Saturday, October 11, 2008

shubha bijaya শুভ বিজয়া!

dear Zubin and Zagreb:

here's wishing you a
শুভ বিজয়া

in case you can't read that (heh heh!) the alphabets are
  • "sh+u"শ+ু = শু
  • "bha" ভ
  • "b+i=bi" ব+ি = বি (if ি and the ব are reversed, here's a fix)
  • "ja" = জ
  • "y+A=yA" য়া
shubha means "good, propitious", and bijayA means victory or celebration. you will find the text in this image as well:


every year around this time, i am sure you hear the "shubha bijayA" greeting quite often. bijayA is the tenth day of durga puja, when bengali's celebrate the the victory of durga over the demon mahishasur. the image above shows a modern sculpture of durga, where the devi is shown killing the asura who is pinned down by her lion.

bijayA is also a time when we visit relatives, and praNAm our elders. males do kolAkuli, hugging each other thrice, as you know. typically this festive greeting season extends from the end of durgA pujA on the tenth day of the waxing moon (this past oct 9) till the next new moon day or amAvasyA (that is the diwAli or kAli Puja day, which will be oct 28). you can wish anyone you meet in this period with "shubha bijoyA".

and the good thing is that usually, those whom you greet will offer you sweets and snacks !!

lots and lots of "AshirvAd" for you both of you on this bijayA!! may you eat a lots of goodies in this time! may you do the best in everything you do!

yours

bAbA

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