"Yes, Lord Krishna was a Cheater"

August 14 was the celebration of Lord Krishna’s birthday, or Krishna Janmaashtami, in Kadod. As the festival approached, Claire and I kept hearing more and more about the midnight celebrations from our friends in Kadod. Darshanbhai and his family, who eventually took us to the festival, told us one day:

“Everyone goes to the temples and worships Krishna at midnight, then there is gambling.“
Expecting some vocabulary mix-up, we clarified: “Wait, gambling? (pantomime dice throwing) At the temples?”
“Yes, Lord Krishna was a cheater. He had thousands of wives.”

Needless to say, we were pretty excited and confused by this explanation. Definitely ready to experience it for ourselves.

On the 14th, we left the house well past curfew (with permission) to go to the first temple with Darshanbhai and friends where we listened to music and were given sweets. After leaving, we were corralled into a neighbor’s house to see their small temple to Krishna and eat more sweets. We had unwittingly embarked on a sort of parade from temple to temple full of music, dancing, and sugar. Everyone in Kadod was there and eager to show us their favorite temple or explain the customs of this holiday, and we were able to talk to so many students and friends throughout the night. It was really great to see even the most shy students in my classes so excited by this festival and the opportunity to explain (in English!) the intricacies of each shrine to Baby Krishna.

Decorations at one of the temples closest to our house.

Friends sang devotional songs throughout the evening.

An 8th Standard student dances to the music at a temple.

Five temples, far too many tastes of the butter-sugar mixture that Krishna loved so much, and one hour later we returned home. Full of sugar and unable to sleep, I sat on the porch and listened to the music from the temple just outside of the school grounds for a while, in love with Kadod. A pretty awesome evening, to say the least.