History of Dharmashastra (Ancient and Mediaeval Religious and Civil Law in India) v6.c81.532

v6.c81.532

Besides the items mentioned above, it is the practice, particularly of boys and common people in Mahārāṣṭra, to hang up pots full of curds and buttermilk on the day after the birth of Kṛṣṇa is celebrated, to play underneath the pot, sing songs and then pierce the pot and get drenched by curds and buttermilk running out from the holes made. This is probably due to the legends associated with Kṛṣṇa's boyhood among cowherds. The Bhāgavata³⁵⁶ expressly says that the cowherds sprinkled each other on Kṛṣṇa's birth with curds, milk, ghee, and smeared each other with these. This is called 'Gopālakālā in Mahārāṣṭra. But this is not observed in other parts of India such as Saurāṣṭra. Surprisingly enough the Kṛṣṇajanmāṣṭamī festival does not, like the Rāmanavamī festival, figure in the Kṛtyakalpataru on vrata. One cannot account for this omission.