You got me right. Saptami is indeed the morning when our enthusiasm levels begin raising. And yes, I am sure each of us waits anxiously for the Ashtami anjali too. I do; no I actually keep telling myself, "enjoy today and be patient for tomorrow".
Early morning, we went for Navapatrika snan to the nearby river. Incidentally, I was asked to carry the Puja thali. While it feels good to be actively involved in the process, I could also feel the weight of the entire thali all the way to the river and back! Trust me, my hands were aching by the time we came back, not to forget the light drizzle that seemed to damp my spirits.
This year, our purohit moshai stayed over at our place and so I got the opportunity to find answers to a lot of questions revolving around durga puja. Many of them are indeed common to most of us and yet our entire life may pass celebrating puja each year without finding proper answers to those queries. I shall give you an insight into our conversation towards the end of this.
The Saptami Puja also brought with it showers of rain towards the evening. So much so that most of the people who had gone pandal hopping were either drenched thoroughly or managed to come back with a grim look and lots of "shucks!" On my part, since I had to attend office, I was tired to some extent. Yet when MM sent for me to be the judge of the junior antakshari, I leapt from my couch, dressed hurriedly and ran to the pandal. After all, the thrill remains only for four days.
Don’t ask me how the antakshari was. Since the anu kapoors - the anchors - were almost trying their best to play a fair game with all the participants jumping at each others' mistakes and shouting even louder when they managed to get the right answer. But it was fun, I’ll tell you, to listen to all those innocent protests of "we should get that half mark" and "they should not get those two marks". So as judge, I was really enjoying all their appeals. Before the scene could transform into a courtroom drama from an antakshari, MM interfered with a bellowing voice, "all teams disqualified for misbehaviour." And then all hell broke loose. Let me tell you that the actual Puja pandal and the stage were built at a distance of 20-25 feet. With the rains in between, the audience sat in the pandal shed, while the participants were on-stage. Imagine the scene when their mikes were ordered off and only Raja's (the main anchor and my cousin) and mine were on. Since none wanted their pretty dresses ruined, each of the kid participants stood protesting on the stage while their moms were defending them from the vicinity of the pandal and the rest of us, that is, the core committee female volunteers were into fits of laughter. I, of course, was expected not to laugh. Arre bhai, I was the esteemed judge after all! So I had a tough and yet gala time.
Suddenly MM had this bright idea of having a round of Dhaak and dance for all the ladies present. As it is the rain had spoiled the moods, the junior antakshari left us looking for something more. What else then? Our Dhaaki dadas came into the pandal; the floor was cleared of all chairs to make way for a 'Dhaak-DJ'. As the uncles thought it better to sit and watch the show rather than get pulled in by MM onto the floor, several aunties joined into the beat. Just come and visit our Puja ones, I challenge you will get carried off with the wonderful beats even if you otherwise don’t shake your hips for the entire year.
Now time for some Puja ritual discussion as I promised earlier. Do you know what actually is 'Kolabou snan?' Do you know the simple meaning behind each of those mantras and the entire ritual behind this grand puja? Our purohitji, having finished dinner, gave me an elaborate detail which I shall summarise herein.
Kolabou, which we consider as the wife of Ganesha, and the bathing ritual that takes place on the morning of Saptami, has no connection whatsoever with Ganesha. Kolabou basically is a collection of nine plants - banana, colacassia, bel, tamarind, rice or dhaan, jayanti, pomegranate, arum and ashoka - that is bathed before the commencement of the Puja. Each plant embodies the nine forces of Durga.
But why bathe a collection of plants before the Mahapuja? Purohit moshai told me that when guests come to our house, we first ask if their journey has been well, whether there were any problems while coming. We then ask them to get fresh, offer a glass of water. Thats what we do on Bodhan and Adhibash - ask Ma Durga if her journey has been fine.
If the journey has been a long one, the guest would probably like to take a bath. We offer them towels, water and all other accessories. In today's times, we politely show the way to the bathroom! Thats what is Kolabou snan - We bath Ma Durga and all the nine forces. She is bathed with a variety of waters and then adorned with numerous ornaments. If you listen carefully, you will hear Purohit moshai offering each of the items of snan and abhushan before proceeding with bhog.
The guest is then given some refreshments and then food and then rest. Saptami, Ashtami, Navami is basically that. All the mantras revolve around that - from her bath to her resting. And therefore you probably will notice the use of a straw mat and pillow in the Puja too!
Shondhi Pujo is the puja that Ram did before setting out to conquer Ravana. The time heralds the end of Ashtami and beginning of Navami.
In the end, we ask Ma Durga to forgive us if there has been any mistake while performing the Puja.
Having learnt all this, I can now answer some more of your questions. For your information, I did ask these questions on Saptami night itself! So it was all part of the auspicious day.
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