CUTTACK: IN a deviation from its tradition of worshiping Chhinnamasta’, the headless form of Goddess Kali, the Bakhrabad Loka Mandala Puja Committee here has decided to perform the puja on the same day as others.The decision came a day before Kali Puja and the puja committee will now join 76 others in the celebration across the Millennium city on Thursday.
Chief Adviser of Bakhrabad Loka Mandala Puja Committee Samir Kumar Bose said, “We found the practice has no religious significance and the deviation was introduced in 1996 only for the convenience and availability of priests, so we decided to go for puja on the scheduled Kali Puja day.”
According to puja committee secretary Kanhayalal Nanda, worship of Chhinnamasta was introduced in 1950s. But, nobody knows how and why the Goddess is worshipped in this form here. Unlike Chandi Medhas or silver backdrops of other puja mandaps in the city, the backdrop of Chhinnamasta, built in 2013, is also unique. It has a tree and motifs of skeleton, wolves and owls, relating to death, he informed.
A golden crown made at an expenditure of `26 lakh was added to adorn the severed head of the Goddess’s in 2014, said Committee president Jaydip Pal. Two gigantic lions built of stone will be consecrated in front of the Gandhi Ghar housing the deity during Kali Puja, he added.