Paush Krushna Ekadashi
Uttar Pradesh: Residents of Jalesar, a small Uttar Pradesh town about 350 km from Lucknow, are now nine months into an unbroken year-long recitation of the Hindu epic Ramayana. The verses are chanted outside the Badhkeshwar Mahadev temple and can be heard from loudspeakers in various neighborhoods, including the main bus stop.
"We have already finished reading the epic 88 times till now. As soon as we finish reading the Ramayana once, we start all over again," said Manpal Singh, who initiated the idea. "It was on March 9, 2008, when we started reading the Ramayana. Since then, with the support of locals, we have been reading the epic without a break."
Some fifty people–men, women and children–have been participating in the year- long religious event. Men often take on the night shifts,
and women and children take charge in the mornings and afternoons respectively, ensuring that there is no break in the reading.
"Be it summer, winter or rain, we have faced them all and will continue reading the epic for the next three months, which is our aim," said 60-year-old Singh.
Source: TOI
