OdishaPlus Bureau
People across the State plunged in Dussehra festivities as the five-day-long Durga puja festival began with ‘Bilwadhibasa’- invocation of the Goddess on Friday. As per the rituals, Goddess Durga descended onto the earth on Friday on the occasion of Maha Sasthi. The festivities will end with the ‘Aparajita puja’ on the occasion of ‘Bijaya Dashami’ on Tuesday.
Reports coming from different places say people along with friends and families visited the beautiful pandals, which are reverberating with chants of mantras (hymns) and the sound of gongs. This year, Goddess Durga is being worshipped at 172 pandals in the Capital City and 162 pandals in the Silver City of Cuttack.
The pandals in Cuttack are drawing g huge crowd with their gold and silver ornamentation and decoration. Similarly, the beautiful pandals made on themes replicating the architecture of various famous temples and buildings have also turned out to be major attractions among visitors.
In Keonjhar Padampur Palace, Durga Puja is being celebrated as per the royal traditions. People in large numbers are visiting the royal palace to witness the festival. A unique ritual of ‘Khanda Dhua’ (ceremonial washing of the swords) is organized at the palace during Durga Puja. After the cleaning of the swords and other weapons used during the royals during their rule, they are taken on a grand procession. The palace which remains closed for the public throughout the year is opened during Durga Puja.
In Maa Sarala pitha in Jhankad of Jagatsinghpur, devotees thronged in large numbers on the occasion of Durga Puja. Maha Ashtami was celebrated at the shrine on Saturday.
In Cuttack, the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga will take place on Wednesday. The Binod Behary Puja Committee of the city, which determines the timings of different rituals during the festival, has fixed ‘Netra Utsav’ on Saturday afternoon and ‘Sandhi Puja’ on Sunday evening. The ‘Tarini puja’ will be held on Monday afternoon.
Along with these important rituals, ‘Guru puja’, ‘Surya puja’ and ‘Dwarapala puja’ will be held on all days of Durga Puja during the morning hours.