AGARTALA: A week-long traditional Kharchi festival — offering prayer to 14 gods and goddess — began on Thursday with thousands of devotees converging at Khayerpur on the eastern outskirts of the city.
Speaker of Tripura legislative assembly, Ratan Chakraborty, opened the celebrations leading the bathing procession of the deities early in the morning at river Haora. The puja began when the deities were carried back to the temple after ablution and smeared with vermillion.
However, preparations for the puja were marred on Wednesday after a youth was electrocuted and another injured. Both of them were local electricians working on decorations for the festival. The administration has made elaborate security arrangements to ensure peaceful celebration of Kharchi as well as transportation and other facilities.
Kharchi Puja is predominantly a tribal festival but it owes its origins to Hindu religion. Devotees and sadhus from across India and neighbouring Bangladesh have also participated in the festival.
According to Tripura royal family’s “Rajmala”, Queen Hiravati once went to take a bath in the river Maharani and noticed a wild buffalo chasing the 14 gods. With the help of the queen’s cloth the gods managed to kill the beast. Happy with Hirabati’s help, the gods visited the palace and the royal family offered puja by sacrificing wild buffaloes.
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