Search This Blog

Ashokaashtami

The festival and Its Observance

Ashokaashtami is one of the less known festivals. It is celebrated on the eighth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Chaitra (March-April) and the flowers of the Ashoka tree have been specially recommended for worship, Goddess Durga, the deity of worship. Hence the festival is named Ashokaashtami.

The day is considered to be cautious if it happens to be a Wednesday with the Punarvasu nakshatra (seventh lunar mansion consisting of two stars). On this day, housewives believe that, by eating the tiny buds of the Ashoka tree they will be free from shoka or sorrow (a-shoka = free from sorrow). A bath in the Brahmaputra river on this day is considered as very sacred, yielding the same fruit as the performance of the Vajapeya sacrifice.