Pernau, Margrit creator text Economic & Political Weekly monographic eng

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61(13), Mar 28, 2026: p.54-60 The Phoolwalon ki Sair, the flower sellers’ festival, takes place every year in Mehrauli. In October 2025, administrative delays led to the cancellation of this centuries-old symbol of religious pluralism. While modern discourse emphasises communal harmony and national integration, the festival’s emotional history is more layered. This paper traces its evolution from a 19th-century monsoon celebration defined by shringara, or erotic love, to a late-Mughal expression of muhabbat between the king and his subjects. Following its 1961 revival, it was reinvented as a state-patronised secular tradition. The study explores how shifting emotional vocabularies continue to shape the festival’s social significance and contemporary contestations.-Reproduced https://www.epw.in/journal/2026/13/special-articles/phoolwalon-ki-sair.html Economic & Political Weekly 260429