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Dharma Katha · Season 4: The Road to Diwali · Episode 129

It is late. The moon is high. The house is quiet. But in the front room, a lamp is still burning. On the floor, someone has drawn in white rice paste a pattern of lotuses, and leading in from the door, a line of small footprints, as if someone very light had just walked in. On a low stool, a pot. A few grains of rice. A bowl of flattened rice soaked in milk, a cut coconut, sweets. And a family sitting up, playing cards, telling stories, singing a little, yawning, refusing to go to sleep. They are waiting for someone.

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Source note. Label: tradition. The explanation of Kojagari from ko jagarti, Lakshmi's question on the autumn full moon, the vigil, the alpana footprints and the offerings are living tradition in Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Mithila. The story of the king who bought the unsold image, the departure of Lakshmi and the other powers, and Dharma's choice to stay is told in Bengali household tradition, including recitations of the Lakshmir Panchali; it has many variants, in some of which the image is of Alakshmi and in others of another power, and the number and names of those who leave differ. I have told a composite of the common form. The Mithila Kojagara customs are regional tradition. The reflections are my own.

Note: this episode is narrated with an AI voice and the script was written with AI assistance. Sanskrit verses are checked against published editions; corrections are welcome.