Devotees from across the State keep thronging temples as the Hindu festival of Navratri began on Tuesday. Along with it, the Durga Puja preparations are also going on in full swing at various localities in Dehradun where community pujas are held. The four-day puja would begin on October 19. Artisans and decorators from Kolkata are now engaged in completing the idols and the pandals.
With Navratri festivities underway, some of the devotees have begun fast while many are restricting their diet to fruits and vegetables while spurning meat, onions and garlic. Some are doing puja at homes and others are assembling at the temples to pay obeisance to the Goddess, the embodiment of the triumph of good over evil whom lord Rama, righteousness incarnate, invoked to slay Ravana, the personification of evil.
In Dehradun, on the maiden day of the Navratri, devotees — both men and women — thronged the temples like Panchayati Temple at Darshanlal Chowk, Tapkeshwar Mahadev Temple at Cantt, Prithivinath Temple at Saharanpur Chowk, Kali Mandir at Raripur aside from the neighbourhood temples to offer prayers. The temples have been gaudily decorated befitting the spirit of the occasion.
A priest Mrinal Bhattacharya, associated with the Puja Committee, Raipur, said that Navratri, meaning nine nights, has begun this year on October 13 and would end on October 22 — Dussehra — the day on which the puja ends with the torching of the effigies of Ravana and his kin and the immersion of the Goddess and other members of her constellation. However, the immersion of the particular puja at Raipur would be held on October 23, a day after Vijaya Dashami.
He further said that in the current year, as per almanac, Goddess Durga is arriving on a Horse and will depart on a Palanquin. “Her advent on Horse signifies cyclone or other kinds of natural calamities. In the same way, her departure on a Palanquin means that she may mercifully withdraw some of the calamities like earthquakes, drought or landslides among others. Hence this year may be a mixed bag of happiness and woes for the nation and mankind as a whole,” he added.
At least two months prior to the Durga Puja, a group of idol-makers from the famous Kumartuli of Kolkata reach Dehradun to make the images. Bankim Pal is one of them. He has been visiting Dehradun for almost twenty three years now. “We mix the hay with some variety of clay and put them into various moulds. The temporary structures are made of wood and bamboo. The process generally takes a week. We leave Dehradun after the structures are made for around a month and return a few days before the Puja begins to complete things,” Pal said. They said they move from one corner in Garhwal to another.
One day prior to the Puja, the goddess is decorated with ornaments and various weapons and instruments are fixed on her ten arms like sword, conch, rosary, bell, shield, bow, arrow, and spear. “The specially made gaudy dresses are brought from Kolkata. The decoration is generally made of Shola products. They are procured from Kolkata too,” Pal said.
Durga Puja festivities are considered incomplete sans the presence of Dhaki. They are drummers who beat drums and dance to their rhythm in a peculiar style. The Dhakis are also landing in Dehradun soon mostly from Bengal. The Puja Committee, Raipur, under the aegis of “Banga Bharati” is now gearing up to celebrate the 72nd Durga Puja, informed Tapas Chakraborty, general secretary of the Puja Committee, Raipur.
It is undoubtedly the biggest Durga Puja in Dehradun where nearly eight thousand people throng daily during the puja days. A food court providing mouthwatering dishes, a huge pandal and various competitions for the children to be held during the Puja will be added attraction.