Tag: Arati

A Bengali Durga Puja!

For the bengali folks all around the world, Durga Puja is one of the most important festivals of the year. It is basically a festival of the victory of good over evil.

Arati in progress

Durga Puja is a multi day festival with each day earmarked for certain pujas and celebrations. The puja is celebrated in a grand manner. 
Generally, the pujas are carried out in two forms, one, the community joins in to have a common puja. People of the locality form groups, they collect the necessities and the puja commences; the other form, in which the puja is a family affair, where all the family members of a particular family are involved and they pitch in to make the puja! 

Granny and the godess

Here, what you see are glimpses from the Sen family’s Durga Puja – 2018. As with most family’s puja, the tradition continues for years and often spans generations. 

The main pujas  commence from the 5th day of the 10 day span. Every day have their own set of rituals that must be carried out and specific worships that must be done. 

Aunts, maa and papa returning home post rituals
  • Aunts and ma en route our temple
  • Papa
  • Maa carrying out puja rituals, aunt in tow
  • Papa shielding our family god from the sun as he is brought to the house
  • Maa and aunts carry out the rituals

The incantation to the goddess in the form of Arati is carried out every day. 

  • Aunts, maa, grandmother and the Mother!

Off the various lamps used during arati, on the juncture of the eighth and ninth day of worship, there is a special lamp, 108 of tiny little lamps make this one huge one, which needs to be lit in 1 minute by the married ladies of the family. So, it becomes a joint effort, and does offer nice photo opportunities.

  • Maa and aunts light up the ceremonial lamp
  • Arati using the 108 lamp behemoth

On the penultimate day of workship, there is a yagna ritual which must be carried out.

On the last day of the celebration, it is a grand send off to the goddess with her being fed sweets and milk. Often the ladies have a conversation with the Mother as they send her off and wish to see her soon the next year. The send off follows playful smearing of vermilion on each other.

 With the immersion of the idol complete, we all return back and it slowly turns to business as usual and we disperse back to our different workplaces across the country.

So, this is how a simple family based Durga Puja looks like in India. 

I hope you enjoyed the glimpses and it shall be a pleasure to host you, my dear reader at my ancestral place during the upcoming Durga Puja. So, in case you want to have a close up experience, do let me know 🙂

Cheers!!

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Varanasi – IV(The last Arati)

There I was, on the ghat, with the 18-55 snapped on, and then I saw the spot I would want to be, to capture the priests in the way I imagined them! I was there waiting patiently and the light was slowly dimming and my enthusiasm was growing too. Am I in the right position, will I get my shots correctly, was relying on the kit lens a good idea?? I will admit, the camera settings, were last of my worries. I know my way around the settings and I like to believe, that I can handle them fast so I was not much bothered. As I was waiting for the ceremony to start, I saw a very pretty lady out there, hopping very energetically and snapping away. As she came near my spot, I asked her, in the techy-est way possible, what ISO she was using. She casually replied, that she was shooting No Flash! I thought, she didnt get my point, so I asked again, and then she actually showed me which setting she was shooting at, and that moment I immediately understood that what she was doing was the easy way in the situation. She simply said, experiments are fit in a park…this I ll remember for quite some time! I thanked her, and then shot the night in the No Flash Auto setting. Dear pretty lady, if by any chance, you are reading this, thank you once more, you taught me a very important lesson, I ll be grateful for your tip.

From my position, I could see all 5 priests, and these are what I caught and I am satisfied!

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During the arati, having goosebumps is a very common condition. You are bound to feel the energy there, the grace, the grandeur and the power! I will go back to this place, again, soon!

I ll sign off the way they did….

“…Jay Ganeshay Namah
Jay Gange Namah
Har Har Mahadev….”

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Varanasi – III (Ganga Arati)

Continuation of the third day, rather the evening! I reached the spot around 1730 and realized that I was a bit late. I managed to get a space near the steps in front of the the priests. From my point, I could manage to capture flawlessly, at max, 2 of the priests. So be it. I still have one more day, and I knew the vantage point I would need for the shots that I wanted.

Here goes the evening shots.

First, the small lamps are lit on the topmost step! This adds a nice light boundary.

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One of the fire carriers is basically a snake headed lamp and it looks simply amazing!

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Ladies, mostly the elderly ones, they lend their hands for the smaller lamps that are used as decorations.

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Once the preparations are done, at the decided hour, the prayer songs start and the so does the fire incantations…and once they do, except for being taken in totally by the grandeur and awesomeness, there is very little else that remains to be done! If you have a camera, then click some pics quick and then sit back and enjoy!

The conch shell sounds the auspicious beginning!

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Incense smokes follow!

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And then, the lamps!

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The effect is spiritual and spell binding!

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Fire Incantation

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Next day,  we travelled to two forts. The Chunar fort and the Ramnagar fort. And on the last day, I managed to get photos that made me term my trip a success! Coming up shortly!

Cheers!!

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Varanasi – II

The evening of the first day at Varanasi, we went for a boat trip from the Assi Ghat towards the Dasashwamedh Ghat with the intention to see the evening arati from the river.

The speciality of this ghat, and the one beside it, the Rajendra Prasad ghat is that they host multiple aratis simultaneously, 5 and 7 to be exact. And, for most of the time, the purohits conducting the arati do it in sync and hence it is a pretty awesome sight. The arati starts at 1815, but in the winter months, the place gets crowded by devotees and onlookers from 1700. So, if you want to grab a good spot, be there by 1715 . You ll find boatmen coaxing to take a ride to the opposite bank and back, charging around 40INR for the trip, pretty reasonable, but a bit of bargaining always helps. Also, found in plenty are photographers with portable printers who ll take the photos in poses of your and their choices and print and deliver immediately, at about 20INR per copy.

I realized that, from a moving boat, taking photos of people who are also moving is a pretty difficult job, hence, not many usable shots from that evening of the arati. But its an awesome spectacle. Once I understood that trying to take photos would be fruitless, I switched the camera off, and saw the aratis. It truly is a breathtaking sight and a memorable event. Night shots of boats on the Ganga, they came out good though!!

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Next day the destination was Sarnath and the evening I spent in finding a good spot to capture the arati from! Stay tuned! More coming up!!

 

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