Wednesday, October 22, 2014

Chopda Pujan in Mumbai

- By Deepa Krishnan

With Diwali around the corner, the streets of Bhuleshwar have lots of red chopdis (account books) on sale. Larger businesses may have switched to computers, but these cloth-bound books are still used by many smaller shops. Try going into Mangaldas Market, for example, and you will spot traders writing in them.

On 23rd October this year (Diwali / Lakshmi Pujan Day), businesses will close their old books, offer prayers to the goddess of wealth, and start the new year on the 24th. 

Here is the opening page of the book; listing the calendar year. It says in Gujarati script, "Diwali to Diwali, Samvat 2071". The calendar followed by Hindu Gujaratis (and also Jains) is the Vikram Samvat, which was established by King Vikramaditya of Ujjain, following his victory over the Sakas in 56 BC. The Vikram Samvat or Era is therefore typically 56 or 57 years ahead of the Christian Era. Currently we are in 2071.
The page also lists Calendars based on the conventions followed by other prominent business communities of Mumbai. The Islamic calendar is listed for those following the Hijri Year, but also there is the Muslim Misri Year (which is followed by the Bohras, a major business community of the city). Another business community which features is the Parsis; their Shenshai Calendar Year is listed, as well as the Marwari Calendar Year and the Indian Saka Calendar Year (which is used by some of the Maharashtrian businesses such as the wholesale fruit sellers in Crawford Market).

Here is the next page, which is used for the worship. It has a drawing of the kalash symbolising prosperity and auspiciousness. It says "Shri Pujanu Pano" (Shri=Lakshmi, Puja=Worship, Pano=Page).
And here's the next page, showing the first day of  the new calendar (Friday 24th October 2014):
The traditional accounting system (Bahi-Khata) followed in Gujarat and Rajasthan is a full-fledged double entry system. It makes a double-entry for all transactions affecting real, nominal or personal accounts. These transactions are first entered in the rokad-bahi (cash book), and then posted into the khata-bahi (ledger). A nakal-bahi serves as the journal. Finally a trial balance (kaccha ankada) is also prepared. I have watched entries being written into these red books in some shops, and I'm tempted to walk up to someone and ask them to teach me how it works. But it's so intrusive!

The pages inside the book are also a reflection of the diverse cultural / business practices of Mumbai's trading communities. The daily sunrise and sunset times are mentioned, to accommodate some practices such as Jain community's requirement to know the 'hora' or muhurat. The Jain working day is broken into 12 horas, beginning at sunrise and ending with sunset. Each hora is influenced by a particular planet and may or may not be suitable for undertaking a new activity.
When I see how well these books accommodate the needs of all communities, it makes me proud to be part of Mumbai's culturally diverse and thriving entreprenuerial ethos. This sort of thing is the very essence of Mumbai. The divisive voices we hear in modern politics are a sad reflection of how we are losing our traditional ability to get along and do business.

When I went to Mangaldas Market, I also saw the shops busy folding and stacking red cloth. This cloth is used as the base of a raised platform where the idols of Goddess Lakshmi and Lord Ganesha are installed. It will be purchased wholesale from Mangaldas Market by many dealers, and they will sell it all over Mumbai, to the business community.

For Lakshmi Puja / Chopda Pujan there are group prayers organised in Mumbai. Some temples also organise them, for example, the Swaminarayan Temple has chopda pujan as well as annakut celebrations the next day.
Chopda Pujan, Swaminarayan Temple Mumbai. Photo Source: ProKerala

Maharashtrian traders performing chopda pujan: Source: PTI

3 comments:

Haddock said...

I wonder why its red. I have always seen these chopdis in red.

Anonymous said...

There exists a good article by Lall Nigam for those outside India. But, I bet you can find better sources in your home.

Bahi-Khata: The Pre-Pacioli Indian Double-Entry System of Bookkeeping. In the Abicus journal.

In reading it it is a clever system and efficient for doing it by hand. It seems to me that the multiple books are simmilar to "Special Leders" thus reducing the recording load.

I would love to find a book that explains the system with more detail.

Lall says that credit is on the right and debit is on the left. Which seems more sensible to me.

Also, it looks like India is the origen of D.E. when comparing Bahi-Khata to the translation of Pacioli's book in, "Ancient Double Entry Bookkeeping." Which is free on line. Venice of course traded with India.

Anonymous said...

I must correct my error.

Lall said that credit is on the right and debit is on the left.