Shrawan
15 (July 30/31) is also known as “Kheer Khane Din” meaning a day
to eat rice pudding. It is celebrated grandly to commemorate the
accomplishments of farmers who worked hard throughout that period, marking the
end of the paddy planting season.
Kheer,
also known as “Aayash” in Sanskrit, is a sweet rice pudding from the cuisine of
Nepalese tradition and one of the deserts in the Nepalese Families made by
boiling rice, broken wheat, tapioca, or vermicelli with milk and sugar; it is flavoured with cardamom, raisins, saffron, cashews, pistachios or almonds. It is also
known as payasam, payasa, gil-e-firdaus and fereni.
Conceptually
thinking, Shrawan month is considered the holy month; known as the day of the end of rice pudding. Thus, Shrawan 15 would only be complete with delectable kheer which is celebrated grandly to commemorate the accomplishments of farmers, who worked hard throughout the period. Similarly, Ashadh and Shrawan are hot and rainy months. Due to this monsoon weather, different diseases are spread after rain. Thus, we all become a little too conscious about health during the monsoon season. Milk is loaded with health benefits and contains nutrients like calcium, choline, potassium, vitamin D, manganese and more. Thus, milk combos are the best thing that keeps our body fit and healthy during monsoon. This is the reason we eat Dahi Chiura in Ashadh 15 and Kheer in Shrawan 15. Milk products are produced more during the monsoon season due to greenery. So we can visualize these reasons for eating Kheer in Shrawan 15. However, there is one popular story about Shrawan 15 in Buddhism which is described below:
Story: Sujata: An Awakener of the Buddha
“Every human being is the author of his own health or disease.”
— Buddha
Sujata was a milkmaid living in the village of Bakraur near Bodh Gaya. She was married to Kala- the son of a wealthy merchant and banker- Anathapindika; a prominent lay disciple of the Buddha later. Due to wealth, everyone around Sujata had always pressured Sujata to give birth to a son since the son could take care of the wealth of the family whereas the daughter would be married away. She also wished to give birth to a son. Soon, she got pregnant and the oppression to give birth to her son increased. Sujata used all her resources- body, soul and wealth to impress god by giving her son to her. She visited temples and worshipped gods every day.
One day, while returning after worshipping in the temple, she felt fatigued and dizzy. So, she rested in a Chautari as a rest stop along the foot trails in the temple. The Chautari was simple and no special things were there. However, she felt pleased and relaxed in that Chautari. So, she vowed the tree spirit to serve Kheer if she gave birth to a son. The same happened; she gave birth to a son.
So she asked her servants to clean the tree to worship when the servants reached there, they found a saint meditating in the shades of the tree. He looked like he hadn't eaten anything for many days. However, his face reflected the limelight. Sujata thought that the saint was the reincarnation of the tree god. So she offered a cow-milked creamy Kheer to the saint. The saint was none other than Siddhartha Gautam who was meditating in the tree to know about suffering and the way to end suffering. Such was his emotional appearance that she wrongly believed him to be a tree spirit that had granted her wish of having a child. He had fasted for 49 days but due to Sujata's offer, Gautama accepted to eat Kheer.
After 1 day of eating Kheer, Kheer provided Gautama with enough strength to cultivate the Middle Path, develop jhana, and attain Bodhi, thereafter becoming Budha. The tree in which Sujata had rested- where Buddha was meditating and enlighted is today called the Bodhi tree ( tree of awakening) located in Bodh Gaya. Sujata, later on, becomes the chief female patron of Buddha.
This story reminds us that to acquire knowledge, one need not give pain to the body. One needs to fulfil and nurture the body too. As Budha said, "To keep the body in good health is a duty.....Otherwise, we shall not be able to keep our minds strong and clear. Let's remind ourselves that Without a healthy life, Life is just a state of languor and suffering - an image of death. So Eat Kheer and strengthen our body as health is the greatest gift.
Story: Sujata: An Awakener of the Buddha
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