Worship of tulsi plant

JORHAT, Oct 14: The Auniati Xatra is preparing to worship the holy tulsi plant on ‘Kati Bihu’, which falls on October 18 this year.

The ritual which signifies ‘Kati Bihu’, is the planting of a tulsi sapling, offering prayers and lighting an earthen lamp at the base of the plant. This ritual is usually followed for the whole month of Kartik of the Saka calendar by all the people of the State.

For the xatras– neo-Vaishnavaite monasteries at Majuli– the Kartik month is of especial significance as the Raax festivities celebrating the love and life of Lord Krishna also fall in this month.

The Auniati Xatra is the only xatra, which worships the tulsi plant. The more than 350 year-old xatra pays homage to tulsi, who was supposed to be a devotee of Lord Rama, an incarnation of Lord Vishnu.

The xatra itself once had posts made of sturdy tulsi wood, one of which is preserved in its museum. The Dakshinpaat xatra also has a similar post.

An inmate of the xatra said that, previously tulsi plants used to grow to a great height and girth and used to make up most of the pillars of the xatra. The xatra, however, had to be shifted thrice to avoid erosion and each time a few of the posts got damaged till they were all replaced by concrete.

“Only one such post has been preserved for posterity”, he said. THE SENTINEL