Srinagar, Apr 8: Ram Navami, the birth anniversary of Lord Rama, was celebrated in Summer Capital with religious fervor and gaiety on Tuesday ending their nine-day-long fast of Chaitra Navratri.
Devotees have felt grateful for the brotherhood and support shown by Muslim community.
Hundreds of devotees thronged the temples since morning to pay obeisance. `Havans’, `sankirtans’ and `preeti bhoj’ were conducted. The local pujaris (preists) had organized rallies and other functions that were conducted smoothly.
The programme started with `mangla aarti’ early in the morning followed by `shringaar aarti’,`guru puja’, `bhajan kirtan’, `mahabhishek’, `maha raj bhoga’ offering, `maha aarti’ and discourse on Lord Rama from Barbarshah temple.
Besides recitation of Ramcharit Manas and bhog ceremony, Hindu women performed ‘Hakot’ one of the traditional dances of Kashmir in Lal Chowk near Ganta Ghar. A large crowd gathered in the area to watch the scene.
Children were in the incarnation of Lord Ram, Lakhman, Sita Ji and Hanuman Ji to depict their appearance.
“The festival marks the end of the nine-day fasting and Navratri festival. On the last day of Navratra, “we turn up to seek blessings of the goddess Durga. The ninth incarnation of Maa Durga, Siddhdatri was worshipped on this occasion,” devotee, Shakuntla Devi said.
A group of Kashmiri pandiths told Rising Kashmir that they conducted the festival effortlessly.
Expressing gratitude to Muslim community, they said that they were very happy to see Muslim brothers and sisters helping and supporting them.
“We are pleased to see how everyone is supporting and enjoying our festival, we could see our Muslim brothers smiling and cheering with us so what could be better than this feeling on such a precious day,” another devotee from Karan Nagar Varun Gupta said.
The Hindu festival commemorates the birth of Lord Rama, the seventh incarnation of Lord Vishnu, who was born to king Dasharatha and queen Kaushalya of Ayodhya, now in Uttar Pradesh.
On the occasion, people perform rituals and adorn the idols of Lord Rama with flowers, ornaments and new clothes. Only after performing elaborate worship of the deity, the devotees break their nine-day fast.
“I got up in the morning, prepared halwa (sweets) and chana (chickpea). As a part of the ritual, I also fed young girls, after which I broke my fast,” Aarti Sharma, a resident of Barbarshah said.
The temples in the city were decorated with flowers and illuminations. Meals were prepared so that devotees visiting the temples could be given food or ‘prasad’ – part of the offerings.
Unlike on other days, the food prepared in households during Navratri is strictly vegetarian and devoid of onions, garlic.
In several other places across Kashmir, Rath Yatra (religious processions) of idols of Lord Rama and Sita are also organized, with devotees chanting hymns.
The procession culminated later in Shri Ram Mandir at Barbar Shah.
The procession ended up devotees dancing and chanting sermons, the devotees marched towards Lal Chowk, Maysooma, Tankipora, Indranagar, Inner Rajbagh and Jawairnagar and hundreds of locals, pedestrians stopped and were enjoying their culture.
According to Kashmiri Pandit Sangarsh Samiti, an organization of Kashmiri Pandits staying in Kashmir valley, currently there are 651 families with of population of 2,764 Kashmiri Pandits staying in and outside Srinagar.
As per the Indian online pages, J&K has 10,143,700 total population and among them 3,005,349 are Hindu population maintaining 29.6% of the total population with sex ratio 824.