On Vijaya Dashami, Ma Durga prepares to return to Kailash, where Shiva is waiting. The story of Nandi and Bhringi, the farewell at our family Puja in Ruppur, and the wish every family says aloud: asche bochor abar esho.
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Written byKetaki Chatterjee
On Vijaya Dashami, a house that has been full of dhak, flowers and laughter for days goes strangely quiet. Ma is getting ready to go home.
Tears in the eyes, a smile on the lips
Ma's home is Kailash, and Baba, Shiva himself, is waiting for her there. According to the old telling, he sends Nandi and Bhringi down to earth to bring their Ma back safely. So the children of the house, with tears in their eyes and a smile on their lips, make every arrangement for her farewell, however heavy their hearts are. There is nothing else to do. Ma has to go.
Vijaya Dashami: Ma Durga with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh on her last day at home.
The farewell at our home
The rituals of the day are on our rituals page: the Darpan Visarjan, when the family looks into a mirror in a bowl of water to see Ma's reflection one last time, and the Devi Boron, when married women circle Ma seven times and touch sindoor to her forehead and feet. Both are done the way a mother sends her daughter off to her new home.
On Vijaya Dashami, the eldest married daughter-in-law (sodhoba jestho badhu) of the house bids Ma farewell with boron and Kanakanjali
A prayer, not a goodbye
Nobody says goodbye on Dashami. We say asche bochor abar esho: come again next year, Ma. And we ask her for the same things every family asks: keep all your children safe, keep us free from danger, and let us always have enough to eat (dudhe-bhate, in the old Bengali phrase).
Then, late in the evening, the pratima is carried to the water. The sky lights up with fireworks, and the house waits for next year.
Bisarjan on Dashami night: the pratima in the water.
A first-hand account of the Durga Puja at our home in Ruppur, from idol making and Mahalaya to Sandhi Puja, Kumari Puja, Darpan Visarjan and the traditions unique to the Chattopadhyay family.
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