Devotees thronged temples on the fifth day of the nine-day period of Navratri on Monday, to worship the Godess in the form Skandamta, the mother of Kartikey. Besides, Monday being Panchami, preparations for the Durga Puja celebration are going on in full swing. The organisers of most of the community pujas being held in the city said that their preparations were in the final stage as the four-day celebration starts on Tuesday which marks Sasthi.
Apart from the puja, some Durga puja committees in the city have planned to stage several cultural programmes, including musical soirees, dance and drama, to attract crowds to the pandals.
Dehradun is already in the festive mood with people flocking to the markets to buy new garments and the puja paraphernalia.
The Raipur Puja Committee president SK Ukil said that this would be the 74th Durga Puja held at the Junior Club within the Ordnance Factory Estate at Raipur. “The puja would begin on September 26 and end on September 30, the day of Vijaya Dasami,” he said.
“The festivities will begin on September 26 with the Maha Shashthi Puja in the morning and Bodhan which means invoking the Goddess amidst chanting of mantras in the evening. legend has that the Goddess descended on Earth on the sixth day of the Navratras. The noticeable thing this year would be the eco-friendly idols of the goddess and her family.
Then onwards from September 27 to September 29, the daily Puja would be held followed by pushpanjali, bhog and bhog distribution. We hope that about five thousand people would congregate to collect bhog. In the evening, aarti would be held,” he said.
The puja committee general secretary Tapas Chakraborty said that during the Durga Puja festivities, Sandhi Puja is very important. “This signifies the moment when Mahishasur, the demon king, is believed to have been killed by the Goddess. It will fall between 7.06 pm and 7.54 pm on September 28. This also marks the time when Ashtami yields place to Navami,” he said.
Daily cultural festivities to enthrall the crowd with variety of programmes, including dance, dramas and plays, geet and ghazals, have been planned.
A number of cultural groups are also likely to perform during the festivities. Mitrayan Group from Kolkata will present a special show on September 27. Several food stalls are also being set up to provide the crowd with mouth- watering dishes, especially the traditional Bengali recipes.
“Besides the pandal, plans are also afoot to fix a big screen to facilitate the crowd to see aarti and the programmes in a better way. The festivities would culminate with the Sindur Khela during which the married women would smear vermilion on the foreheads of one another. It would be followed by the immersion ceremony of the Goddess on September 30, the day of Vijaya Dasami,” Chakraborty added.