Durga Puja 2012 Kumari Puja, Shillong

Different Durga Puja Pandals on Mahashtami performed Puja of Goddess Durga here. At the Ramakrishna Mission in Meghlaya's capital city Shillong, the “Kumari” or the virgin Goddess Shakti was worshiped as per rituals.

Amongst the different forms of Goddess Durga, the virgin form is said to be the most dynamic. According to the Markandeya Purana Mother God appears as Virgin-Kumari, to save the virtuous from the evil. Each year, therefore, this form of “MahaShakti” is worshiped during the festivities.

According to Hindu scriptures, Goddess during her annual four-day visit to her parental home on Earth with her four children is worshiped in differnt forms. One of the forms is a virgin girl or Kumari. The ritual of performing Kumari Puja finds mention in all the holy scriptures of the Hindus such as the Veda, Puranas, Tantra and Upanishad.

“Every woman is a manifestation of divine motherhood. And it is most prominent in a virgin. The tradition of worshiping virgin God is therefore age-old,” the Ramakrishna Mission said.

The age of the girl signifies the different form of Goddess Shakti. A one year old is Sandhya form of the Goddess. A two year-old girl is in Sarasvati mould. A child of three years is Tridhamurti, a four-year-old is in Kalika form. A five-year-old child is Subhaga, the sixth year is Uma, on her seventh year she is Malini.

An eight year girl is called Kubjika. Kaalasandarbha is the ninth year. In the tenth year she is Aparajita, on eleventh she is Rudrani. On the twelfth year she is Bhairavi, she is Mahalakshmi on the thirteenth year, on fourteenth she is Pithanayika. In the fifteenth year she is Kshetragya, and she is known as Ambika on her sixteenth year.

The Ramakrishna Mission takes care in choosing the girl to be the Kumaris at the different Missions across the country and abroad. The unmarried young girl has to be “dynamic, pure and serene with a bright disposition” matching the Goddess.

Before the Puja, the girl is given bath and adorned with new clothes, ornaments and floral garland. Vermilion is put on her forehead and the feet is washed and smeared with Alta – a red colouring liquid. She is then seated on a decorated chair and the Puja articles are placed on her feet and worshiped as the divine Goddess.

This year, the Ramakrishna Mission chose a five-year-old girl, Ashmita Bhatacharjee, as the Kumari and was worshiped. The young girl sat for nearly an hour as people watched in reverence with the Maharajs (priests) of the Mission performed the Puja. Later, she was placed at a room at the Mission and people sought here blessings by touching her feet.   

The practice of Kumari Puja started at the Ramakrishna Mission way back in 1902 when Swami Vivekananda performed it at Belur Math, Kolkata. Ever since, the ritual is performed on Mahashtami at the Ramakrishna Mission and also other Temples.