One of the great characters of the city of Coimbatore has been the way it has embraced every community that has lived here however small they are. Which is how it has to be! One such festival is the ritual of Teej by the small but ebullient Sindhi Community in Coimbatore.
With a population of less than 500 families, the sindhi community has mixed as one with the rest of the population yet keeping its identity alive. Last week the community celebrated the beautiful festival of Teej with a pre teej mela with utmost fun and frolic.
The history of the festival celebrates the reunion of lord Shiva with his wife Parvati. On this festive occasion the married women fast for their husband’s long life and prosperity. The day starts with waking up before dawn and having a sweet along with applying mehendi on the palms as it is considered auspicious, then the ladies pray the moong plant or “navdaniya” which can be maintained only by the Brahmin.
“Teej is a very important festival to us, unlike all years this year we decided to celebrate it as a community than as individual families. People of all age groups came together to celebrate it as one big family.” Said Dimple Mainani.
As a part of the ritual the ladies water the Teej plant with offerings of their choice along with water.
Fruits like pomegranate, guava and cucumber are offered to the plant that is considered as a deity in itself.
The women fast all day and listen to kathas in the evening and wait for the moon to show to break their fast and eat, till then they can’t even consume water.
“We original belong to Sindh, now in Pakistan, during partition we migrated to various parts of the country, it is these festive occasions that brings us together and we feel like we are in homeland when we are one, so be it Coimbatore or Sindh it is the togetherness that matters to feel the nativity and live the spirit of such a festive occasion. As quoted by Brahmni Geeta, an elderly woman and forefront of Sindhi community.