|
The ritual of almost all the pujas in the Hindu community requires certain essentials. Durga Pooja is no exception. There’s a huge list of Durga Puja Essentials to complete the rituals according to the scriptures. Specific items are required for each and every puja beginning from Mahalaya to Vijaya Dashami.
|
The items required to commence the puja of Devi Durga can be categorized under the following heads:
- Food Offerings
- Water Offerings
- Puja Items
- Clothe Offerings
- Decorative Items
- Miscellaneous Items
On each day of Durga Pooja (for a span of ten days), several different pujas of Gods and Goddesses are held. The main pujas start from Maha Saptami and continue till Vijya Dashami. The pujas held during the span of these four days are Kalparambho, Kumari Puja, Shashti Puja, Saptami Puja, Ashtami Puja, Navami Puja and Dashami Puja. |
The main items required for food offerings in all these pujas unanimously are Raw food grains (like rice, pulses, seasame, seeds, millets etc), fruits, honey, Tulsi leaves, beetle leaves, curd, ghee or clarified butter, items to prepare the Bhog, oil and several other things. Panchagobbo {five items obtained from the cow - milk, ghee or clarified butter, curd, cow dung and gomutra}is an crucial item required for Kalparambho Puja,. Cow is a holy animal and is revered a lot amongst the Hindus. Ushnodok (lukewarm water), coconut water, water from oceans, rainwater, spring water, water containing lotus pollen etc are required under water offerings to the Goddess.
The items vary from puja to puja, with each ritual requiring different essentials. Vermilion, turmeric powder, flowers, rice chaff, coconut, beetle leaves, bel leaves, and leave of various other trees like banyan mango etc, red henna, and innumerable other substances are required. The cloth offerings generally include sari, piece of cloth, gamcha (thin cotton towel), and dhoti.
The decorative and miscellaneous items are generally referred to incense sticks (dhup), smoke of sacred fire (dhuni), camphor, earthen and brass pots, silver and brass plates, earthen, silver or brass lamps, gold, coconut, iron materials, black soot (kajal) and several other objects.
The above items are jus a few of the Durga Puja essentials. It is extremely necessary for the priests and the people who are overlooking the puja to arrange all the items beforehand.
|
|
