Akshaya Tritiya- Religious significance-Auspicious Day-Festival of Gold Jewellery-Hindu Vaishakh Month

This day is ruled by god Vishnu, the preserver-god in the Hindu Trinity. It is also traditionally celebrated as the birth day of the Hindu sage Parashurama, the sixth avatar (incarnation) of the god Vishnu.

Akshaya Tritiya, also known as Akha Teej is a Hindu holy day, that falls on the third Tithi(Lunar day) of Bright Half (Shukla Paksha) of Hindu month of Vaishakha. According to Hindu mythology, on this day the Treta Yuga began and the river Ganges, the most holy and sacred river of India, descended to the earth from the heaven.

It is also known as festival of Gold as Gold selling increases on this particular day, people think this is a festive, divine and auspicious day in Hindu mythology to purchase gold. India had to import bulk amount of Gold from outside to fulfill the demand of the consumers here.

WGC had pegged demand in the week leading up to Akshay Tritiya last year at 45 tonnes.

Religious significance

According to Hindu mythology, Akshay Tritiiya was the day when Veda Vyasa started dictating the epic Mahabharata to Ganesha, the elephant-headed god of wisdom and obstacle removal.

It is also traditionally observed as the birthday of Parashurama, the sixth incarnation of god Vishnu. The Puranic scriptures speak about how he reclaimed the land from the sea.

In Bengal, on the day of the Akshay Tritiiya, "HalKhata" – a ceremony to start the new audit book is performed – with the worship of Ganeshaand goddess Lakshmi. Bengalis perform many rites and rituals on this day. In Goa and Konkan regions, even today, are referred to as Parusurama Kshetra. Akshaya Tritiya, the third day of the bright-half of the lunar month of Vaisakha is considered as one of the most sacred days of the year.

Myths & Legends

The day also marks the beginning of the "SatyaYug" or the Golden Age – the first of the four Yugas. In the "Puranas", the holy Hindu scriptures, there is a story that says that on this day of Akshay Tritiya Vedavyas along with Ganesha started writing the great epic Mahabharata. Ganga Devi or Mother Ganges also descended to earth on this day.

Bright Births

It is also believed that people born during this time shine bright in life. Many luminaries were born during this period: Basaveshwara born on May 4, Ramanujacharya and Adi Shankaracharya on May 6, Swami Chinmayananda on May 8 and Lord Buddha on May 16.