Indian devotees form a human pyramid to reach and break curd-pot, on occasion of the Janmashtami Festival in Mumbai, India, Monday, Sept. 3, 2018. The Indian city of Mumbai has been since Sunday busy celebrating "Dahi Handi" (Mud Pot in literal translation), a Hindu festival which is also known as "Janmashtami" in the rest of the country to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna, Indian Express reported on Monday. (Xinhua/Stringer)
MUMBAI, Sept. 3 (Xinhua) -- The Indian city of Mumbai has been since Sunday busy celebrating "Dahi Handi" (Mud Pot in literal translation), a Hindu festival which is also known as "Janmashtami" in the rest of the country to celebrate the birth of Lord Krishna, Indian Express reported on Monday.
"Dahi Handi" involves communities hanging an earthen pot filled with dahi (yoghurt) or other milk-based delicacies, at a height easy or difficult to reach. Young men would then form teams, make a human pyramid and attempt to reach or break the pot.
While it has religious implications tied to it, in the same way as other great celebrations in India, "Dahi Handi" is additionally celebrated with a considerable measure of pageantry and show boisterous DJs, insane rain dance and what always takes the spotlight, a Dahi Handi challenge.
During Janmashtami in Mumbai, the roads are claimed by govindas (people who act as human pyramids) upon the arrival of Dahi Handi. As indicated by Hindu folklore, Lord Krishna and his companions used to form human pyramids to break pots hung from the roofs of neighbourhood houses in order to steal curd and butter in Vrindavan, a village in Uttar Pradesh.
To remember that custom on this day, youngsters, called govindas, attempt to break the dahi handi by forming human pyramids.
"In Mumbai, clay pots filled with curd, butter, money and turmeric are hung high and a group of professionals make human pyramids and break the pot with a coconut and, if they are "courageous" enough, with their foreheads," the Express said.
