Today is Akshaya Tritiya, celebrated as an an auspicious day on which people invest in new ventures or buy silver and gold with a belief that, it will bring increased wealth and prosperity. "Akshaya" means "never diminishing", "Tritiya" means "third phase of the moon", so it's the third lunar day of the Vaisakha month in our Hindu calendar (spring month) and it's believed that Goddess Lakshmi was born on this day, and purchasing jewellery (gold or silver) will please her inviting lifelong abundance - ya, that's the theory that the mother and daughter duo used to convince me. This is the very first time, I agreed to their conspiracy and you know where the gold price is now, so we made a deal to go ahead with a little silver purchase.
We have this trusted silver jewellery store near to us, where we often go, so that was our obvious choice. The good part of going to the same shop is that, they can exchange without any additional verification, as these ornaments bear their tiny stamp somewhere. Now they even don't look at that as they know us by face - that's the trust we have built. They usually don't allow to take any photographs, but we are given some special treatments, as I wrote an exclusive blog on them and shared as part of my google review which has gathered thousands of views since then.
Our daughter picked this beautiful pair after searching through many options.
The lady picked some toe rings, she wears them for some time, and then exchange - women always prefer to wear new designs - may be that's in-built in their gene. You can never argue over that and win, so better to surrender :)
Akshaya Tritiya is also considered to be the day of new beginnings, with a lot of other significance. As per our legends, Lord Krishna blessed Draupadi with the Akshaya Patra (a vessel that is inexhaustible) to make sure that the Pandavas will always have food as per their wish, generated by that vessel. And it's a very special day for our farmers, as they commence the sowing of rice paddy, after a ritual worship of mother Earth. May be I will share a post on that when I get opportunity to capture some moments in the rural. And today marks the commencement of construction of chariots for the world famous Rath Yatra (Car Festival) at Lord Jagannath's temple, Puri. These chariots are rebuilt from scratch every year, symbolizing the renewal of the divine presence, so you can understand how important and auspicious this day is. Our traditions, culture and belief are so powerful to bless us to lead a happy and meaningful life - of late I am exploring a lot about them, the source of true inner peace and happiness.
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