Vijaya Dashami celebrated with traditional fervour across Odisha as Durga Puja festivities reach crescendo

Durga Puja celebration reached the crescendo across Odisha with Vijaya Dashami celebrated with pomp, gaiety and traditional fervours like serving ‘Dahi Pakhala’ to the devotees, performing ‘Sindura Khela’, ‘Lakha Bindha’ and wielding weapons and sticks.

Also Read | Goddess Durga immersion ceremony: Commissionerate Police clamps traffic restrictions in Bhubaneswar and Cuttack

Devotees throng pandals

Thousands of devotees thronged various puja pandals in various places of the State on the occasion of the last day of this year’s Durga Puja to seek blessings from Goddess Durga as final preparations were underway to bid adieu to Her. 

A woman devotee visiting a puja mandap in Bhubaneswar said, “Today is Vijaya Dashami –the day which marks the victory of good over evil. We all usually keep waiting for a year for the Goddess to come to the puja pandals. But we feel a deep pain when we have to bid adieu to Her. We forgot all of our sufferings for the last four days by having darshan of Maa Durga. Though we are worried after the culmination of the puja, we will try to bid Adieu to Goddess with a smiling face and wait for the next year.”

Dahi Pakhala

After the completion of ‘Pancha Upachara’ (a special ritual), Aparajita Puja (another special ritual) was performed before Goddess Durga in Cuttack. Before the ‘Bisarjana’ (immersion ceremony), special ‘Dahi Pakhala’ (curd rice) was offered before the Goddess in various puja pandals of the Millennium City as per the age-old tradition. Then the special Prasad was served among the devotees. The tradition was also followed in some mandaps of Bhubaneswar as well.

Sindura Khela

‘Sindura Khela’ was held in some puja pandals in Bhubaneswar, Cuttack, Sambalpur, Jajpur, Sambalpur, Balasore and Rourkela wherein women applied vermilion on the forehead of the Goddess and then applied it on one another before bidding adieu to the Goddess.

“We are extremely happy that the Goddess descends on the earth every year. We participated in the ‘Sindura Khela’ to pray to Goddess Durga to bless us for the long lives of our husbands. We will also bid adieu to the Goddess with ‘Sindura Khela’,” said a woman devotee.

Lakha Bindha

As per the age-old tradition, ‘Lakha Bindha’ (shooting the bull’s eye) celebration was conducted at Patnagarh royal family in Bolangir. After offering worship to Goddess Dasamati with arms, Patnagarh king and Odisha Deputy Chief Minister Kanak Vardhan Singh Deo shot the bull’s eye with his rifle.

“It was an age-old tradition. The kings used to test their shooting skills on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami to provide protection to their subjects. The tradition has become a kind of celebration and it is still alive today,” said Singh Deo.

Worship of arms and ammunition 

On Vijaya Dashami, people in different parts of the country also worshipped arms and ammunition as per the age-old tradition. In different places of Keonjhar and Cuttack, Paikas wielded arms and sticks and performed their war skills after worshipping their arms and ammunition.

Raja Besha of Lord Jagannath

Lord Jagannath and sibling deities Lord Balabhadra and Goddess Subhadra were adorned with ‘Raja Besha’ at Srimandir in Puri on the occasion of Vijayadashami. Thousands of devotees thronged Puri to witness the rare ‘Besha’.

 A total of 32 gold ornaments were used during the attire. The deities were also adorned with ‘Panchakhanda’ flower garlands. Subsequently, the deities were also adorned with weapons like ‘Hala Musala’, ‘Subarna Tadaki’ and ‘Sankha-Chakra’.