By Firstdespatch Desk Jun 26, 2023
Agartala, Jun 26 (FD) A week-long traditional Kharchi festival, offering prayer to 14 gods and goddesses, begins with thousands of devotees thronging to Khayerpur, at the outskirts of the capital city.
Tripura chief minister Dr Manik Saha inaugurated the 7-day long festival in presence of Minister of Transport and Tourism Sushanta Choudhury, Minister for Tribal Welfare Bikash Debbarma, local MLA Ratan Chakraborty and Mayor of Agartala, Dipak Majumder.
Devotees and sadhus from across India and neighbouring Bangladesh have also participated in the festival.
The rituals start with a holy bath of all the fourteen idols at the Saidra river and later decorated with vermillion and flowers.
Apart from prasadam consisting of sweets and fruits of various kinds, animal sacrifices like goats, pigeons and others are also offered to the deities.
Addressing the occasion, the chief minister said, “Kharchi festival is an integral part of Tripura and resembles the culture and heritage of the state”.
The chief minister also assured to look into the demand of forming a trust of the Fourteen-goddess temple.
Later, the chief minister along with others offered prayers at the Chaturdash Devata temple.
“Earlier, infrastructures in the temple were not so good. Our government is trying to improve the infrastructure here," said Dr. Saha.
The Chaturdasa Devata Mandir was built by Maharaja Krishna Manikya at Khayerpur in Old Agartala.
The Chaturdash Devata Mandir has 14 idols of God's and goddesses, mainly figurines of their heads including Shiva, Durga, Vishnu, Laxmi, Saraswati, Kartikeya, Ganesha, Brahma, Prithvi, Samudra, Ganga, Agni, Kamdev and Himadri.
Kharchi Puja is the worship of all these 14 gods who together make the dynasty deities of the Tripura kings. FD JK