Mother's Day in India is celebrated at homes with as much reverence and gusto as anywhere else in the world. In India, as a secular nation, mothers and mother goddesses have been worshiped for generations. People in India have recognized motherhood and the power of motherhood in many religious forms including the form of traditional Hindu Goddesses. Especially, in eastern and central parts of the country the worship of Durga, or Kali, or other forms of the Mother like Basanti, or Jagaddhatri, form principal social and religious occasions. Hindu festivals related to Mother worship are of a much greater magnitude than the worship of any male deity except the major deities like Shiva, or Vishnu or major avatars of the Hindu pantheon like Rama or Krishna.
It is interesting to note that among the Parvi community of Konkan and Mumbai regions of Western India, there is an indigenous time-honored culture of celebrating Mother's Day in August. This festival is called Pathare Pravu, meaning Mother's Day. The festival follows the legend of a mother whose children never used to live beyond the first year of their birth. The Pathare Pravu Mother's Day celebration is ancient in nature and thousands of years older than the present US and international culture of celebrating.
There was also the culture of Mata Tirtha Aunshi (Mother's Pilgrimage Fortnight) in North Eastern India where in April, in the Krishna Paksha of Baisakh month, pilgrimage is made to Mata Kunda to worship living mothers and mothers who have left the earth. However, after the formation of post-partition India, this custom, though still very strong in Nepal, is existent only among the Nepali and Gorkha communities in India. The reason of this being that Mata Kunda itself now falls in a separate country, Nepal. This festival is born around a legend of Krishna and his mother Devaki.
Motherhood is universally recognized and revered in India in both religion and mysticism. Little surprise then, that the international, or rather U.S. culture of celebrating Mother's Day on the 2nd Sunday of May, has found ready acceptance in India.
Mother's Day Gifts, Greeting Cards, mementos and special services as well as sales offers are available internationally following the US tradition of celebrating the day on the 2nd Sunday of May. Suppliers and artists from all over the world, whether it be from China, or India, or Turkey or from US itself, target the 2nd Sunday of May as Mother's Day with their products/gifts. This happens because US is one of the biggest markets for consumer goods.
Thus, for people all around the world, celebrating the day becomes convenient due to the huge numbers of gifts, etc., available concurrently in the market. Indian citizens being no exception, they accept the convenience offered by market dynamics and on-market abundance of Mother's Day gifts. Thus, this day on 2nd Sunday of May is celebrated in households around the country. This year, Mother's Day has fallen on 9th May, 2010.
Mothers and motherhood, without any doubt deserve the most profound respect and reverence. Mothers bring us to earth, suffer to give birth to us and suffer to bring us up. Mothers always act selflessly to protect and upkeep their children, and mothers ensure continued existence of the human race. Every religion upon earth and every culture worships mothers and motherhood. In India, it is in the form of Mother Goddess worship, in Christian lands it is in the form of the worship of Mary, mother of Christ. In modern culture of the digital age, mothers are worshiped on this day, the 2nd Sunday of May.
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