18 October 2024, the full moon of Hindu month of Asvin is marked as Sharad Purnima. This is the night of the full moon when Krishna performed Rasalila (dance) with the Gopis of Vrindavan; considered to be the embodiment of devotion and selfless dedication to the divine. Across Eastern Bharat and Maharashtra, today is known as Kojagari Purnima and involves worship of Lakshmi, the deity of abundance, fortune, and beauty. Lakshmi Puja on Kojagari day is particularly popular in Eastern Bengal (now Bangladesh). In the years after partition, this festival was a day of cultural pride for the East Bengal Hindus (Bangals) who had recently fled to Kolkata where it was not as popular with the West Bengal Hindus (Gotis).
Sadly, this day also carries the traumatic memory of the massacre of Hindus in the Noakhali District (now Bangladesh) in 1946. Islamist extremists deliberately chose the day of Kojagari Puja to unleash 10 days of horrific attacks on Hindus, killing 5,000, raping hundreds of women, and forcibly converting several thousand to Islam.
About the image: Vintage print of Lakshmi from Bengal, where she is traditionally depicted with an owl as her vehicle. She is shown sitting in a rice field/holding shoots of rice, due to her association with agriculture and the earth.