Mahalaya
Mahalaya: well, the very word opens a barrage of sweet memories in mind. Those days back in childhood when we used to wake up to the ring of shrill alarm clocks and gather around the primitive transistor after quickly brush our teeth.. the morning sun was nowhere in the scene. The pure sky was studded with night diamonds sparkling in early winter.
Then the magical voice of birendra krishna bhadra boomed out of the transistor.. and a magical journey started for a bunch of children eagerly waiting for durgapuja. The greatest festival of bengalis. Which was to start from the sixth day of mahalaya.
Those who don’t know any thing about durgapuja, well, in ancient times a demon named mahishasura procured two boons from Brahma, one said he could change his forms and every form was immortal. Second one said that neither a man, a god or a demon can kill him. After procuring these two boons he went on rampage. So the Gods gave their powers and formed mother goddess durga.. and armed her up with their weapons. She killed mahishasura when he was changing his form from mahisha (buffalo) to asur (demon) on vijayadashami. The war started today, on mahalaya. This is why mahalaya is so much cherished by bengalis, its called the beginning of devipaksha (15 days of the goddess). On this day bengalis offer prayers for their parted ancestors. The banks of rivers are clustered with men offering their prayers to their ancestors..this is called tarpan.
To me mahalaya means magic of birendrakrishna bhadra, that person was one of the most genuine devotee of mother goddess, one listening to his program will convince any one that his soul, his entire being is behind those recitations. What a truly blessed soul.
I was addicted to his program, had to stop it after joining the first job.. then slowly I became lazy. But the ecstassy is still there.. I still remember listening to his program while the morning sky slowly turned to red.. promising the sun rise. Or that specific night when I stayed up all night because the only alarm clock was dead and I did not wanted to miss his recitation.
Mahalaya: well, the very word opens a barrage of sweet memories in mind. Those days back in childhood when we used to wake up to the ring of shrill alarm clocks and gather around the primitive transistor after quickly brush our teeth.. the morning sun was nowhere in the scene. The pure sky was studded with night diamonds sparkling in early winter.
Then the magical voice of birendra krishna bhadra boomed out of the transistor.. and a magical journey started for a bunch of children eagerly waiting for durgapuja. The greatest festival of bengalis. Which was to start from the sixth day of mahalaya.
Those who don’t know any thing about durgapuja, well, in ancient times a demon named mahishasura procured two boons from Brahma, one said he could change his forms and every form was immortal. Second one said that neither a man, a god or a demon can kill him. After procuring these two boons he went on rampage. So the Gods gave their powers and formed mother goddess durga.. and armed her up with their weapons. She killed mahishasura when he was changing his form from mahisha (buffalo) to asur (demon) on vijayadashami. The war started today, on mahalaya. This is why mahalaya is so much cherished by bengalis, its called the beginning of devipaksha (15 days of the goddess). On this day bengalis offer prayers for their parted ancestors. The banks of rivers are clustered with men offering their prayers to their ancestors..this is called tarpan.
To me mahalaya means magic of birendrakrishna bhadra, that person was one of the most genuine devotee of mother goddess, one listening to his program will convince any one that his soul, his entire being is behind those recitations. What a truly blessed soul.
I was addicted to his program, had to stop it after joining the first job.. then slowly I became lazy. But the ecstassy is still there.. I still remember listening to his program while the morning sky slowly turned to red.. promising the sun rise. Or that specific night when I stayed up all night because the only alarm clock was dead and I did not wanted to miss his recitation.
