Skip to content Skip to navigation

Invoking the goddess Durga

Durga puja is awaited with bated breath every year and the goddess is given a tearful farewell every year at the end of the puja, and this year won’t be any different either. Guwahati’s heart throbbed with festive fervour as devotees offered ‘anjali’ in their ‘para pandals’ Guwahatians pulsated with the puja spirit indulging in pandal hopping and invoking the goddess with hearts brimming with pious devotion. For once the markets had a forsaken look as the usual customers turned devotees attired in their festive best visited pandals instead of shops luring them with festive discounts.

Strangely Guwahati lacked the usual crowded streets during the puja days for traffic moved easily in the usually packed streets and by lanes except in particular areas where a few traffic snarls were spotted. However, a day later the devotees turned up in large numbers. The puja pandals dazzling with breath taking decorations and lightings drew huge number of people with the celebration of the auspicious mahaastami. The air reverbrated with the chanting of mantras and the beats of the dhak.

However, this year puja pandals though crammed with devotees also saw a huge deployment of security personnels as the pandals being sensitive spots and susceptible to terrorist attacks are under the police scanner. The disturbed times today has dampened the spirits of devotees making them extra cautious in their movements. Perhaps this is the reason behind the low turn out of people in the streets.

Traditionally, the five day puja celebrations begin with Mahalaya when one is able to perform any number of shradha ceremonies of one’s departed relatives. Then comes the Sandi Paath after which begins the rituals of puja. Legends hold that Lord Rama had offered puja to devi Durga in order to get her blessings in the killing of the evil called Ravana. Chronologically speaking Sashthi is the first day of puja when the goddess is put on a pedestal and the priests invite her to their midst which is followed by Saptami the second day when the proceedings begin by bathing the goddess. Maha Ashtami is a repeat of the previous day where sometimes animal sacrifices are offered to please the goddess, a primitive or rather pagan ritual that needs to be eradicated from our culture as it has no place in our developed society. However after navami finally the last day of puja is Vijaya Dashami when the devotees bid a tearful farewell to the goddess.

Guwahati alone boasts of more than 600 pujas, the oldest being Hari Sabha in Panbazar. Pandals in Beltola, Ganeshguri, Silpukhuri, Uzanbazar, Kumarpara etc witness the maximum rush and today laser shows in certain pandals are a huge crowd puller.

Come let us all invoke the goddess and ask her to grant us the beauty of soul, the taste of sweet success, give us name and fame and destroy the evil forces in us and show everyone the right direction.

“Rupang dehi, jayang dehi, jasho dehi dishu jehi ”

Photo: People throng on the occasion of Maha Navami during Durga puja celebrations in Sivasagar, Assam on 20-10-2007. Picture by Luit Chaliha.

Comments

jaay's picture

What a wonderful thought.

Pages

Add new comment

Assamese Translator

Assam Times seeks English to Assamese translators!
Join our volunteer team.
Email editor@assamtimes.org.

Random Stories

NDFB-S rebel arrested

29 Dec 2015 - 9:52pm | Hantigiri Narzary
One NDFB-S militant identified as Majendra Narzary (41) was apprehanded from Khasiabari under Kokrajhar police station in the district today by a joint team of army and police . One postol along with...

Tarun Gogoi  flags off Cycle Rally at Guwahati

Mega cycle rally in Assam

18 Jan 2016 - 9:11am | AT News
A mega cycle rally with the message of cycling for health & environment was organized on Sunday morning in various parts of Assam including the central function held at historic Latasil...

Miscreant fires round of shots at lawyer's residence

12 May 2016 - 8:51pm | Shajid Khan
Unidentified miscreants fired rounds of gun shots at the residence of lawyer Rajiv Khaglary at Maibanguri of Udalguri district. The incident occured on Thursday pre-dawn at about 2 am. Miscreants who...

JFA condemns murder of journalists, demands justice

22 Feb 2016 - 3:33pm | AT News
Journalists’ Forum Assam (JFA) has expressed shock at the recent killing of a journalist in Uttar Pradesh (UP) and reiterated for its old demand for a special protection law for the working...

Other Contents by Author

The entire world is facing a tough time dealing with the onslaught of terror that arms have wrecked upon us. Whether it is the arms of a terrorist, a soldier, a miscreant or a school kid arms seem to have taken control over man. The world wars, the cold wars or the war on terror, man has become a slave to his arms. The war on Iraq saw the dependence on arms, the terror attacks in America, Britain or India and the disturbed scool kids in America who opened fire upon his own school mates had the common instrument in the form of sophisticated weapons that were used to annihilate the peace and sanctity of man. Assam is no exception to this world phenomenon as it has been trying to come to terms...
It was in the year 1935 that Assamese cinema made its entry into the world of entertainment with its first landmark movie Joymoti by Rupkonwar Jyoti Prasad Agarwala. Assamese cinema continued its journey in a slow-paced sensitive style, especially with the movies of Bhabendra Nath Saikia and Jahnu Baruah.But despite its rich history, and its artistic successes, Assamese cinema has failed to make a lasting impression in the national level. Thouh the beginning of the 21st century saw a new trend emerging in this genre a trend that emphasised on the commercial success of films by toeing the style of Bollywood blockbusters. But the results were short lived as it could’nt stand a chance...
The wheel of fortune in Assam seems to be taking a turn towards better days. After lunching of projects by the government and the world bank’s initiative towards development schemes now other sources are eyeing Assam and testing its waters for further development projects. The recent visit by Tata Consultancy Services CEO and MD S Ramadorai raised hopes of major investments in the IT sector in the state. He inspected two major sites for the proposed setting up of IT hubs—one location near IIT Guwahati measuring 100 acres and the other close to the Software Technology Park of India of about 140 acres.Ramdorai stressed the need for an ideal location for the proposed IT park that...
Its raining jobs! Well soon it is hoped that it will actually when the unemployed of the state will no longer need to go from pillar to post in search of that coveted government job. The launching of the Employment Generation Mission by chief minister Tarun Gogoi is a welcome move at a juncture when the state is flooded with the educated unemployed.The mission aims to generate employment opportunities for 1.87 lakh people at a cost of Rs 669 crore. Mentionably, the mission is based on a study on generation of substantial employment opportunities in Assam by noted economist Dr Jayanta Madhab. The study also suggested the proposed approach for tackling the unemployment problem. Such a move...
“Cleanliness is next to godliness” only if practiced practically instead of just lisping theoretically! Proper sanitation at home can only lead to a cleaner, healthier society but sadly this time tested maxim seems to have fallen on deaf ears of the general public.Contaminated water, poor sanitation have always been the causes of many an epidemic in our society. The recent outbreak of Diarrhea that has plagued the locality of Uzanbazar since the past few days is an instance of both public and government apathy towards this problem. Two patients, including a nine year old boy died and 18 were hospitalised after an outbreak of diarrhea was reported in Padumpukhuri area of...
After the raging havoc unleashed by the fury of floods Assam now runs the risk of drought that is looming large over the farming family due to the alleged anomalies in seed distribution. Man and Nature both are in their elements in Assam whether it is the raging rivers or the ravaging rebels everyone is targeting the Assamese people in the form of floods and ethnic killing sprees. After the floodwaters destroyed the Sali crop in some parts of the state the government resolved to help the farmer-community by distributing direct-seeded rice varieties like Luit and Lachit. This resolution came as a favourable opportunity for the flood hit farmers as these crops can be sown and harvested after...
At stroke of midnight, on 15 August 1947, India became an independent nation. This landmark event was preceded by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru's famous speech titled Tryst with destiny.“At the stroke of the midnight hour, when the world sleeps, India will awake to life and freedom. A moment comes, which comes but rarely in history, when we step out from the old to the new, when an age ends, and when the soul of a nation, long suppressed, finds utterance..... We end today a period of ill fortune, and India discovers herself again.” Our country is celebrating the 60th year of its Independence this 15 August 2007 . Independence from its imperialistic rulers—a sweet fruit of the...
The world is slowly making way for a brigade of young women who remain single by choice. Many such young single women are emerging in our society who have broken the shackles of tradition and asserted their independence. Our society which earlier frowned upon the concept of single woman, terming them old maids and the like, have today gradually but significantly started accepting these free spirited souls who defy the tag of being married and also hate to tag along their better halves as second fiddle. Single mothers, live-in relationships and single working women living a carefree life are no longer a taboo as today many urban women prefer to live alone without being tied up by the bonds...
The popular belief that men are from Mars and Women are from Venus stands corrected.Women are from Venus but today they can easily straddle to Mars as well for there is hardly anything that a man can do which a woman cannot, provided she wills. Everyone has an inherent will to survive against odds, to put a brave front during troubled times which sometimes get faint with the onslaught of time. External factors lead to further loss of faith in oneself and life and then there comes a time when a woman loses all hope and becomes a mere shadow of her earlier self. This is when she falls prey to the scheming monsters of the world that comes in the form of dowry demons, abusive relationships or...
Finally some eyebrows have been raised on the increasing pollution levels in the city. Guwahati ranks high in the pollution charts of the country competing with metros like Delhi and Calcutta. Though the other cities leapt into action in order to reduce the air pollution causing serious danger to the denizens Guwahati is waking up a tad bit later. The Indian Oil Corporation (IOC), Assam Oil Division has taken an initiative to convert petrol-run autorickshaws into LPG system in a phased manner. This, if implemented would prove to be a great step towards improving the damaged caused by the increased level of pollution in Guwahati. The decision by IOC was taken after increased level of carbon...