Tripura’s Biggest Festival 'Kharchi Puja' To Commence From July 10

Kharchi Puja

Agartala, June 30, 2019:

The state of Tripura is all set to welcome the visitors from across the globe as it has organized the Kharchi Puja also called the Kharchi festival from July 10.

Kharchi Puja is an important festival celebrated in the Indian state of Tripura. The festival lasts for seven days during which 14 gods are worshipped at the Chaturdasha temple near Old Agartala. The royal Puja falls in the month of July on the eighth day of the new moon and attracts thousands of devotees.

The 14 deities are known as the Chaturdasha Devata and are Lord Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma, Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswathi, Kartikeya, Ganesha, Earth, Ganga, Agni, Kama, Himavan and Varuna.

On Kharchi Puja, the gods are taken out from the temple and carried to be washed in the holy water of river Saidra then taken back to the temple. The deities are then decorated with various flowers and vermillion is placed on each deity's forehead.

Kharchi is derived from ‘khya’ which means ‘earth’. Kharchi Puja is performed after 15 days of Ambubachi. The festival marks the cleansing of “Ama Pechi” (Ambubachi, the menstruation of the mother goddess, or earth mother) which is the female cycle of the earth goddess. During the festival, no ploughing, furrowing or tending to the soil is done to give it time to cleanse.

The Kharchi puja is performed to wash out the post-menstrual uncleanliness of the earth mother's menstruation.

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People offer different types of prasad like a goat, buffalo, sweets, etc.. Various cultural programmes are performed each evening and a large fair is organized to mark the occasion. People look to their own welfare as well as the welfare of the society and the state in general.