page_title: Gowri Habba
section_title: Swarna Gowri vratha rituals
hierarchical_section_title: Gowri Habba / Swarna Gowri vratha rituals
caption_attribution_description: English: Gowri Habba The Gowri Baagna items are placed inside a mora, which is a traditional bamboo kitchen utensil made for dehusking rice. Another mora is placed on top, creating a closed container. Criss crossing turmeric lines are drawn on the covering utensil, along with vermilion dots on the intersection. In Karnataka region, this package is gifted with the words "Muttaide (married woman), muttaide, baagna togo (take), baagna kodu (give)", and traditional protocol dictates that this package can be given only to married women capable of reciprocating the gift, meaning they must also have performed the Swarna Gowri Vratha.
context_page_description: Gowri Habba is a Hindu festival celebrated a day before Ganesh Chaturthi.
  This festival celebrates the goddess Gowri or Gauri, who is venerated as the mother of Ganesha. It is usually observed by married women and is a significant festival in Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. It is known as Hartalika in the North Indian states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Chhattisgarh, Maharashtra and Madhya Pradesh. Gowri, the mother of Ganesha and wife of Shiva, is worshipped throughout India for her ability to bestow upon her devotees courage and power. Hindu belief has it that Gowri is the incarnation of Aadhi Shakthi Mahamaya. She is the Shakthi of Shiva. It is believed that on Thadige, or the third day of the month of Bhaadra, Gowri comes home like any married woman comes to her parents' house. The next day Ganesha, her son, comes as if to take her back to Kailasa.
  The Swarna Gowri vratha is performed on the occasion to appease the goddess.
context_section_description: {
  On this day, married women, after bathing, wear new or smart clothes and dress up the girls of the family. Then they do the 'sthapana' of either jalagauri or arishinadagauri (a symbolic idol of Gowri made of turmeric). Painted and decorated clay idols of Gowri can be bought at the local market. The goddess' idol is mounted in a plate, with a cereal (rice or wheat) in it. As this puja or ritual is to be performed with 'suchi' (cleanliness) and 'shraddhe' (dedication), the women go to temples or to another person's house, where it is performed according to set procedures or they can perform the ritual in their own homes.
  A mantapa, generally decorated with banana stem and mango leaves, is built around the idol. The Gowri is decorated with garlands, decorations made of cotton, and women have a 'gauridaara' (sacred thread with sixteen knots) tied to their right wrists, as blessings of gauri and as part of the vratha. Each of the sixteen knots is worshipped with mantras during the performance of the religious practice. 
  An offering of baagina occurs during the festival. At least five baaginas are prepared as part of the vratha. Each baagina usually contains a packet of arshina (turmeric), kumkum, black bangles, black beads (used in the mangalsutra), a comb, a small mirror, baLe bicchoLe, coconut, blouse piece, dhaanya  (cereal), rice, toor dal, green dal, wheat or rava and jaggery cut in a cube form.
  The baagina is offered in a traditional mora (winnow painted with turmeric). One such baagina is offered to Gowri and set aside.  The remaining Gowri baaginas are given to the married women.
caption: Gowri Baagna Container
exif: {"Image ImageWidth": "2560", "Image ImageLength": "1920", "Image BitsPerSample": "[8, 8, 8]", "Image PhotometricInterpretation": "2", "Image Make": "EASTMAN KODAK COMPANY", "Image Model": "KODAK LS753 ZOOM DIGITAL CAMERA", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image SamplesPerPixel": "3", "Image XResolution": "230", "Image YResolution": "230", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop CS6 (Macintosh)", "Image DateTime": "2019:08:06 18:00:32", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "324", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "1002", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "4860", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/60", "EXIF FNumber": "4", "EXIF ExposureProgram": "Program Normal", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "80", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0221", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2005:09:06 19:09:21", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2005:09:06 19:09:21", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "6", "EXIF ApertureValue": "4", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "4", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF LightSource": "Unknown", "EXIF Flash": "Flash fired, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "11", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "2092", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "1532", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "876", "EXIF ExposureIndex": "80", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF SceneType": "Directly Photographed", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "0", "EXIF FocalLengthIn35mmFilm": "66", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard", "EXIF GainControl": "None", "EXIF Contrast": "Normal", "EXIF Saturation": "Normal", "EXIF Sharpness": "Normal", "EXIF SubjectDistanceRange": "0"}