After much hype from relatives and friends, we decided to visit Belur Math to witness the Kumari puja live on Astami. Had stressful night visiting pandals on Saptami and then directly headed to Belur Math in the early morning at 3.30am. We reached Ramakrishna mission at around 6.30am. btw, Belur Math is the headquarters of Ramakrishna mission founded by Swami Vivekanda in loving memory of his Guru Ramakrishna Paramahamsa.
The architecture of Belur Math combines the features of a church, a temple and a mosque, to embody the spirit of religious fraternity. For sometime, we sat inside the prayer hall for meditation. The hall with statue of Ramakrishna was so peaceful and relaxing.
After prayer, we followed the crowd to grab space for Kumari Puja celebrations.
Pujaris started their mantras for Durga maa....
For the first time, I couldn't control my sleep. Felt bad to sleep in front of the prayers, but it was really hard to keep my eyes open...I was drifting into sleep's lap without my knowledge. Not just me, people around me were dozing off too. I just got up to take a stroll on the banks of Ganga. The atmosphere was serene and beautiful....
I didn't dare to go back and sit again...as I was afraid of falling asleep. When we heard that Kumari Puja will start at 9.30am... we planned to visit Dakshineshwar Kali temple in the meantime. When we came back at 9am, people were just pouring in like crazy, and absolutely no place to sit under the shamiyana. So, we had to stand and struggle to get a glimpse of Kumari.
Pujaris carried Kumari to her seating position and people were just going crazy to see her, and we started suffocating in the crowd. As a mother, I felt sorry for the girl who was draped in a sari, sitting like a doll for hours. Hats off to her parents for letting their girl become part of the show. God bless the little girl!!
Click on the link to see more pictures of the puja from the official site..Durga Puja Photo Gallery of Belur Math : Astami 2011.
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