Pandal hopping: Chandrayaan 2 spotted in Dimapur
Designed with a ‘scientific touch,’ the pandal mounted at the entrance of the New Market, Dimapur attracted most visitors on Sunday as it celebrates ‘Chandrayaan-2,’ India’s second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation. (Morung Photo)
Religion and science blend effortlessly as Dimapur pays tribute ISRO, gets eco-friendly
Morung Express News
Dimapur | October 6
Durga Puja, one of the premier annual Hindu festivals in the Indian subcontinent, is known not only for the passionate religious festivities, but also its unique theme-based ‘pandal,’ (temporary structure) celebrating achievements or highlighting issues of the day.
The celebration this year in Dimapur is no exception. Several ‘pandals’ have cropped up over the last few days with varied colours and themes as puja revellers and curious onlooker throng to them in celebration.
In Dimapur, the pandal attracting most visits on Sunday was at New Market with a ‘scientific touch.’ The pandal at the entrance of the of the market was designed under the theme ‘Chandrayaan-2,’ India’s second lunar exploration mission developed by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO).
On Sunday afternoon, when The Morung Express visited the ‘pandal,’ it was chock-a-block with visitors, who came to see the spectacle as well as shops inside the ‘spacecraft.’ The interior was decorated elaborately and colourfully as vendors tried to attract their customers.
PWD Colony, Dimapur was another popular destination with a mounted structure based on Amarnath cave, a shrine located in Jammu and Kashmir.
Apart from the Goddess Durga, the slayer of the demon Mahishashur, meditating ‘Sadhus’ were put up inside the pandal.
A pandal in Lhomithi Colony, Dimapur also stood out from others for clever use of lighting, to create an enchanting replica of a temple.
A member of Sarbajanin Durga Puja Committee, Lhomithi Colony Sandip Saha informed that this year the youth were put in charge of the celebration and it is being organised under its secretary, Abhjit Chowdhury.
Saha further informed that as part of the initiative against single use plastic, only steel items were being used this year. The Puja this year is also special as it also the part of the Golden Jubilee celebration of the colony, he said.
The main celebration started on Saturday and will continue till October 8, he added.
As Nagaland joined the worldwide campaign against ‘single use plastic’ going eco-friendly themes were also discernable in most pandals. The pandals in Kher Mahal, Marwari Patti and Phom Colony also reflected such trend.
According to an IANS report, the celebration began with Shoshthi -- the first day of Durga Puja and the sixth day of the Lunar calendar as per Hindu almanac on Thursday, ushering in the religious rituals of the five-day festival.
According to Hindu mythology, Goddess Durga, accompanied by her four children - Ganesh, Kartik, Lakshmi and Saraswati - descend on earth every year to visit her parents to fight evil. This is the occasion that the puja celebrates, it added.
The puja festivities and prayers will end on Dashami or the 10th day on Tuesday, celebrated across the country as Dussehra, celebrating the victory of good over evil. Idols are usually immersed in rivers, lakes and ponds on that day.
