Bengali clubs in Jaipur celebrate Durga Puja

24 October, 2012

Various Bengali clubs in Jaipur are celebrating Durga Puja with devotion and fervor. Puja started with welcoming Goddess Durga on Shasti (6th day) will go on till Dashami (10th day, October 24) after which idols will be immersed.

PEOPLE FROM all over the city are thronging various pandals known for their traditional Bengali puja celebrations by the community settled in Jaipur. The start of the festival elaborately crafted statutes of Goddess Durga installed in homes and beautifully decorated podiums. At the end of the festival, the statutes will be paraded through the streets, accompanied by much music and dancing, and then immersed in the water.

After the idols of Goddess Durga were installed, a ritual called Pran Pratisthan was performed to invoke her holy presence into them. It involved a small banana plant being bathed and dressed in a sari to transport the Goddess's energy at the place of worship.

The Durga Puja festival among Bengali community in Jaipur is an extremely social and theatrical event with drama, dance, and cultural performances added daily in the pandals. Bengali food is a huge part of the festival, and street stalls come up around the pandals.

Here are my pinoy haiku pattern verses on Navratri.

Navratri beacons awakening

of feminine energy

Within your divine self.

***

Divine

feminine energy

of compassion, nurturance,

Unconditional love be awakened.

***

Divine

feminine energy