Tripura Celebrates Traditional 'Ker Puja' With Festive Fervour

Agartala, July 24, 2019:

The state of Tripura has been witnessing a month-long festive celebration as the people of the state are observing the “Ker Puja” just after the celebration of Karchi Puja. 'Ker' literally means austerity in English. It is the strictest puja performed by Tripuri people.

Ker Puja is celebrated two weeks after Kharchi Puja in the Royal Palace in Agartala with financial support from the State Government. It includes offerings, sacrifices, and a prescribed boundary which both safeguards people from calamities and saves them from external aggression.

No one can move outside the boundary specified by the organizers of 'Ker' during the two and a half days of celebrations.

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In the Ker, the ‘chantais’ or head priest is regarded as a king during this celebration.

A large piece of bamboo is bent to replicate the image of Ker and strict rituals have to be followed in the celebration. The people of Tripura believe that the former rulers used to perform this Puja for the general welfare of the people of the state.

It is to be mentioned that at the end of the 517-year rule by 184 kings, the erstwhile princely state of Tripura merged into the Indian Union on October 15, 1949, by an agreement between Regent Maharani Kanchan Prabha Devi and the Indian Union.