival of Makar Sankranti, a festival celebrated by Hindus. Makar Sankranti falls on the day of the year when the sun, the king of all planets, is in the rasi (house) of Makar (Capricorn). This is considered to be the most holy festival of the year. Makar Sankranti always falls on January 14. According to the Hindu calendar, it is celebrated in the month of Magha."

"The day begins with a bath in a river or tank, when water is offered to the Sun god. The rivers and tanks are often crowded with people eager to have a bath. An important aspect of Makar Sankranti is giving charity. It is believed that people who perform charitable deeds earn a place in heaven."

"In the west of India, in the state of Maharashtra, sweets made of sesame are exchanged. In Gujarat, kite-flying competitions take place. The sky is flooded with brightly- coloured kites."

"In South India, crops are harvested around this time and w:PongalPongal is celebrated."

"In North India, apart from Makar Sankranti, Lohri is also celebrated around this time. It falls on 13th January. Primarily is celebrated in Punjab, it is a harvest festival."

"Huge bonfires are lit in the evening and sweets and puffed rice are offered to the fire. People sing and dance around the fire to the beat of dholak (drum). The men dance the bhangra dance while the women dance the gidda."

"I despise your religious festivals;"

"The were primarily an agricultural people. After men cleared the fields surrounding the village, women would cultivate . Wild nuts and berries gathered by the women, along with fish and game brought home by the men, rounded out Iroquois meals. Various yearly celebrations such as the , were linked to the production of crops."

"“The multitude of your sacrifices—"

"After the persecution of the Emperor , Gregory Bishop of in Pontus, instituted among all people, as an addition or corollary of devotion towards God, that festival days and assemblies should be celebrated to them who had contended for the faith (that is, to lie martyrs)."

"A crust eaten in peace is better than a banquet partaken in anxiety."

"Come when the heart beats high and warm, With banquet song, and dance, and wine!"

"I shall treat the bird as befits him, I shall treat Anzud as befits him. I shall greet his wife affectionately. I shall seat Anzud's wife and Anzud's child at a banquet."

"Hommes, femmes et enfants, à vous de choisir; vous pouvez rester esclaves dans l'état de colonie, ou devenir indépendant et libre, au milieu des autres peuples qui, de leurs voix toutes puissantes vous convient au banquet des nations."

"Born but to banquet, and to drain the bowl."

"It begins about ten days before the full moon of the month Phalgun (February-March), but is usually only observed for the last three or four days, terminating with the full moon. This is the spring festival of the Hindus. In the spring season all the trees are filled with sweet smelling flowers. They all proclaim the glory and everlasting beauty of God. They inspire you with hope, joy and a new life, and stir you on to find out the creator and the Indweller, who is hiding Himself in these forms."

"This same scene is enacted every year to remind people that those who love God shall be saved, and they that torture the devotee of God shall be reduced to ashes. When Holika was burnt,people abused her and sang the glories of the Lord and of His great devotee, Prahlad. In imitation of that, people even today use abusive language, but unfortunately forget to sing the praises of the Lord and His devotee! In North India, people play joyfully with coloured water. The uncle sprinkles coloured water on his nephew. The niece applies coloured powder on her aunt’s face. Brothers and sisters and cousins play with one another. Huge bundles of wood are gathered and burnt at night, and everywhere one hears shouts of “Holi-ho! Holi-ho!” People stand in the streets and sprinkle coloured water on any man who passes by, be he a rich man or an officer. There is no restriction on this day. It is like the April Fool’s Day of the Europeans. People compose and sing special Holi songs."

"Aurangzib's order to the subahdar of Gujrat, 20 Nov. 1665, is clear :—“In the city and parganahs of Ahmadabad (i.e., Gujrat), the Hindus following their superstitious customs light lamps in the night of diwali, and during the days of holi open their mouths in obscene speech and kindle the holi bonfire in chahlas and bazars, throwing into the fire the faggot of all people that they can seize by force or theft. It is ordered that in bazars there should be no illumination at diwali, nobody’s faggot should be taken by force or theft and flung into the holi bonfire, and no obscene language used." (Mirat, 276.) It was really a police regulation as regards holi, and an act of bigotry only in connection with diwali"

"The processions are liable to meet in the street, and the lees of the wine of the Hindoos, or the red powder which is substituted for them, is liable to fall upon the tombs of the others. Hindoos pass on, for- getting in their saturnalian joy all distinctions of age, sex, or religion, their clothes and persons besmeared with the red powder, which is moistened and thrown from all kinds of machines over friend and foe ; while meeting these come the Muhammadans, clothed in their green mourning, with gloomy downcast looks, beating their breasts, ready to kill themselves, and too anxious for an excuse to kill any- body else. Let but one drop of the lees of joy fall upon the image of the tomb as it passes, and a hundred swords fly from their scabbards ; many an innocent person falls ; and woe be to the town in which the magistrate is not at hand with his police and military force. Proudly conscious of their power, the magistrates refuse to prohibit one class from laughing because the other happens to be weeping ; and the Hindoos on such occasions laugh the more heartily to let the world see that they are free to do so."

"The Mughal Emperor, Aurangzeb (r. 1658-1707) first intervened in the affairs of the region in 1665, when he prohibited celebrations of Holi and Diwali, and cremation of the dead on the banks of the Yamuna. The Italian traveller, Niccolao Manucci (1638-1717) noted the ban on Holi, “He hindered the Hindus from enjoying their merry-making or carnival ... The time of this festival or carnival falls ordinarily on the moon of March”."

"A farman of Aurangzeb, dated 20th November 1665, contained several discriminatory regulations against Hindus. It stated that on .... on Holi “they open their tongue with foul speech,” and light the Holi fire in every chakla and bazaar. Mughal officers were ordered to make sure that Hindus did not light the bazaars on Diwali, and did not throw sticks into the Holi fire."

"It was mostly a city of priests and pilgrims many of whom had come from outside for the Holi festival of the springtime rejoicings which had been celebrated two days earlier. Jahan Khan had the fullest opportunity for a literal execution of his master's command “to slay and plunder”. His fury had been further enflamed by the resistance of the previous night and he was not in a mood to show mercy. He ordered an indiscriminate massacre of the people, and the Holi was played afresh with the deep red blood of the Hindus. In addition to his carnage, the city was set at fire and it burnt like a huge bonfire."

"Direct action enables people to develop a new sense of self-confidence and an awareness of their individual and collective power. Direct action is founded on the idea that people can develop the ability for self-rule only through practice, and proposes that all persons directly decide the important issues facing them. Direct action is not just a tactic, it is individuals asserting their ability to control their own lives and to participate in social life without the need for mediation or control by bureaucrats or professional politicians. Direct action encompasses a whole range of activities, from organising coops to engaging in resistance to authority. Direct action places moral commitment above positive law. Direct action is not a last resort when other methods have failed, but the preferred way of doing things."

"On the 24th of the Tschet month, a big gathering of people is taken here to celebrate the birthday of Rama, so famous in entire India.”"

"By the impact of the festival of the Rāmanavami, bathing in the Sarayu river, having a darśan of the idol of Lord Rāma and beholding the Janmabhūmi, all they went to the Sāntānaka Loka by planes."

"By the merit of visit to Janmabhūmi, the darśana of the idol of Lord Rāma, bathing in the Sarayū river and the impact of the festival of the Rāmanavamī (the birthday of Rāma)all went to the Santanaka Loka in a plane."

"O best of sages! I made a darśana on the Rāmanavamī day."

"If people fast on the Rāmanavamī day, bathe in the Sarayū and make donation, they are liberated from the bound of birth."

"“Then Mahadeva said to the goddess, “I have told you the advantages of Ayodhya, the Sarayù, the Birthplace, and the day of the Navami. He who hears them, or relates them to others, obtains salvation in the end after having enjoyed all pleasures.”"

"Only by visiting it a man can get rid of staying (frequently) in a womb (i.e. rebirth). There is no need for making charitable gifts, performing penance or sacrifices or undertaking pilgrimages to holy spots. On the Navamī day the man should observe the holy vow. By the power of the holy bath and charitable gifts, he is liberated from the bondage of births."

"He, who fasts on the (Rāma) Navamī, takes bath and makes a donation, is liberated from all perils of birth by having a glance at the Janmasthāna."

"“By evening, we had arrived at Shri Kshetra Ayodhya and stopped at the Kale Rama temple. The festival of Ramnavami (the day Lord Rama was born) was only a few days away and so the city of Ayodhya was milling with some seven to eight lakh pilgrims and holy men. I had never seen so many sadhus and bairagis together. There were also many pilgrims from the south.” (p. 177)"

"The Ramnowmee, or festival commemorating the birth of Rama, fell with the eighth day of the Mohurrum, on the 30th March, 1871. The public part of the Hindoo festival at Bareilly consists in carrying out an idol of Rama to a grove on the outskirts of the city, where the image is washed and adorned with flowers, and, after ceremonial performances, brought back again to the temple. For the going and returning of this procession a route had to be laid down and Police were called in in large numbers to accompany and direct it. Its direction was widely apart from that taken by the Mahomedan processions accompanying the tazias; and as neither sect was allowed to pass through the more crowded thoroughfares of the town, there was no danger of an accidental collision. But the events showed that a portion of the Mahomedan community had resolved at all costs to interrupt the Hindoo festival, to attack the procession and-to plunder the Hindoos in different parts of the city. The procession ‘was a very large one and was accompanied by 4OO Police and several of the District Officers. It started about 2 P. M., and was to return an hour before sunset The grove was quickly reached and the due ceremonies performed. About half an hour afterwards the procession was attacked on its way back, not far from the temple, at a turning in the road. With much difficulty the assailants were beaten off, and the idol brought back without the procession being broken up. But meanwhile the Mahomedan mob, failing in its attack upon the procession, broke into parties and fell back upon the city, intent on rapine and bloodshed."

"India's Kumbha Mela amply demonstrates that diversity can be self-organized and not anarchic, even on a very large scale. Held every twelve years, this is the world's largest gathering of people, attracting tens of millions of individuals from all corners of India, from all strata of society, and from all kinds of traditions, ethnicities and languages. Yet there is no central organizing body, no 'event manager' to send out invitations or draw up a schedule, nobody in charge to promote it, no centralized registration system to get admitted. Nobody has official authority or ownership of the event, which is spontaneous and 'belongs' to the public domain. Since time immemorial, numerous groups have put up their own mini-townships and millions go as individuals just to participate in the festivities."

"Long after the monsoons cease in the plains of northern India and half the lunar year is over, there comes the widely-celebrated festival of Diwali, held on the day of the new moon in the month of Kattak. The raison d’étre of this festival of lights is so well known that it needs no explication.*” What may be recounted is how the festival crystallized into ‘the greatest festival of the Sikhs’.88 According to Sikh tradition the sixth guru, Hargobind Singh, on his release from Gwalior fort by the Mughal authorities, arrived in the city of Amritsar accompanied by fifty-two chieftains. The residents of the city were greatly elated and since then have celebrated the day of the festival with jubilation."

"Finally, a sustained campaign was launched to prevent Sikhs from taking part in festivals like Holi and Diwali. These were deemed un-Sikh festivities and an effort was made to replace them with innovations that would commemorate key events from the Sikh past. Babu Teja Singh made the most systematic proposals along these lines."

"A most spectacular sign of the success of popular opposition to Tat Khalsa hegemony comes from the domain of festive cycles. As stated previously, there had been a persistent campaign against Sikh participation in festivals like Holi and Diwali."

"But people refused to abandon festivities linked inextricably to the agrarian cycle and north Indian culture.° To renounce Holi celebrations, for instance, would have implied giving up a period of carnival, a time when indigenous society tolerated role reversal and the inversion of rigid social norms. Of all the groups within civil society, the non-elites were most unwilling to forgo this festival; it was the time of year when they took centre-stage without fear of reprisal. If the definitions of Sikh communal life had been left to the Tat Khalsa, the community today would have been without either the Holi or the Diwali festivities."

"There were his young barbarians all at play, There was their Dacian mother—he, their sire, Butchered to make a Roman holiday."

"Let our children laugh, When Italy is free. Meanwhile proclaim A Feast, with three days' offering to the Gods! Load every shrine with tributes of glad hearts, Crown Victory's statue with triumphal wreathes, And scatter flowers about the Capitol; Hymning the praise of Jove that stays the flight. Let all the readers of our annals say Never was such a Roman holiday."

"The festival is a sacred moment of thanksgiving and cultural reaffirmation."

"It is not just a feast of yam; it is a reaffirmation of identity, unity, and continuity."

"The festival is traditionally instituted… as a way of thanking God for a successful farming season."

"The New Yam Festival… is a day of enjoyment after the cultivation season."

"It marks the end of food scarcity… and the beginning of a new year."