‘Nanda Ashtami’ festival fervour grips Kumaon
‘Nanda Ashtami’ festival fervour grips Kumaon
B.D.Kasniyal
Pithoragarh, Sept 11
The ‘Nanda Ashtami’ fervour gripped the entire Kumaon region today as statues of deities Nanda and and Sunanda made of banana leaves were installed at various temples of nanda Devi situated at Almora, Nainital, Ranikhet, Katyur valley, Munsiyari and Champawat.
The golden statue of Nanda Ddevi, the clan deity of Chand kings of Kumaon, was brought from Badhangarh of Garhwal and established in Almora by declaring the deity as ‘Kuldevi’ of Kumaon kings, by Chand king Gyan Chand in the year 1699, after he ransacked Badhangarh state of Garhwal by defeating the then Garhwal king.
“The banana leaves made statues of Nanda and her sister Sunanda were established in Nanda Devi temple of Almora in the evening of ‘Saptami’ day in presence of descendants of erstwhile Chand kingdom heir Kunwar Narendra Chand of Kashipur. The ‘Pran Pratistha’ ceremony was solemnised by clan priests of erstwhile Chand kings amidst presence of thousands of devotees,” said Navin Bisht, a journalist and cultural activists in Almora.
According to Bisht, today the worship of duo deities will be solemnised by common devotees amidst cultural programmes in Nanda Devi temple premises.”Te statues will be immersed at water point named Dobha Naula on September 13th with long procession of goddess taken in Almora town,” said Bisht.
In Nainital, the banana leaves statues of Nanda and Sunanda were established in Naina Devi temple last evening.”We are celebrating 122th year of worship of duo deities in the town, from early morning today as thousands of devotees from surrounding villages of Nainital town are reaching Nayna Devi temple to worship the goddesses,” said Bhagwati Prasad Joshi, chief priest of Nayna Devi temple in Nainital.
Besides in Almora and Nainital, people of Champawat, the original capital of Chand kings are also celebrating ‘Nanda Ashtami’ in a big way.”After establishing statues of Nanda and Sunanda in the temple, we began the 7 day long festival with ‘Kailash Yatra’, the worship of goddess duo will conclude on September 14th, ” said Shankar Datt Pandey, president of Nanda Devi Mahotsav in Champawat.
In the border region of Munsiyari in Pithoragarh district, the Nanda Devi worship is done in a different way, here the villagers of lower valleys travel to higher Himalayan to bring ‘Brahma Kamal’ ( Saussurea obvallata) flowers barefoot and with personal sanctity. “As the Nanda lives in high Himalayan region, the goddess is pleased when her worship is done with ‘Brahma Kamal’ flowers,” claimed Harish Dwivedi, the priest who led over 250 devotees to 22 km distance high Himalayan region from Nachni village to bring flowers.
“A 26 members devotees team led by priest Raju Dwivedi, brought ‘Brahma Kamal’ flowers from Hiramani glacier in high Himalayan region. The worship of goddess Nanda Devi in being done offering only these flowers at Nanda Devi temple of Girgaon, the team travelled 160 km on a three days barefoot journey to the Himalayan eadow and return back ,” said Puran Pandey, a journalist based in Munsiyari.
