Indore: The city echoed with prayers, chanting and tunes of Dhanuchi as Bengali community worshipped Goddess Jagadhatri on Sunday.
The celebrations of Jagadhatri Pujo were organised at Kali Bari, Shukliya, where devotees began their day with ‘pushpanjali’ in the morning. This is the second time Jagadhatri Pujo was organised in the city.
Pushpanjali was organised at noon followed by ‘prasad’ and ‘bhog’. Then devotees participated in ‘Sandhi Puja’.
Worshipping goddess Jagadhatri, devotees from different parts of the city gathered for evening aarti, Prasad and then, Dhanuchi dance.
“The pujo and worship was organised for the first time last year in a communal gathering and this year, we kept up the tradition of worship and prayed to the goddess for healing the world,” Gautam Ghosh, vice-president of Puja committee, said. He added that goddess Jagaddhatri is depicted as the colour of the morning sun, three-eyed and four-armed, holding a chakra, conch, bow and arrows, clothed in red, bright jewels and nagajangopaveeta (a serpent as the sacred thread), a symbol of yoga and the Brahman.
“She rides a lion standing on the dead Karindrasura, the Elephant Demon, where elephant depicts ego,” Ghosh said.
“The Jagadhatri Puja was first started by Raja Krishnachandra of Krishnanagar, Nadia in Bengal,” Biplab Das Gupta, secretary of Puja committee, said. In Madhya Pradesh, the pujo is organised in Indore, Bhopal and Jabalpur with communal gathering.
He added that the festival is celebrated in the grandiose manner by setting up huge idols of the Goddess Jagadhatri in spectacular pandals amidst stunning illumination. “The idol of goddess was decked up beautifully by red clothes and ornaments,” Gupta said.
“Bengali association Indore East celebrates all the Bengali pujas and festivals in our association to keep our ancient tradition and culture of Bengal alive in Indore,” Dr Partho Majumdar, secretary of Bengali association Indore east, said.
“Jagatdhatri figures in the semi-historical fictional work 'Anandamath' written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, from which book the national song of India ‘Vande Mataram’ is taken,” Majumdar said.
He added that in the novel, Kali, Durga, and Jagadhatri are depicted as three aspects of 'Bharat Mata' (Mother India).
“Jagadhatri as the mother used to be, Kali as the mother now is, Durga as the mother will be in future. The trio of goddesses are shown as the object of worship of a group of ascetics who form the protagonists of the story,” Majumdar said.
