While Indian festivals like Diwali and Holi are widespread across the country, some are lesser-known due to regional influence. Gangaur is one such festival primarily celebrated by women of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The celebrations begin after Holika Dahan and last for 16 days. It ends with a colorful procession when married women carry idols of Isar and Parvati on their heads while adorning solah shringar (16 types of adornment).
What is Gangaur festival?
Gangaur festival is celebrated by both spinsters and married women with distinctive intent. They worship Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva in the form of Gan (Shiva) and Gaura (Parvati).
Unmarried women do the rituals with the desire of finding a husband like Lord Shiva. While married women pray for marital bliss and longevity of the lives of their husbands.
North India celebrates Holi with much grandeur. While the festival of colors attracts people from all over the world, the main ritual is associated with Holika Dahan. The rituals of the Gangaur festival begin with ashes and cow dung collected after the fire wears out.
From the following day, women use elements collected from the ashes to create pindolia (circular balls), sow seeds of Durva plant, and start adding tikki (dots) on the walls.
These are some of the many rituals that begin from the following day and continue throughout two weeks. Many spinsters belonging to the Marwari community visit each others houses to celebrate together. They sing songs of Gangaur, dance, and rejoice.
Gangaur festival is celebrated in which state?
Instagram creator Mansi Maheshwari went viral and drew a lot of traction by showcasing how they celebrate Gangaur in 2024. While she uses her regional language to share Gangaur stories, they reflect how vibrant everything about this festival is.
It is interesting to note that she lives in Surat, and Gangaur isn’t quite widespread in Gujarat. It means Gangaur is celebrated anywhere Rajasthanis call home. Most of them do puja at their houses and often welcome visitors to experience their cultures with open arms.
Gangaur is celebrated majorly across Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, parts of Uttar Pradesh and Haryana. It is one of the biggest festivals in Jaipur as the royal family organizes a procession every year for two days, colorfully representing what the Pink City is known for.
The story of Gangaur
There are many stories associated with the Gangaur festival of Rajasthan, and they are all related to Lord Shiva and Goddess Parvati:
Spring festival
It is a spring festival that symbolizes harvest and abundance, and many other Indian festivals are celebrated for similar reasons during this time. It could also be a reason why Durva seeds are planted on the first day of Gangaur and plucked on the last day to use for puja.
Celebrating bidai of Mahagauri
Gangaur puja begins before Chaitra Navratri. In this festival, Maa Durga is celebrated in her Mahagauri avatar. While this avatar of the deity is ideally worshipped on Ashtami (8th day), during Chaitra Navratri she is also worshipped on Tritiya (3rd day). It is believed that on this day, the Goddess had left her paternal home to go to Kailash, the heavenly abode of Shiva.
According to scriptures, Goddess Parvati had visited her paternal home during Holi and after eight days Lord Shiva came to receive and take her back. This event is celebrated as Gangaur.
Story of Kamdev
In another story, Kamdev, the God of love and desires, shot Lord Shiva in his third eye disturbing his meditative state. Angered by such disturbance Lord Shiva burnt Kamdev with fire emerging out of his third eye.
Knowing about the death of her husband, Rati, the wife and chief consort of Kamdev pleaded to Lord Shiva to bring him back to life. She went through penance and only when He was pleased did Lord Shiva bring Kamdev back to life.
Goddess Parvati and Lord Shiva blessed Rati and granted a boon for all marital women. From then on, whoever did Gangaur puja would receive marital bliss, and their husbands would have a long life. Women belonging to this community pray with the same belief and intent every year.
The story of penance
Some stories also suggest that Gangaur is associated with the penance done by Goddess Parvati towards Lord Shiva. She went into an extreme meditative state and gave up on everything to attain Lord Shiva as her husband.
How to experience Gangaur?
While Gangaur is an important festival of Rajasthan, it happens during the onset of summer. If you’re willing to come here to celebrate Holi and extend your holidays, you could be a part of this festivity too.
I have experienced Gangaur in two cities, Jaipur and Udaipur. While the theme of the celebrations remains the same, how they are celebrated is vastly different.
Gangaur in Jaipur
Between 5 to 5:30 pm, you will want to secure a spot near the Tripolia Gate in Jaipur to wait for the royal procession to begin. The idol of Gangaur Mata is seated inside the City Palace premises, and she is taken out in a parade after puja.
Visitors gather around the Tripolia Gate, which is only accessed by the royal family of Jaipur and their guests. The procession begins from the palace and moves towards Choti Chaupar.
Since the pavements get crowded, you might like to secure a seat by taking a stairway and going to the top of the complexes at the Pink City. But if you want to walk with the procession, you will have to make your way through the crowd.
The procession of Gangaur begins with the heir of the royal family doing aarti right outside of the Tripolia Gate. Currently, it is Sawai Padmanabh Singh and he leads till the procession reaches this point.
Before the idol is carried on a palanquin across the city, the parade witnesses glimpses of what Jaipur is known for. These include elephants, camels, horses, folk dance, traditional music, and many elements that represent the state.
They lead the procession and when the idol of Gangaur steps out of the Tripolia Gate, she is showered with rose petals – making it a treat to experience once in a lifetime.
The activity happens on two days consecutively, but the first day is more opulent.
Gangaur in Udaipur
Surprisingly, the experience in Udaipur was better for me than Jaipur. And that’s only because the procession in this city was carried out by the local women.
You see, Gangaur is individually celebrated in houses across the state. But in smaller cities like Udaipur, women come together and become a part of the procession on the main day. This isn’t the same with Jaipur because it is crowded and specifically catered by the royal family.
While the parade in Jaipur was an experience to witness, this one was something you can be a part of. Women celebrating the festival invited visitors like me who had just gone there to experience the event to dance and rejoice together. The festival allowed me to mingle with the locals and be a part of their culture.
Another reason why Gangaur is special in Udaipur is because the city is painted in white. When women are dressed up with 16 adornments in a city that is pale white, the stark contrast makes you understand what vibrancy means.
There is also a procession that starts from the City Palace of Udaipur, but this is not as grand as compared to the one in Jaipur. In this procession, women walk with Isar and Parvati on their heads and carry them to the ghat.
The main celebrations happen at the Jagdish Chowk and then the procession moves towards the Gangaur Ghat.
Yes! Udaipur homes a ghat by the same name. It is located beside the Bagore Ki Haveli on the Pichola Lake. Since Udaipur has lakes, the palanquin of the main idol with a few others are carried on the boat and taken across the lake.
How can you be a part of the Gangaur festival?
You can be a part of Gangaur in Rajasthan if you’re visiting before Chaitra Navratri. While the events begin the day after Holi, the main event happens after 16 days only. Since puja is done in Rajasthani households, unless you’re invited to be a part of this you can’t experience it.
But what you can do is look for Instagram posts from Rajasthan Tourism to know the exact dates of the Gangaur Festival in Jaipur. This year the processions will happen on March 31 and April 1. For the best experience, visit Jaipur on the first day. If you’re in Udaipur, consider March 31 as the main day and be a part of the event.
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