Recently former deputy CM of Goa Vijai Sardesai declared that he would make it mandatory for the people of Goa to take an hour long siesta in the afternoon if he became the CM of the State.
It is customary in Goa to have a nap in the afternoon after lunch. Mostly this practice is not found in other parts of our country. Moreover Goans have received this legacy from Portuguese who always loved relaxed and laid back lifestyle. Spain is Portugal’s neighbour. This country has introduced a law to allow its citizens to take a three hour nap every afternoon between 2pm and 5pm. During this time bars, shops, swimming pools et al are closed. Parents have been told to make sure their children are indoors and people are being asked not to make any unnecessary noise.
Most Goans love siestas. Here eating of tasty fish curry and rice is followed by a nap.This nap is known by various wonderful names in Konkani. Some Goans call this afternoon nap as small sleep while the sleep at night as big sleep. In fact Goans are culturally accustomed to these two words; small and big. Thus we have small Diwali and big Diwali. Small shigmo and big shigmo. Small Neura and big Goa ( Goa Velha) and in village Mulgoa there is one deity named small Vanadevi.
There is no any natural relationship between sleep and night. When any living being gets tired it sleeps. Animals do not require nights for sleeping. Human beings chose night for the purpose of sleeping. During night time there is darkness everywhere . So no work is possible during this period in the absence of light. This is why human beings might have collectively opted night for sleeping . In our life sleep is as important as air, water and food. Besides sleep is unavoidable.
In Sanskrit language this short sleep after lunch is called, “Vamkukshi”. Vam means left and kukshi means side. Thus the above terms means that in the afternoon , after the lunch one should sleep by pressing down the left side of the body. Stomach is on the left side of the body. May be that this posture is helpful in digestion. However, there is no any general agreement on whether sleeping in the afternoon is good or not. Gurudeo Tagore did not believe in such rests during day time. He was often engrossed in his various activities. On the other hand Mahatma Gandhi was of the opinion that a short sleep in the afternoon after the lunch is desirable.
Taking a snooze during day time is not a thing of the recent years. It has a history of thousands of years. In Mahabharata after the declaration of war by both sides, Duryodhan the leader of Kauravas and Arjun, the leader of Pandavas both went to meet Krishna for seeking his help. At that time Sri Krsihna was asleep on the bed in his palace. Therefore both the leaders of the mutually opposing camps had to wait till Sri Krishna awakes. The ensuing part of this story is not relevant to this article. What is important is that there was a custom of sleeping during day time in the distant past. In Ramayana we notice a strange type of sleep. Kumbhakaran, the brother of ten headed King Ravana often slept for successive six months in the year. And then remained quite awake for remaining six months! Therefore , any person today who sleeps for longer hours and is reluctant to wake up is called Kumbhakaran!