Amla Navami 2011 in Urbashi Goshala

Amla Navami was celebrated in Urbashi Goshala by Jay Mata Di Group, led by Shree Satya Narayan Pandey ji on the Navami day in the Kartika month of 2011.

Urbashi Goshala is 6 kms away from the nearest town Patnagarh (on the route leading to Padampur) in the District of Balangir, Odisha, India. Members of Jay Mata Di Group from all over India and other devotees from the nearby places worshipped the Indian Gooseberry tree with devotion on this occasion.

The festival ‘Amla Navami’ is the worship of Indian gooseberry tree. It is celebrated on the ninth day of the bright fortnight of the Hindustani Kartika Month. It falls in October or November. It is pronounced in the names like - Aanvla Navmi, Awala Navmi, Anla Navmi and Anvla Navmi. As the Indian gooseberry is pronounced differently in different languages, the spelling changes accordingly, meaning being the same.

Basically women perform Amla Navami puja. Being pure with a sacred bathe early in the morning and then wearing new or washed fresh clothes, they get assembled near a Gooseberry tree. In the absence of an Amla tree, a branch of the tree earthed on the ground or in a vase, can also be worshipped. I don’t know the reason but people worship the gooseberry tree facing east.

First a lamp (deepa or deepali, normally fuelled with ghee, the Indian clarified butter) is lighted with a prayer to keep burning till the end of the worship. That is called ‘akhanda’. Then pour water and then milk on the tree. After that, apply rolli, the Indian red sacred powder, on the tree. Also offer a saree and blouse piece then. The next step is to show dhup. And then Moli, the sacred red thread should be tied by all women on the tree, moving seven times circling the tree.

It is followed by a ‘katha’ either read by a woman or a Brahmin, the priest, to be listened by all the devotees there. In some places they skip this step. The final step is ‘Arati’ and then women put sindoor or roli to each other’s forehead to have fun in an auspicious way.

Amla Navami is mostly observed in Odisha. The reason behind worshipping the gooseberry tree may be science. We can mark that science has been pushed into the rites of worship to provide people the benefit of science through religion. In this context, Gooseberry tree is a top medicinal plant with tremendous uses and benefits. Hence to preserve this precious species may be the tradition of worshipping Gooseberry tree has been made.