Kali Puja at Dakshineswar

[Guest guest]

Kali Puja

 

Here is a brief summary of Kali Puja (ceremony in honor of Kali,

during the New

Moon in November) as practiced at Dakshineswar, West Bengal, India.

For more

detail, please see the book by Elizabeth Harding, "Kali: The Black

Goddess of

Dakshineswar."

 

The black statue of Kali within the temple is freshly painted and

cleaned, and

adorned with many garlands of flowers. The temple is very brightly

lit, with

two candles in front of the Mother. Red hibiscus flowers are at her

feet, and

one white lotus flower in each of her four hands.

 

Outside, musicians sing a recital of the holy book "Chandi." This

starts in the

afternoon and continues long into the evening. Many people join in

the singing,

and setting off fireworks. This is a joyous celebration, not yet a

solemn

worship.

 

About 6:30 in the evening, the Pujari (priest officiating at the

ceremony)

enters and burns incense all around the chamber. Musicians bang on

drums and

gongs the whole time, making quite a racket. People line up to give

Kali

presents of flowers, food, and ornaments. Kali is given a luxuriant

meal and

allowed to feast. Of course, She eats the spiritual essence of the

food,

leaving the physical portion of the food as leftovers for human

consumption

later. Outside, people take small rafts filled with butter, set them

on fire,

and place them onto the waters of the Ganges, so that the whole river

is

glowing with flame.

 

Assistant pujari bring a vessel of water from the Sacred Ganges River

and place

it before Kali. The main Pujari must go through a series of cleansing

rituals

in order to be worthy of leading the ceremony. He has no shirt but is

wearing

large beads around his neck. He sips river water from the vessel, and

performs

the sankalpa, stating the purpose of the worshp. He invokes the

spirit of

Mother Kali to enter the water, then sprinkles this water and also

rice to

every corner of the temple. This is to dispel demons. He then

consecrates each

part of his own body.

 

Formal ceremony begins about 11 pm, with much chanting and recitation

of

ancient prayers. At about 1 am, several goats and sheep are

sacrificed after

having been immersed in the Sacred River. After ritual use, these are

cooked

and added to Kali's feast.

 

The last part is the homa fire, a huge fire to cleans the spirits of

sin. The

Pujari goes outside and draws a yantra in the sand. A yantra is a

sacred symbol

consisting of several triangular yoni symbols inside an 8-petaled

lotus. He

prays to the yantra. Attendants then put lots of wood on to the

yantra, then

pour ghee (melted butter) over the wood. They set this on fire. Huge

fire.

Eventually, it is doused with yogurt and with water from the river.

 

People then eat Kali's leftovers as the pujari sprinkles everyone

with water

from the sacred vessel. Thus everyone is cleansed of sin and

protected from

evil.