jagadhhatri puja

[Guest guest]

The credit of popularising Jagaddhatri Puja in West Bengal goes

to Raja Krishnachandra of Nadia. Once due to certain difficulties

in submitting taxes to the Mughal Emperor he was arrested only to

be freed after his friend provided the requisite money. As he was

making his way home on a luxury ship over Ganga he could hear the

ceremonial drumbeats of Durga Puja coming from the riverside. It

was Vijaya Dashami the day of Durga immersion. Hearing this he

became morosed not being able to perform his own Durga Puja. Thus

with a heavy heart he fell asleep. In the middle of the night, as

the ship sailed up the Ganges he saw a most beautiful dream. He

dreamt that a four handed Goddess with the complexion of that of

a rising sun, sitting atop a lion and bejewelled with every sort

of ornaments was calling out to him and instructing him to

worship her on the next Shukla Navami the upcoming month in this

very form.

 

The spellbound Raja woke up and on returning immediately and

consulted his court pundits. The pundits said that he had been

instructed by the mother herself to worship her. They called her

Jagaddhhatri-one who holds the world. Thus began the Jagaddhatri

Puja in the palace of Raja Krishnachandra. Soon it spread to the

rest of Bengal and assumed the shape of a festival in the former

French colony of Chandannagar. Here huge idols reaching upto 25

feet and more are made and she is worshipped four full four days

much like the Durga Puja. The whole city comes alive with

spectacular lightings and ornate pandals.

 

Within a century the rich aristocracy of Bengal also started

their own Jagaddhatri Puja with royal pomp and festivities most

of which continues on a small scale today. Jagaddhatri is a

Tantrik Deity. We find her mention in numerous Tantric texts. And

her manner of worship has more Tantrik elements in it than Vedic.

 

Thakur Sri Ramakrishna once explained the meaning of this

form. The lion of the mother is seen roaring angrily on a severed head

of an elephant. This is usually taken to be Karindrasur or the elephant

form of Mahishasura which the demon took in the battlefield. Ramakrishna

said that if one can learn to tame our mind which is like a raging

elephant then in his heart the Devi appears. November 7th was

the auspicious Jagaddhatri Puja this year.

 

Maa is worshipped continuously from dawn till nightfall. There

are three parts of this Puja. The first Puja worships her as a

Sattvik Deity in the morning. The subsequent afternoon Puja is

Rajasik and the last evening Puja prays to her in her Tamasic

form.

 

Let us pray for her blessings on our path to attain her

love.

 

Note: This was posted on 7th November. Approved only today as I

was not in station.