DURGA PUJA CELEBRATIONS CENTRED ROUND TWO OLD SPOTS

DURGA PUJA CELEBRATIONS CENTRED ROUND TWO OLD SPOTS

20-OCT-ENG 2

RAJIV NAYAN AGRAWAL

ARA------------------Durga Puja celebrations are centered round two old spots of Ara town in Bhojpur district— the Aranya Devi at Devi sthan and at Durga Badi at Babu Bazaar area.

Aranya Devi, known as one of the  siddh peeth’ in the country, is situated on the junction of old and new Ara town and dates back to time unmemorable. It is said that Pandavas during their wandering had offered prayer in the temple. It has two idols—the longer one is called Mahakali whereas the shorter one is called Mahasaraswati. Here devotees thronged in thousands and paid their obeisance. The importance of the temple is gauged by the fact that people from different parts of the country visit the town the whole year particularly during Dussehara. Devotees are given ‘halua’ and khir’ as prasad from saptami to navami. Now the temple is being given new a look. The entire temple structure is demolished and new structure is now taking place. It is believed that in a year or two the new building of the temple will be completed.

Durga Badi Puja in the heart of the town is steeped in history and is famous for traditional forms of community Puja and it is about 200th year of Durga Puja celebrations here. As per Soma Chatterjee, her great grandfather, Dr. Herambnath Mukherjee of Kharda in West Bengal migrated to Ara in 1808 and built this Durga Badi though she had no documented history but her great grandfather said Durga Puja celebrations began when he came to Ara. The myth is deeply etched in our minds.  She said an idol of Ashtabhuji Devi made of pure gold and a ‘shivling’ were kept in the 50 feet high temple and since Durga Puja is performed in traditional form. She said Durga Puja is performed amidst playing of dhak, dhunuchi and dhuna dance. Each and every devotee must visit these two sites for paying obeisance to Goddess Durga though Durga Badi is opened for three days in a year for people. Soma Chatterjee said after the murder of her eldest sister, Dr. Chandra in the year 1993, the police locked the whole Durga Badi and so Durga Puja could not be performed for 20 long years.  Meanwhile, the idol of Goddess Durga was stolen. She said after getting possession in 2012, a new idol of Goddess Durga has been installed in 2012 and puja was performed in true sense of Bengali culture.