Wish granted in lieu of zayo

MARDOL: Neatly woven strings of the delicate zayo flowers are sold by sellers all along the highway in the Ponda taluka through the monsoons. But, on Monday, the sellers’ shacks lay abandoned.
The zayo (jasmin or jasminum auriculatum) and the sellers are all gathered at the Shri Mahalasa Narayani Temple, a few metres away, in Mardol. From the sanctum sanctorum to the assembly hall, the entire premises is dressed in the delightful white of the seasonal flower.
Zayachim puja is a big draw for devotees each year on the badrapad vadya teethya of the Hindu lunar calendar year. Devotees come to offer the zayo they had promised the deity if a request is considered fulfilled.
The belief can be traced back to 1914, when Mardol was in the throes of a terrifying plague that took lives of many locals. “The hapless village elders promised the devi they would offer a special annual puja if Mardol was rid of the plague. Soon enough, the plague loosened its grip on Mardol. The village was famous then for its unique styles of flower weaving and so it was decided to offer this puja of strings of zayo,” said committee member of the phulkar samaj (flower committee), Ramchandra Naik.
Zayo strings are not available for purchase on this day, as the flowers that bloom on the day of the puja as well as on the preceding day, are collected to drown the temple in its fragrance.
With all the flower sellers from Mardol busy offering prayers on the day of the zayachim puja, those from neighbouring regions are seen filling the void outside the temple, selling flowers other than zayo as offerings. The jasmine are woven with strings made from the dried outer layer of the banana plant stem.
“Not a single flower seller from Mardol will dare sell even one bud of the zayo flower on the day of the puja till date. All the flowers that bloom are meant for the devi on the day,” said Naik.
The phulkar samaj of Mardol comprises 60 families and each one will have their turn only once in six decades to perform the Satyanarayan puja at the temple on this day. The expenses of the services at the temple on the day of the zayachim puja are met solely from contributions gathered by these 60 families.
Shri Mahalasa Narayani is believed to be an avatar of Lord Vishnu as the nymph, Mohini. Each year during zayachim puja, the seating for lord Satyanarayan is designed to represent one each of Lord Vishnu’s dashavataar, or ten incarnations.