Puja and pandals

It is that time of the year when festivities are in the air – some of us more cribby types might say, traffic jams are on the road. Thanks to those huge puja pandals everywhere – one larger and grander than the other. Our local pandal at Vashi is modeled on Angkor Vat – says the large notice board just outside – and then of course, there is the one that got Rowling and her publishers frothing at the mouth.

What is with these pandals, I can never understand? It is not Durga Puja alone – Ganpati in Bombay is just as bad – that huge Lalbaug cha Raja that duly takes on the flavor of the season each year – from the WTC bombings to World Cup cricket, and Taj Mahal, if nothing else is exciting enough. And it not just the look but the background noise too that is strictly according to market demands – if it was Kajra re two years ago, it is Dard-e-disco that Devi suffers from this year.

*end of rant* (it is festival time, after all)

So, have a happy Navratri. Presenting our local Vashi Devi – the one inside Angkor Vat.

Ya Devi Sarva Bhuteshu Shakti Roopena Samsthitha…
Namasthasyai Namasthasyai Namasthasyai Namo Namah

[I do like the idea of Devi as Shakti]

And this today – on Navami – at the evening aarti…

***

R. K. Narayan in his Gods, Demons and Others describes her thus : they prayed intensely to the Highest Source for help; and Grace descended in the form of emanations from the face of each God : from Brahma’s face a blood-red one, from Shiva’s a dazzling whiteness, from Vishnu’s a dark one. All these combined to form an effulgent female personality, the three colours sparkling as through as prism….

More from an earlier post on Navratri – read On nine nights