Sankranti: Why maharashtrians wear black!

One festival different names. The true unity in diversity of India is celebrating a Meta theme yet maintaining it's regional flavor. Makar Sankranti in West, Pongal in South, Lohri in North Western India is one such festival which marks the beginning of Uttarayan. The festival is celebrated with pomp and cheer across India. As with most festival in India, Sankranti also has display of vibrant colors, most notable being being the kite flying and black is generally avoided during festive times. Even then there is peculiar tradition in Maharashtra, where Maharashtraians wear black clothes on an auspicious day like Sankranti. Also even as it is auspicious day it is not considered as such in Maharashtra. As a child I was always curious of the black clothes during festival and why it is not allowed otherwise, but no one really had a satisfactory answer. 

After being a litter older and having developed little curiosity in history tried to find an answer to this question. Often all traditions have some historical or religious underpinnings and mostly they are related to the good things. Sometimes though, they are result of a civilizational memory that we remember certain not so happy events in the past. Still such events are an important civilizational marker as a tribute to the sacrifices our ancestors have made. The sacrifices which help us celebrate our festivals with continuity. This leads us to the Maharashtrian tradition of wearing black.

BATTLE OF PANIPAT

It was on the auspicious day of Sankranti 14 Jan 1761 when the Maratha forces clashed with the forces of Abdali at Panpipat. The Marathas were the most feared force of their times and they were the only ones who had the military might to fully taken on an invading force which had attacked India thrice before and looted many places and desecrated temples. The Marathas decided to take Abdali on and restrict Abdalis' frequent looting and plunder backed with religious extremism. As we all know the Marathas lost the war. 50000 plus brave Marathas were slayed at the hands of Abdali forces. It is to note that it was not an one sided victory for Abdali who almost suffered equal losses. Even as the Marathas lost, the objective of halting Abdali and his excesses were achieved. Abdali returned to Afghanistan never to come back to India and died a solitary death in near future. It was also the last invasion that India faced from its northwest frontiers. Even as the political motives were partially achieved the loss to Marathas was sever. It was their 1st major defeat in a long time and it was indeed an grave human loss. 

THE BLACK DRESS

Marathas recovered from the defeat quickly. Within next decade they worked like people possessed  and were back to controlling Delhi and regained the hold on entire territories they controlled pre Panipat. The Marathas were finally defeated by the British in the Anglo  Maratha war in 1st decade of 19th century and this was when the British acquired the power to control India. So far from popular belief it was not mughals but maraths from whom the British annexed the power to control India. But the Maratha empire did not forget the valor and sacrifice of those that laid their lives. Hence as mark of respect and rememberance Maharastrians wear black on Sankranti. Also since then Sankarti even as celebrated is not considered auspicious. There is a term known to Maharashtraians as 'tuzyavar Sankranti ali ahe', which means a bad event has befallen upon you. Thus even after about 250 years of the day the memory and the Valor is still kept alive. Ofcourse many Maharashtraians today don't know the reason why the black dress, there are also a lot of non Maharashtraians in maharashtra who follow the tradition. This year's Sankranti servers a good day to remember the sacrifice and know the reason for thr black dress.

May the sacrifices our ancestors undertook to keep the flag of civilization flying high be never forgotten. Happy Sankranti.