JAMMU, OCTOBER 4: Bengali community living here are organising Durga Pooja with great festivity.
The sound of Dhak ( musical instrument), recital of Sanskrit Mantras by the Pujari enthused the mind of devotees. Sandhi Puja on Moha Ashtami was the main attraction.
Daily Pushpanjali and Sandhya Aarti drew huge gathering, with Bengali ladies wearing Red and White Sarees adding aura to the festivities.
The ladies arranged the Puja Upachar while male members whole heartedly joined hands for other preparations.
More than 1000 people were distributed with Puja Mohabhog (Prasad/food of Maa Durga) every day.
As festivities continue across the country during Navratris, Jammu Durga Puja Committee, Digiana Industrial Area along with numerous Bengali community members residing here, are celebrating grand Durga Puja celebration.
Rinku Bose, Secretary of the Puja Committee said, “We are organizing this Puja more than 50 years since our father ages.
Earlier it was a very small scale within few families. But now it has crossed the horizon with so many national level institutions with Bengali staff members coming up in Jammu.
This festival is an example of communal harmony. Durga Puja is the much-awaited festival of the Bengali community in India and it is observed in the month of Ashwin according to the Indian calendar, which falls in September or October in the Gregorian calendar. The festival is celebrated in the last 5 days of Navratri.
Although this is a festival of the eastern region in India, nowadays Durga Puja is celebrated all over the country by various Bengali societies.
Jammu being the summer capital of J&K is the abode of a large population of Bengalis who perform Durga Puja at various places in Jammu every year. The pandals, rituals, food, and the concerts arranged during the Puja can give you a hint of the grand celebration of goddess Durga in West Bengal.
