ANCIENT LOGIC OF BASODA

BASODA or Sheetala Ashtami will fall on March 9 or 11 this year, according to some.

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The name comes from 'basiyaura', meaning stale, a word better known as 'baasi' in Hindi. It is a low-key but popular and intimate event in Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. I was introduced to this festival decades ago when I lived in Jaipur for a couple of years. Basoda involves offering baasi or stale food to the goddess Sheetala, a form of Devi. The food has to be cold and made the previous night, since cooking fires were traditionally not lit on Basoda day. Hence the tag 'baasi'.

The usual offerings are fruit, curd rice and sweets like halwa, kheer and malpua, a delicious fried sweet in sugar syrup that is already in great demand during the festive week for Holi. No hot or spicy food is offered. The family's main meal is the Basoda thali, which usually features bajra roti (millet flatbread) as the main dish, served with ghee. Paneer is often served as a side dish.

As ever, beyond these old Indian customs, there is a science to them. The hot weather starts hitting the northern plains hard after Holi. Eating the mildly fermented offerings for Basoda is considered a probiotic protection for the body against heat-related ailments. How our ancestors figured out 'the science of life' millenniums ago is a marvellous testament to ancient Indian observation and analysis. Even more marvellous is the psychology our ancients employed to ensure that people observed Basoda for their own health and well-being. They dedicated the festival to Ma Sheetala, the goddess of good health, whose very name means 'cool' and 'cooling'. The common prayer is to say 'Om Shreem Sheetalaaye Namaha' when offering food.