Grand Procession of Maa Kaali & HER Padaarpan at our Residence

I have been blogging for many years now. All the while, this space was filled with my ideas and words. Today, for a change, we have a guest.

Abhinav Kumar is an Engineer by degree, a fashion freak and loves traveling. He has graced A Few Handpicked Things with a post close to his heart since it forms a nostalgic part of his childhood. Hope you will like it as much as he enjoyed writing it. Don’t forget to check more of his writings on StyleBurp.

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This is a delayed, long- due post from the 6th day of Navratra of Maa Katyayni. I want to make you all aware of this very beautiful ritual or tradition, you can call it. This is a much-awaited event of Ramleela in the city for which people wait with full excitement and eagerness. People come from nearby villages and small towns to witness this event and also to take blessings from Maa Kaali. We take blessings from Maa Kaali too.

This is an old tradition from several years ago. I have seen and heard from people that on 6th day of Navratri, a person is selected from local akhaara to play the auspicious role of Maa Kali at Ramleela. But this is not merely a role because, in the opinion of the locals, it is the incarnation of Goddess Kaali herself to bless the people.

This person is trained at least a month prior to running and is given dry fruits and nutritious diet to keep him fit to run across the city. On the 6th day of each Navratri, a grand procession of Maa Kaali is organized twice every year where he is painted all black from neck to toe. A long mask with headgear is worn by him along with a sword (real) and khappar for prasad. He sits in the temple to worship Maa Kaali followed by hawan. Amidst the worship, he gets up, takes his sword and starts running around. This is being said, “Maa Kaali ka aavesh aa gaya”. A real sword is given in his hand and if any killing takes place during this procession, up to 7 such accidents will not be considered for filing a case against him.

The procession starts with the dances of eunuchs as this dance is considered sacred on this day. Then, comes the procession “Shaakinis, Daakinis” where some people get thrilled and children get scared seeing them. The other attractions of the procession are “Jhaankis” of various Gods and Goddesses depicting their Leelas.

Not only this, but 5-6 laanguras also travel with Maa Kaali and they all are painted in yellow as you can see in the pics below. These 7-8 people run around barefoot all over the city which is incredible and unbelievable, but it is true since I have been a witness to this myself over the years.

All the pictures are taken at my residence’s entrance or outer area where Maa Kaali comes and blesses us with other citizens too.

After traveling across the city, Maa Kaali proceeds towards the Ramleela and plays the character there and the procession ends with Maa Kaali ka Jaikaara.

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This post is written as a part of #BlogForward – a guest blogging initiative with my amazing blog buddies from team WriteOn.

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