The Sacred Kolabou: Worshipping the Banana Plant as Goddess Lakshmi in Bengali Hindu Tradition
The practice of worshipping the banana plant as Goddess Lakshmi represents one of Hinduism's most profound expressions of seeing divinity in nature. This ancient tradition, particularly prevalent among families with ancestral roots in Faridpur and Barisal regions of East Bengal (present-day Bangladesh), reveals the deep philosophical understanding that the divine pervades all creation, especially in plants that sustain and nourish life.
The Kolabou: A Living Symbol of Prosperity
The kolabou ceremony involves creating a sacred arrangement where a banana plant serves as the central representation of Goddess Lakshmi, the deity of wealth, prosperity, and abundance. The banana plant is carefully tied together with stalks of paddy, turmeric, colocasia (arbi), basil, and sugarcane, then adorned with new cloth. This is not merely decorative worship but a profound recognition of how these plants embody the qualities and blessings that Lakshmi bestows upon devotees.
Symbolism of Individual Plants: A Deeper Understanding
Each plant in the traditional arrangement carries specific symbolic significance:
- Paddy stalks – Represent Anna Lakshmi, the goddess as the provider of food and sustenance, reminding devotees that the first form of wealth is having enough to eat
- Turmeric – Beyond its auspicious yellow color, turmeric's medicinal properties represent health as true wealth; it also symbolizes the sun's life-giving energy
- Colocasia – With its large, umbrella-like leaves, represents protection and shelter, essential components of prosperity
- Basil (Tulsi) – Sacred to Lord Vishnu, Lakshmi's consort, represents devotion, purity, and the spiritual wealth that complements material abundance
- Sugarcane – Symbolizes sweetness in life and the rewards of patient cultivation, as sugarcane takes time to mature and yield its sweetness
This combination creates a holistic representation of prosperity – not merely material wealth but abundance in food, health, protection, spiritual merit, and life's sweetness.
The choice of the banana plant as the primary symbol holds deep significance. The banana tree is unique in its generosity – every part serves humanity. Its fruits provide nourishment, its leaves serve as natural plates for sacred meals, its fiber yields useful material, and its trunk offers sustenance even after the plant bears fruit. This complete selflessness mirrors Goddess Lakshmi's nature of bestowing abundance without reservation.
The Sacred Nabapatrika: Nine Plants, One Divine Consciousness
In many households, the Nabapatrika – a bundle of nine sacred plants – is worshipped as an embodiment of Goddess Lakshmi and the divine feminine. This tradition beautifully illustrates how Hindu worship recognizes the goddess's presence not in distant heavens but in the very plants that surround and sustain daily life.
The nine sacred elements of Nabapatrika typically include:
- Banana (Kola or Rambha) – Represents Goddess Lakshmi herself, symbolizing prosperity and the fulfillment of desires
- Colocasia (Kachu) – Symbolizes feminine energy and the earth's nurturing power
- Turmeric (Haridra) – Embodies purity, auspiciousness, and the sun's healing energy
- Jayanti plant – Represents victory over negative forces and inner strength
- Bel (Wood apple) – Sacred to Lord Shiva, represents the union of Shiva and Shakti
- Pomegranate (Dalim) – Symbolizes fertility and the abundance of creation
- Ashoka tree – Represents the removal of sorrow and the blossoming of joy
- Man kochu (a type of aroid) – Embodies the primal life force
- Paddy (Dhan) – Represents sustenance, the fruits of labor, and material prosperity
- A pair of bel fruits tied with white aprajita creeper – Symbolizes the inseparable bond between the material and spiritual aspects of existence
The Ritual Adornment: Dressing the Divine
The Nabapatrika bundle is dressed in a red-bordered white sari and veiled like a bride, then adorned with two shola (pith) kadam flowers on what represents the head. This ceremonial dressing carries profound symbolism – the white sari represents purity and spiritual consciousness, while the red border signifies Shakti or divine power. The bridal imagery acknowledges the goddess as both mother and bride, nurturing yet dynamic, gentle yet powerful.
This veiling also reflects the ancient understanding that while the divine is omnipresent, it remains partially hidden in the material world, requiring devotees to approach with reverence and the proper spiritual vision to perceive the sacred within the ordinary.
Scriptural Foundations and Philosophical Depth
The practice of worshipping plants as divine manifestations finds validation in Hindu scriptures. The concept that divinity pervades all creation is fundamental to Hindu philosophy. The Bhagavad Gita states: "Of all trees I am the sacred fig tree, and among sages and celestials I am Narada. Of the Gandharvas I am Chitraratha, and among perfected beings I am the sage Kapila." (Bhagavad Gita 10.26)
This verse establishes the principle that the Divine manifests in specific forms within creation, making it entirely appropriate to worship certain plants as direct embodiments of deities. The banana plant, with its constant giving nature and life-sustaining properties, naturally embodies Lakshmi's essence of abundant grace.
Kolabou in Durga Puja: The Dual Association
While kolabou is widely recognized as part of Durga Puja, where it represents Goddess Durga, its association with Lakshmi reveals an important theological truth – the various forms of the goddess are ultimately one. Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati represent different aspects of the same divine feminine consciousness or Shakti. The banana plant can represent different goddesses depending on the ritual context because all goddesses are manifestations of the same supreme Devi.
During Durga Puja, the kolabou accompanies Goddess Durga as her companion or attendant. In Lakshmi worship, it becomes the goddess herself. This flexibility demonstrates the non-rigid nature of Hindu worship, where symbols can carry multiple layers of meaning depending on devotional focus and regional tradition.
The Simplicity and Accessibility of Traditional Worship
One of the most beautiful aspects of this tradition is its profound simplicity. Unlike elaborate temple rituals requiring expensive materials, the kolabou worship uses plants readily available in rural Bengal. This accessibility embodies a democratic spiritual principle – the divine can be invoked without costly offerings, making sacred worship available to all economic classes.
The tradition also connects worship directly to agricultural life and seasonal cycles. These plants are harvested or gathered at specific times, linking spiritual practice to the rhythms of nature and farming. This grounding in agricultural reality prevents spirituality from becoming abstract or disconnected from daily life.
Furthermore, this form of worship is largely performed by women in households, empowering them as primary spiritual practitioners and keepers of tradition. The goddess is invited into the home not through priestly intermediaries but through direct, hands-on creation of the sacred bundle by family women, particularly daughters-in-law and daughters.
Present Status and Future of This Sacred Practice
In contemporary times, the kolabou and Nabapatrika traditions face both challenges and opportunities. Urban migration has distanced many families from the plants and agricultural context that made this worship natural and accessible. Finding genuine banana plants, fresh paddy stalks, and other specific plants in urban environments presents practical difficulties.
However, there is also a growing revival of interest among younger generations seeking to reconnect with ancestral traditions. Many urban Bengali families now make special efforts to procure these plants, traveling to rural areas or requesting relatives to send them. This renewed interest reflects a broader pattern of cultural revival and the recognition that these traditions carry ecological wisdom alongside spiritual meaning.
The tradition's future likely lies in adaptation while preserving core symbolic meanings. Some families may need to work with available plants while maintaining the essential principle of worshipping the divine feminine through nature's bounty. The deeper philosophical understanding – that divinity pervades creation and that simple, natural worship is powerful – can survive even when exact traditional forms require modification.
Environmental and Ecological Wisdom
The kolabou tradition embodies profound ecological consciousness that predates modern environmentalism by millennia. By worshipping plants as divine, this practice instills deep respect for plant life and agricultural systems. When the banana plant is treated as Goddess Lakshmi herself, it creates a psychological and spiritual relationship with nature that naturally leads to conservation and care.
This tradition teaches that prosperity and nature are inseparable – true wealth comes from healthy, productive plants and agricultural systems. In an era of environmental crisis, reviving such traditions offers not just cultural continuity but practical wisdom about humanity's relationship with the natural world.
The Living Goddess Among Us
The worship of kolabou and Nabapatrika as Goddess Lakshmi reveals Hinduism's remarkable ability to find the transcendent within the immanent, the eternal within the temporal, and the divine within the natural. This practice asserts that the goddess of prosperity is not distant but present in the very plants that feed, heal, and sustain life.
For modern practitioners, this tradition offers multiple gifts: a connection to ancestral wisdom, an ecological spirituality that honors nature, a democratic form of worship accessible to all, and a profound philosophical truth that the sacred permeates daily life. As households continue or revive this practice, they participate in an ancient recognition that divinity walks among us in the form of the generous banana plant, the nourishing paddy, and all of nature's abundance – asking only that we see with eyes of devotion and gratitude.