Friday, September 26, 2014

Bangalis Durga Pujo-3

On Saptami, puja starts with the Naba Patrika snaan. Banana tree, along with eight more trees ( rather branches) are taken in a procession to the river & given a ritual bath, admist the sound of dhaak, conch, kansha, ghonta. There after these are tied up together & draped in a red bordered white or yellow saree. This Nabapatrika represents Mother Nature, The Divine Mother. It is then placed at the puja bedi, next to Ganesh. Folk tales refer to this Naba patrika or Kola bou as the wife of Lord Ganesh, & being under the dominating shadow of her powerful Mother-in-law, she stands in the corner, meekly, her head fully covered upto her chin. Folk songs about Durga's family, her home front, how she deals with her daughter-in-law fill the surroundings. 

Next comes the saptami puja rituals, with chakshu daan or pran pratishtha of the idols. Pushpanjali is looked forward to by everybody, when along with the purohit everyone repeats the mantras, with flowers & bel leaves, & then offer them at the feet of the Mother. A darpan(mirror) is placed on the ghatas in which the image of the Goddess is reflected all through the puja days. Goddess is worshipped with flowers, bel leaves, fruits, sweets, and every day of the puja, bhog prasad is offered to Maa. This bhog has to be prepared with utmost care, & devotion, by women in a very pure & clean manner. The women have to bathe, wear clean clothes, and cook with clean hands. They must fast and not even drink water, nor speak at all till the bhog is prepared & offered to the Goddess. These puja days they must eat a satvik diet of vegetarian meals without onions & garlic.

When the bhog is served admist aarati with the dhaki drum beats, the puja place is cordoned off and coverd to give the Goddess privacy while she partakes the meal. Luchis, mixed vegetables, dals, chutneys, payas, sweets, doi, bhajas, all are relished by the Goddess. Later this prasad is mixed with the vegetarian meal to be served to the masses. In the evening is the aarati & then again the dinner bhog after which the Goddess is made to retire for the day.

The next day is Ashtami, the peak of the puja. The significant part of the puja on this day is the Kumari puja when an girl, who has not reached her puberty, is decked up and worshipped as the Goddess. The pushpanjali, bhog & the evening aarati is followed. After that comes the Sandhi pujo.

It is believed  that at the specific moment when Ashtami leaves & Navami starts, Mother awakens. It was during this Sandhi that Sri Ramchandra worshipped the Goddess with 108 lotuses, & diyas. To test Rama's devotion, Mother hid one lotus. Rama did not have enough time to get an extra lotus, therefore he decided to cut his eye & offer it to Goddess, as he was called the lotus eyed. Durga appeared to him at this point and blessed him victory over Ravan in the war. The Sandhi puja is held 27mins before Ashtami gets over, through 27 mins into Navami. Mother is worshipped as Chandi during the Sandhi puja.

Navami marks the last day of the festivities. With the usual rituals of puja, on Navami the homa is performed where Mother is made offerings through the fire yagna. A pumpkin is chopped in one strike at the end of the yagna, marking the killing of all demonic & asuric virtues in humans. By the evening aarati there looms a gloom over everyone, as the next day Maa shall be leaving for her heavenly abode in Kailas.

On Dashumi, after the puja, Dodhi Mongol is held, when Maa is given a mixture of puffed rice soaked in sweetened curds. This is a coolant, and since Maa has to undertake a long journey back to Kailas, she is fed this mixture. Later this is distributed as prasad. Then comes the darpan visarjan where, admist chanting of mantras, the thread that is tied around the idols is removed and the mirror which reflects the image of the idols are immersed into a big container of water, marking the visarjan & end of puja. The four days of puja, Mrinmayi Mother is confined in the idols, & once the thread is cut off, She will again be percieved as the Mrinmayi, the Divine energy, Shakti which is present in every living & non- living, in this creation.

Although its a sad moment, yet people celebrate with slogans, "ashche bochor aabar hobe", which means we shall again have the celebrations next year. Married women do the Boron, of Maa with circling paan leaves around her, putting sindur on her & feeding her sweets, taking her Blessings. Then starts the sindur utsav, where women greet each other & apply sindur to each other wishing peace, & prosperity. Its a celebration of joy admist the sorrow of Maa going away, the festivities drawing to a close. The idols are carried to the nearest river or water body for immersion, with crowds shouting Joy Durga Mai Ki, & ashche bochor abar hobe. After the immerssion, water from the river is carried back & the priest sprinkles this Shantir Jol, uttering mantras, on the devotees. Men do the kola kuli, hugging to greet each other, youngsters touch their elders feet seeking their blessings, elders bless the young. The period of Shubho Bijoya starts, with people thus greeting & exchanging sweets, making up broken relationships. Again the Bengalis while carrying on their daily duties, begin another year of wait for their Maa to arrive the following year.
                             Shubho Bijoya :D

Bangalis Durga Pujo--2

For a Bengali, Navratri is not just about worshipping The Divine Mother, but also the special occasion of the daughter coming home to visit her parents along with her children. This makes the festival even more special, from preparing the house to receive the daughter, with making her favorite goodies to eat, buying new clothes & gifts, & joy filling the hearts of every family member waiting to shower their love for their dearest daughter Uma or Parvati. Yes to every Bengali, a girl is always their Uma, so much that most parents & family members refer to their girls as Ma, following their given pet name, as in Oishee Ma & so on. Even daughters-in-law are called Bou-Ma. Women are looked upon as the embodiment of Uma, therefore she is the daughter Uma, or daughter-in-law Uma, or wife who is the Uma of her parents. Every woman, girl, mother, aunt etc is somebody's Uma. Therefore in a Bengali household the woman is the center of all activities. It is this honouring of the woman power in our lives that is Durga puja. 

Traditionally the idol makers make the idols in the Naat Mandir of the house where the puja is held. When the festival took a sarvajanik turn, puja committes ordered their idols from the idol makers at Kumartuli, a suburb in Kolkata. Clay from the Ganges is used, but an important thing to mention here is that, to this clay, soil from the house of a prostitute too is mixed to make the idol. Mother Divine belongs to all, & to her there is no distinction between her children. Also this signifies that the divine mother resides in all beings, in all women, even a prostitute. Puja spirit actually takes over from Mahalaya Amavasya, the last day of the Tarpan Paksha, when ancestors are remembered & honoured, with offerings of til (seseme seeds) & water. Food liked by the departed souls are cooked & given away to brahmins & the poor. With the Shradh Tarpan paksha over, puja preparations begin in full swing. It is believed that on this day, Maa Durga starts her journey from Kailas along with her children, Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh & Kartik, & also with their respective Vahans , to her parents home. They choose a horse, elephant, boat, or palki, to travel. Every year it is a different mode of transport, to & fro. Predictions are made accordingly as to the kind of situation she arrives to, depending on the mode of transport. For example, if She arrives on a boat, that year is a year of excessive floods all over, & if She leaves on an elephant, the following year would bring in prosperity to the land. Similarly a palki symbolizes earthquakes, while horse brings in various kinds of turmoil & strife in the land.

The festivities start off with the early morning Chandi paath broadcast by All India radio, Kolkata, with chantings & hymns, in praise of The Divine Mother, her glory, stories about her various avatars, & how each time she vanquished the demons to save her children. Since the first broadcast, this Mahalaya broadcast has become a tradition for every household, to wake up at 5am & listen with total devotion to the invocation. Today television channels have joined in with skits & dance ballets about the same theme. The whole atmosphere takes a sudden turn, there is a slight nip in the air, with the smell of shiuli, dopati (balsam),genda flowers, & the dew shining on the grass, the deep blue sky & the pristine while clouds sailing against it, all of a sudden the birds start to sing a different melody, as if giving the signal of Maa arriving soon.Traditional folk songs about Menaka pleading to her husband Himalay to bring their daughter home, how much she laments about her daughters state, being married to a sanyasi, songs about how Maa Durga explains to her mother how happy she is in her husbands home, fill the air. As puja draws to a close, the songs become sadder, with Maneka declaring that she would force Shiva to stay here so that her daughter Gauri too can continue to stay on forever.

On Shashti, the sixth day of Navaratri she is said to reach her parents village, but she rests under a bel (wood apple) tree on the outskirts. Belief goes, that her husband, Shiva & She are in seperable, therefore he too comes with her but stops under the bel tree outside the village, while Uma or Parvati, goes ahead to spend the next four days with her parents. Shiva knows that if he accompanies his wife, the attention of everybody will get diverted towards him, & since he has granted her just few days of leave, he lets her have all the care & attention from her parents, while he waits for her. Bel is Shiva's favorite, therefore he sits under it meditating till Parvati is ready to leave. The puja begins with the Bodhan, Amantran & Adhibas where Parvati  is welcomed home, and is settled & made comfortable. Therefore the first worship begins under the bel tree.  

Over to Part--3

Bangalis Durga Pujo--1

For a Bengali, presence of Maa Durga, is as natural as breath. Hold your breath & you will know how important it is, same way, when the Divine Mother's puja festivities get over, a sudden void envelops a Bengali, & they spend the rest of the year just waiting for Her, & preparing for Her next arrival from the very next day after Dusserra. Originally the puja used to be during spring time, called Basanti puja. It was Sri Ramchandra who worshipped Maa Durga for her Blessings before his war with Ravan during this autumn season. 

Devtas had sole right to perfom Durga Puja,& it was Raja Surat who worshipped her during the month of Sharat Ritu. Raja Surat had lost his kingdom & power, to his enemy & was banished away into the forest, dejected & defeated. He came across Rishi Meddha, who advised him to perform Durga puja, following all the rituals and with total faith & devotion to The Mother. Raja did as he was advised & soon he again fought back, this time defeating his enemies. Since then this Sharat  Ritu Navratri became popular all over.

Previously only rich nobles, kings & zamindars could perform the puja as it involved lots of preparations & there could be no compromise on the ingredients & rituals for the pujas. As economy was essentially agrarian, common people could not afford to put in so much of effort. It was these rich nobles, kings & zamindars, who organized the whole festivities, while the rest of the society participated. 
On Janamashtami or Jagannath Rath Yatra, im not sure which one, the first frame called 'kathamo' is assembled on which the whole structure of the idol shall stand. Locally available materials, rice straw, bamboo cane, are used to make the skeleton of the idols. Next it is covered with soil from the Ganges as the clay has tightening properties.

Over to part --2