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.
Random Stories
11 Feb 2014 - 8:57am |
AT News
Normal train service came to a grinding halt in the lower Assam district on Tuesday when several trains refused to proceed following 12 hour ABSU blockade demanding Bodoland statehood. ...
18 Jul 2014 - 10:18pm |
Hantigiri Narzary
A delegation team of the Jangostiya Aikhya Manch,an umbrella organisation of non-Bodos will leave for New Delhi on August 3 next and meeting with Prime Minister and Home Minister to place about...
11 Sep 2011 - 9:04pm |
Ritupallab Saikia
Krishak Mukti Sangram Samity’s (KMSS) activists were lathicharged in Tengani area of Golaghat district today. The KMSS activists were staging a rail blockade programme at Jamuguri and Tengani...
12 Jul 2010 - 2:43am |
Anup Biswas
The 100 hours bandh from tomorrow 4 am by the North Cachar Hills Indigenous Students Forum (NCHISF) has been withdrawn following assurance from the government for second round of talks on July 21....
Other Contents by Author
Cine star Sanjay Dutt popularly known as Munna bhai was sentenced to six years of rigorous imprisonment for the 1993 serial blasts case by a special court in Mumbai on July 31. The curtains came down on the 13 year long trial with a sobbing Sanju baba pleading for leniency but Judge PD Kode of the TADA court cancelled Dutt’s bail plea citing that his acts were “eminently dangerous” and showed a “high element of criminality”. It is said that Justice delayed is Justice denied and justice was definitely denied to Sanjay Dutt which came a calling thirteen years after his alleged crime of illegally possessing an AK-56. No doubt that possession of Arms is illegal...
The war of words rising out of the illegal migrants issue between the AASU and the AMSU is heating up by the day and the chances are that this development may push the real issue behind and turn into a political war of words. These organizations should take concrete steps by motivating the people and making them realize the consequences of the exodus of people into our territories from Bangladesh. They should leave aside the religious issues for this is not a religious battle as the Assamese people are a secular lot. This is evident in the peaceful coexistence of all religions here since decades but the continuous influx of Bangladeshis irrespective of their religious bent is causing great...
It’s happening again! With the persistent fury of the rain gods many parts of Assam is reeling under flood waters for the umpteenth time. Year in and year out we witness the damage and destruction that the flash floods and monsoon rains bestow upon us and we can do little but watch in helpless horror. The relentless downpour in the hills as well as the plains of neighboring Arunachal Pradesh has made the Brahmaputra and its tributaries flow above the danger mark putting many at risk. Meanwhile the continuing rain in Bhutan has caused massive erosion on the western banks of the Aie river right from Daosri to Dhaligaon in the North of NH-31©. Frequent breaches in the embankment...
Assam is a cauldron of violence at present . No amount of talks, prayers, or security measures is going to take away this epithet from Assam. Rebel groups were, are and will always continue the dance of death in our mother land whether we like it or not. The wellbeing of the subjects of Assam are of no concern to any extremist group as all of them are busy in achieving individual aims at the cost of the people and making them pawns in their dirty politics. After all the goal of every group is to procure the ruling chair and when one group comes overground when their aims are achieved a new dissident group will take their place. Bomb blasts have become a daily affair in our lives if not...
The recent spurt in crime and violence in the state is a danger signal and needs to be curbed with immediate effect. There is an alarming rate of dacoities where single elderly people have been targeted resulting in their death in many cases. Kidnappings are on the rise with murdered FCI official P C Ram, Cement Corporation of India’s mining engineer KN Jha who died of cardiac arrest while in captivity and junior engineer with PWD Ajay Deka being the newest victims. The statistics of abductions in the state in the year 2006 are staggering where a total of 303 adult males and 460 adult females were abducted of which 274 males and 384 females were recovered. Moreover there were a...
The use of Muga and eri silk is quite closely associated with the culture of Assamese society and occupies a unique place in the socio economic life of the people of Assam. It is not possible to ascertain correctly the exact nature of how weaving was first introduced in Assam but in the olden days every Assamese house reverberated with the shuttles of looms and each and every women of Assam knew the art of weaving. Men folk in those days only wore those clothes which were woven by their mothers, wives or sisters. This may be attributed to the patriotic bent of the people of Assam in olden days and also deliberate measure by the government at that time for it was obligatory on the part of...
Racism is a belief or doctrine that differences in physical appearance between people (such as those upon which the concept of race is based) determine cultural or individual achievement, and usually involves the idea that one's own 'race' is superior. Indians the world over have experienced racism in various forms sometimes or the other. The East India company during its hold over India had rampantly practiced racial discrimination and looked upon indians with suspicion and hatred. If we delve into thepages of History it appears that as an ideology, racism first appeared during early modern Europe in Spain during the Reconquista, and then during the 19th century, where “...
India’s Northeast is a rainbow land blessed by nature’s bounty. Its colourful, it’s mysterious and it boasts of a medley of diverse people. The northeast is an ethno cultural frontier, encompassing much of India’s rich but lesser known mongoloid heritage; a transition zone of linguistic, racial and religious strains. The states of Assam, Nagaland, Meghalaya, Manipur, Mizoram, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh are the seven states that constitute the northeast. They are also known as the seven sisters. All these states were parts of a single mother state—Assam. The hill tribes of the northeast are different from their counterparts in other states. They form...
The timeless beauty of the Taj Mahal- the symbol of love has defied the vagaries of time. This 17th century marble mausoleum built by emperor, Shah Jehan in memory of his beloved queen Mumtaj Mahal is the epitome of Mughal architecture and also pride of every Indian. The Taj tells the story of love grief and immortality that is carved in ancient art. And therefore it is s no surprise that the Taj was included into the new list of Seven Wonders of the World. The announcements were made in a packed Benfica Stadium in Lisbon where the Taj was declared as one of the seven wonders. In a colourful ceremony in the Portuguese capital Lisbon to coincide with the date 07.07.07, Bollywood star...
In an age when we are trumpetting the cause of woman emancipation, holding forth the cause of the girl child, talking about eqality of gender, the ugly blot of dowry deaths annihilate all the tall claims of suh high profile issues. Apparently these find primacy only in rhetoric rather than in reality. Bride burning , atrocities on women etc were maladies that had afflicted other parts of the country especially the northern parts iof India but slowly these have penetrated into the Assamese society as well. Earlier Assam was the only state which was untouched by the dreaded disease of dowry but today it has raised its ugly head even in our own society. A survey recently exposed that a few...
Comments
Pages
Add new comment