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

1 comment:

  1. So nice to read about the whole serial of rituals that make up this culture of Durga Pujo. The period following immersion, that is, Bijoya is celebrated upto Kali Pujo which is celebrated with Deepavali when the mother is worshipped as Kali, her aggressive avatar as well as in the form of Lakshmi, who brings in prosperity in our lives.

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