The 'Xewali' or 'Parijat' or The Night Jasmine... I wished I could write in Assamese to express the divine enchantment this fragrant flower brings with the onset of winter in Assam. The private ritual of the ladies of the household to pick up the dew soaked foliage and bringing then into the home in the morning for offering the deities or merely for the fragrance is something which, I am sure, every Assamese holds close to his/her heart.
Folklore and mythology has it that this is one the five divine flowers brought into the earth from the gardens of King Indra of the heavens and believed to be eternally so pure that it can be offered to the deities even if fallen to the grounds. No wonder, it has been inspiration to so many a poets and lyricists in Assam and around.
2 comments:
Xewali makes nostalgic everyone of the great childhood in erstwhile rural Assam. So, beautiful a feeling. Rightly said that it was brought from Indra's garden.
thanks for the comments, AlokDa!
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