Devi Baran and Sindur Khela - a joyful goodbye to Maa Durga that showcases a beautiful blend of devotion, tradition, and our culture.
On the last day of Dussehra or Vijayadashami, Bengali Hindu women give a heartfelt farewell to Maa Durga that involves two beautiful rituals - Devi Baran and Sindur Khela. We have a Bengali friend who celebrates this occasion by going to the nearest pandal and invited us to join this beautiful ritual.
Drawing a betel leaf on their palms and touching it to the goddess’s face, women bid goodbye to Goddess Durga, as she prepares to leave on the Dasami, the last day of the ten day ritual. Then they perform arati and apply sindur (vermillion) on the goddess's forehead and feet, that showcases a beautiful blend of devotion, tradition, and culture.
Then the joyful game Sindur Khela starts in which women put sindur on each other's faces and the sacred bangle, which symbolizes a married woman.
She extended the blessings of the Goddess to our daughter as well - the sacred sindur (vermilion) of our divine mother can be applied to anyone as we all are children to her.
By including our children in these festivals, we teach them our beautiful cultural values, that energizes us for a joyful living, with the blessings from the divine.
One other nice ritual is offering sweets to the Goddess and then distributing that to everyone as prasad, we got to eat some delicious sweets.
According to our cultural belief, women who play this Sindur Khela (vermillion game) will never be widowed - our belief is what makes us who we are and provides inner strength - she was very happy to participate in this beautiful ritual.
Finally they danced to some popular tunes in the honor of the Goddess to make this ritual a vibrant, colorful and spectacular one, which I captured patiently. You can even feel it from the visuals :
https://youtu.be/6EOA4KnWZ1I
Our daughter loved these rituals and enjoyed every moment of the celebration.
And until next year, Adieu Maa.....
Before I wrap up, a fun fact - the organizers loved the devotion and spectacular celebration of these women to conclude the ten day long festival, so now they want to have this on their official agenda and will arrange lunch for everyone next year so that, these devotees will not need to come and cook at home - a special honor for them.
Shot with SONY α6400 with 18-135 mm Zoom Lens
Pinned on https://worldmappin.com/ - [//]:# (!worldmappin 20.33438 lat 85.80777 long Shailashree Vihar Durga Mandap, Bhubaneswar, Odisha d3scr)
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