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| Mahalaya 2019 |
Mahalaya | Why Does Bengal Wake Up at 4 in the Morning to Welcome Goddess Durga
In Mahalaya, the Bengalis wake up at 4 in the morning and tune in to the timeless voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra reciting the sacred verses of 'Mahisasura Mardini', which tells the story of the descent of Goddess Durga on earth.
Mahalaya is observed one week before the Durga Puja celebrations and this year falls on Saturday (September 28) according to the Hindu calendar. With Mahalaya begins the countdown of Durga Puja.
This year, Maha Shashti falls on October 4 and the festivities continue until October 8, which is Maha Dashami or Vijaya Dashami.
Mahalaya began at 2:50 am on Saturday and will continue until 12:24 am on Sunday. The day marks the end of Pitru Paksha and the beginning of Devi Paksha with people who remember the dead souls offering 'tarpan'.
Mahalaya also hosts a cultural event of some importance with the All India Radio program 'Mahishasura Mardini'. It is a beautiful recitation of the verses of the writings of 'Chandi Kavya' along with several devotional songs. People get up before dawn to hear the melody of the transmission of Mahishasura Mardini.
The Mahisasurmardini is a popular early Bengali radio program that has been broadcast since 1931 on All India Radio (AIR).
An audio montage of an hour and a half of Chandipath along with Bengali devotional songs, classical and acoustic music, the program is broadcast every year during the sunrise in Mahalaya. The program, which began as a live performance, has been broadcast in its prerecorded format since 1966, but has never seen its popularity diminish.
In Mahalaya, the Bengalis wake up at 4 in the morning and tune in to the timeless voice of Birendra Krishna Bhadra reciting the sacred verses of 'Mahisasura Mardini', which tells the story of the descent of Goddess Durga on earth.
The Chandipath that Birendra Krishna Bhadra has immortalized in his voice tells us that Durga, the primary source of power: Goddess Chandika, the eternal one. Without birth or physical form, it assumes a majestic manifestation only to restore the process of Creation of the terrible Asuras or evil incarnations and restore the Dharma to the world.
The Chandipath continues telling how, when Mahisasura, the terrible king of the Asuras defeated the gods and expelled them from heaven, they went to Brahma to seek help, which in turn led them to Vishnu, the God of preservation and Mahadeva, God of destruction, to report his defeat.
The gods then projected their energy from their bodies and evoked a new form of energy. This energy then created the goddess with ten arms.
The recitation continues to tell that the Himalayas gave him the lion to act as his mount, Vishnu gave him the Chakra, Mahadeva gave him the trident, Yama gave him the Kaal Danda, Kalbhairav (or Veerbhadra) gave him the Khadga, Chandra gave him the ashtachandra shield, Surya gave bow and arrows, Vishwakarma a protective armor called kawach, Brahma gave him the rosary and the Kamandalu (sacred water container), and Kuber gave him ornaments and necklaces.
Therefore, properly dressed for war, the Goddess and her mount went to war with the Demon King, finally defeating and killing him.
The mythical text is intermingled with the script by Bani Kumar, narrated by Birendra Krishna Bhadra, while Dwijen Mukhopadhyay, Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Arati Mukhopadhyay, Utpala Sen, Shyamal Mitra and Supriti Ghosh have interpreted some songs that have played Mj songs Composed lovely songs. .