Cuttack, September 26: A Buddhist monument of China or Rani Sati temple in Rajasthan besdies replicas of many other great structures were now cynosures of puja pandals here.
Thanks to a favorable climate, lakhs of people are now enjoying the five-day mega event that began yesterday with Mahasaptami puja of Goddess Durga and would culminate on Monday with immersion of deities.
Large number of devotees offered puja at various puja mandaps today on the “Mahastami” of the Goddess.
The Vijaya Dasami is slated for Monday which will be observed with Ravana podi, the symbolic display of triumph of truth over evil. This year at east two puja committees are organizing Ravan podi here while a dozen of such events have been lined up in Bhubaneswar.
Over 150 puja ‘mandaps’ have been erected here while about 300 others have dotted the entire district. Majority of them are worshipping Goddess Durga and the rest have idols of Hara-Parvati.
Besides decorating the mandaps with colourful lights, the puja pandels this year have given more emphasis on setting up huge welcome arches.
—Agencies