like every year, police personnel here held ‘Shastra Puja’ (arms worship) on the special occasion of Vijayadashami in the police stations and armoury unit in the district on Friday.
The puja system of deity Durga is similar to the ones followed in any other puja pandals. But in the armory unit there was no earthen idol of the deity. Instead, weapons like riffle, revolvers, sophisticated arms, AK-47s, pistols, cartridges, magazines, bayonets and other ammunitions were cleaned and lined up at the puja place.
The priest sprinkled holy water on the weapons and later started smearing sandalwood paste (tilaka) and turmeric paste on the weapon with offering of flower. The priest started Ayudha puja with reciting Sanskrit slokas, said a senior police officer of the district.
On the day of Ayudha puja or Sastra puja, all the implements that are part of police personnel’s occupation, such as machines, vehicles and tools etc are worshipped. This worship is an expression of gratitude to the divine force for helping to earn and provide safety to life. It is also a prayer and a request for successful execution of duties in the coming year, stated Reserve Inspector Arun Kumar Pradhan.
As per the legend, Goddess Durga fought with the demon Mahishasura and killed him with her weapons. After vanquishing Mahishasura, devatas asked for all the weapons that were used by the Goddess to kill the demon. They considered the weapons as divine and started worshipping them with great reverence. Since then the tradition of worshipping weapons began, said Pattamundai SDPO Kedarnath Sahu.