• Friday 26th Aug 2016

Dahi Handi

Dahi Handi Muhurat

Krishna Janmashtami on 25th, August

2016 Dahi Handi

Dahi Handi is a famous sporting event in Maharashtra and Goa. Dahi Handi is celebrated on the next day of Krishna Janmashtami. Dahi translates to the curd and Handi translates to earthen pot used to process and keep the milk products. Dahi Handi celebration is also known as Gopalakala in Maharashtra. Dahi Handi celebration commemorates the way of living of Lord Krishna. In His childhood, young Krishna was very fond of the curd and the butter. While growing up the fondness of curd and the butter increased and young Krishna became notorious for stealing it. When Krishna and His troop started eyeing neighborhood homes to quench their thirst for milk products, female folks in the entire neighborhood became cautious and started hanging milk products from the ceiling like a chandelier. The idea was to take advantage of short height of young Krishna and His troop and keep Dahi Handis out of reach of small hands.

To defeat the idea of female cowherds, Krishna devised the idea of forming human pyramid. Human pyramid was used as the ladder to climb up and reach the Handi. Since then it has become part of Indian folklore. Every year during Janmashtami this event from the life of Lord Krishna is played by the young troop of boys. To make the task challenging Handi is kept at several floors high at the open ground or at the street crossing. Dahi Handi could be up to several floors high in the sky. Women folks who represent female cowherds from the tale of Lord Krishna thwart any attempts to create human pyramid by throwing the water or some slippery liquid on the pyramid formation.