This picture is of evening
Aarti performed by the head-priest.....they wear red during that time.As i was told that this year Goddess came to Earth(
aagman) by
DOLA(a special carriage lifted by hands) which is believed to bring misfortunes on her arrival and will go back (
gaman) by an Elephant which says that brings extreme luck for the country after her departure .
During this five day long celebration a special ritual
KUMARI-
PUJA is performed where young girls are worshipped as Goddess......these two girls are dressed up as Goddess and
puja-rituals are being performed.I am not sure if these kids understand anything that is going on but they do seem to enjoy and behave extremely well throughout...
Once the
puja ends
Anjali and blessings are given when all the devotees present get up and offer their prayers.
This picture is of evening Aarti performed by the head-priest.....they wear red during that time.As i was told that this year Goddess came to Earth(aagman) by DOLA(a special carriage lifted by hands) which is believed to bring misfortunes on her arrival and will go back (gaman) by an Elephant which says that brings extreme luck for the country after her departure .
During this five day long celebration a special ritual KUMARI-PUJA is performed where young girls are worshipped as Goddess......these two girls are dressed up as Goddess and puja-rituals are being performed.I am not sure if these kids understand anything that is going on but they do seem to enjoy and behave extremely well throughout...
Once the puja ends Anjali and blessings are given when all the devotees present get up and offer their prayers.
This is such a wonderful post, Kavita. It's all so colorful and interesting. I'll bet those little girls were having a great time.
ReplyDeleteWonderful pictures.
ReplyDeleteI am reliving my puja memories.
beautiful pix!! thnx for sharin!
ReplyDeleteAn interesting post. I enjoyed your photos.
ReplyDeletelike everyone else who's posted a comment, i find the pics awesome, esp. the one of the "Durga Maa" idol, and the kumari puja sounds n looks a lot like 'kanjak puja' tht's done in North India on the 8th day of navratri...
ReplyDeleteInteresting... and I bet the girls are having a blast...all pampered and dressed for the occasions
ReplyDeleteCheers!!
fun information. there is a free website I think blurb.com that lets you download a program to organize your posts into a book, then they will publish it for you as many copies as you want. Probably not the cheapest way to go but perhaps the easiest. I do my books in my word processing program. Good luck, what a wonderful project for your children to have one day.
ReplyDeleteNice photographs, Kavita! Here, we do Kanya pooja at home during Navrathri (I don't why it is called nav rathri here and dussehra there?!). We apply mehendi to the girls, feed them and give them new clothes and do namaskara too, because they are devis when we do the pooja. The girls will be around 7-8 year olds.
ReplyDeleteAgain, the idol is just like Bengali's! In South too, Andhra, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamilnadu have a lot of similarities!
Keep giving us the glimpses of your area, Kavita. We are enjoying.
Kavita, my head is dizzy from all of the new vocabulary in your posts. I am not used to Indian words.
ReplyDeleteAre the photos yours or did you get them from google? They are quite beautiful.
@KAY...thanks,yes the girls had a great time and so did we.
ReplyDelete@Aparna...thanks,what's the puja scenario at Mumbai?
@DISI...Thanks
@Abraham Lincoln...thanks
@GIRISH...Thanks,yes, exactly it is very similar to KANJAL only more formal.
@Pins and Ashes...welcome.the girl in red was little worried of the water being poured on her feet,her new dress !!!
@
@LIN...Thanks a lot,i will remember and act on your suggestions.
ReplyDelete@SANDHYA...in North too this period is termed as Navratri,the idol is brought from Kolkatta most of the time;moreover we do have a lot of similarities with Bengalis.
@GIGI....i just wrote to you explaining most of the indian terms i used here.Thanks for liking the picture,all the pictures used in my blog are clicked by me.
Thanks, Kavita, or mahalo, as we say in Hawaii.
ReplyDeleteahhh the two young girls look so sweet. Loved the photos. :)
ReplyDeleteeverytime I visit this blog, I know I'll learn about the beautiful and magnificient indian culture.
ReplyDeleteViva La Puja and the pics are great.
Dear Kavita
ReplyDeleteI am so very much enjoying this post.
You do such a great job explaining all that is taken place and your pictures are wonderful!
I love learning about your culture.
Many thanks for this great post!
Margie:)
Kavita...Thank you for noticing and commenting that my blog background disappeared. I don't know how that happened? I'm glad its back too...because I'm happy with my new blog template. :)
ReplyDelete@KATHY...Thank you.
ReplyDelete@Margie...thanks ,its always a pleasure to share this with you friends.
@LAZY KING....thank you,you are one of my most initial friend...keep on visiting, it means a lot to me.I do miss Homebody-blogger.
i saw kumari puja once in belur math, really loved it. Your post brought back those memories, I also remembered the excitement I used to feel as a kid to know what the devi came in and by what she would leave
ReplyDeleteSo sweet the girls are looking so cute.My neighbour who is a bengali married to a andhra guy called many girls from the apartment for the puja.She gave them prasad and a bendis.
ReplyDeletehey u were in laban???? and not in new colony???? now is that fair????
ReplyDelete@Sujata...i used to fast for all nine days till the time i was expecting my first child,now i follow only three fasts,on ashtami i used to call 9 girls and a boy for a meal ,later gifted them note-books,pencil and some girlie stuff.I will restart this next year,all the time running after Kaustubh leaves me physically drained out ,i hope by next year things will be better.For me too it was for the very first time i witnessed kumari puja here in Shillong.
ReplyDelete@Nishant...i visited your blog few hrs back...so please cheer up now.
@Varunavi....the girl in blue is Chandan's childhood frns daughter,they too were visiting from other place like us(we always celebrate our puja here).To see them react to different rituals was a very nice experience.
@Nitu....we had a house full of 16 people to cook for,make bed arrangements,hundred cups of tea for those glorious Addas...Jethaidev(do you remember her..the aunt) is here for puja ...to make it to the naam garh was a real task ....the most difficult part was to control 6 kids,i was appointed the job of RING MASTER...I CAN GO ON AND ON....i will make it up to you next time...during Bihu.
Beautiful narration and photographs.
ReplyDeletewhats up everyone
ReplyDeletegreat forum lots of lovely people just what i need
hopefully this is just what im looking for, looks like i have a lot to read.
pretty cool stuff here thank you!!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteMay goddess Durga bless you
ReplyDeleteLike she blessed Lord Rama
to fight the evil,
like he fought Ravana
Happy Durga Puja
Dassehra SMS.
My house (Name of house- Visram) is the one just above Namghar. This pictures brought tears in my eyes !! Now just from the other side of the world (Toronto-Canada)I re-lived my memories 30-35 years back.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for putting it up there.
Dear Kalyan,
ReplyDeletei am in Shillong right now my husband knows you ...i don't know how to reach you but if you leave your eid here i will send u some pictures of your house...i am not sure if you remember them but latu ,bahaiti,kanu ,chandan say hi to you.