On the occasion of Navami, the ninth day of Chaitra Navratri, Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath performed 'Kanya Pujan' and offered prayers to 'Matri Shakti' by washing the feet of maidens in Gorakhpur.
Yogi Adityanath worshipped nine girls, symbolising nine manifestations of Goddess Durga. As part of the ritual, the girls were asked to stand on a metallic plate and Yogi Adityanath washed their feet, applied tilak on their foreheads, and performed their ‘aarti’ amid chanting of mantras.
The chief minister also served food to the girls and gave them 'dakshina' and gifts while seeking their blessings during the ‘Kanya Pujan’ organised in the Anna Kshetra (Naveen Bhandara Bhawan) of Gorakhnath temple.
Following the tradition, the chief minister also performed Batuk Puja. Batuks are manifestations of Kal Bhairav.
After worshiping the nine girls, Yogi Adityanath also performed ‘aarti’ of about three hundred girls and batuks present there. Yogi Kamal Nath, the head priest of the temple, applied ‘tilak’ to all. Along with ‘chunri’ and ‘gamchha’, everyone was also provided ‘dakshina’. After pujan, Yogi served these girls food cooked in the temple kitchen.
Apart from the girls, the ‘batuks’ who arrived in large numbers were also fed and given gifts and ‘dakshina’.
Before this, Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath offered prayers to Maa Siddhidatri in the Shaktipeeth of the temple.
