Dahi Handi celebrated with jubilation across Maharashtra

By Raju Vernekar

Mumbai: Dahi Handi, part of the Janmashtami festival that marks the birth of Lord Krishna, was celebrated across Maharashtra, including Mumbai and Pune with gusto and jubilation, with “’Govindas”, who included boys and girls, forming multi-tier human pyramids to break Dahi Handis (clay pots filled with curd) suspended mid-air, on Saturday.

Dahi Handi celebrations claimed the lives of two people in the state, as a seven-year-old boy died after a brick column collapsed on him in Mumbai, while a woman was crushed to death under an iron frame in Pune.

The tragedy took place when the brick column of a ground-floor structure, to which one end of the rope was tied, collapsed, burying seven-year-old Rudra Kadam under the debris. The children at Ekta Welfare Society in Malvani, Malad in North Mumbai, were celebrating Dahi Handi on their own. They had tied one end of the rope to a tree and the other end to a brick column of a ground-floor structure.

 In Pune, Salma Salauddin Pathan, a resident of the Old Sangavi area in Pimpri Chinchwad, died after a temporary iron structure erected to support a stack of loudspeakers for a Dahi Handi event collapsed on her on Friday night.

 Totally 168 “Govindas” were injured during the celebrations in parts of Mumbai. They were admitted to various government and Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC-run) hospitals.

Otherwise the festival was celebrated with traditional fervor and over 100 Govinda groups (pathaks) participated in Dahi Handi breaking exercise across Mumbai till Saturday night. Handsome prizes were offered to Govindas.

 In the event organized at Chukuwadi, Shimpoli, Borivali West, by Shiv Sena (UBT) Shakha Kramank over a dozen pathaks participated. They included : “Lay Bhari Pathak”, “Sairat Pathak”, “Jai Ambe Pathak”, “Shree Sai Pathak” and “Maharashtra Navnirman Sena” Pathak. Almost all major political parties had sponsored their Pathaks. In a function organized by Chikuwadi Ganpati Utsav Mandal headed by Shakha Pramukh Sagar Sarfare, a host of Shiv Sena (UBT), Yuva Sena and other party leaders were present.