Vijayawada, October 12, 2013: Devotees will have a rare experience this year. The presiding deity goddess Kanaka Durga will be adorned as Durga Devi and Mahishasura Mardhini Devi on Saturday.

The unusual phenomenon is taking place due to overlapping of ‘thitis’ this year. ‘Aswiyuja suddha ashtami’ and ‘Aswiyuja suddha navami’ are occurring on Saturday. While the ‘Asthami thithi’ (eighth day of fortnight in Telugu calendar) is from wee hours to Noon and, the ‘aswijyuja suddha navami’ is up to night from Noon.

Temple ‘Sthanacharya’ V. Sivaprasada Sarma told The Hindu that the planetary movements and period of ‘thithi’ play a role in Hindu rituals. “Last year’s ‘adhika maasam’ (intercalary month), impact could be seen this year. The period of some ‘thithis’ is shorter. So, two ‘alankarams’ are imminent as every ‘thithi’ has its own ‘alankaram’,” he explained.

This is not the first time for such an event to take place, recalls Srinivasa Sarma, a priest. Last year, there was no ‘Swarnakavachalankrita alankaram’ and the festivities began with Sri Balatripura Sundari Devi. The goddess was adorned as Sarswathi Devi for one and half day in 2009, he added.

Another important event that took place in 1980 was also little known to devotees and employees of the temple.

The year witnessed intercalary month. The ‘pushkarams’ were also celebrated for 13 days as against the usual practice of 12 day due to a ‘thithi’, Telugu day, which fell on two consecutive days.

So, the temple also celebrated the Dasara festival for 11 days. The presiding deity was adorned as ‘Satvika’ on the 11th day, a day after Vijayadasami and Rajarajeswari ‘alankaram’, recalled Kota Ravi, another priest.

The scholars explain that ‘Satvika’ alankaram reveals the ‘prasannata’ (graciousness, delightfulness) of the goddess. She is decorated with a pearl white saree, white flowers. and ‘abhaya hasta’ (blessing hand). The most important feature is that she does not carry any weapon in this alankaram, and represents ‘satva guna’ (quality of disposition), the highest of the three gunas or virtues, they say. The goddess is worshipped in 10 different forms during the Dasara festival. Though there is no uniform sequence of the alankarams across the country, Annapoorna, Lakshmi Devi, Gayatri, Lalita Tripura Sundari, Saraswati, Durga, Mahishasura Mardhini Devi, and Rajarajeswari are some of the forms followed. Each of the goddess is worshipped in all the forms they have taken to save mankind from evil.

Source: The Hindu, October 12, 2013