"Mahalaya day”, the day Durga was assigned the task of eliminating evil. An invitation to the mother goddess to descend on earth - "Jago Tumi Jago".
The traditional six day countdown to Mahasaptami
starts from Mahalaya. Goddess Durga visits the earth for only four days but
seven days prior to the Pujas, starts the Mahalaya. The enchanting voice of
Birendra Krishna Bhadra fill up the predawn hours of the day thus marking the
beginning of “devipaksha”and the
beginning of the count-down of Durga.
It is an auspicious Indian occasion observed seven days before the Durga Puja,
and heralds the advent of Durga, the Goddess of supreme power. The dark
fortnight of Aswayuja is known as the Mahalaya Paksha or the fortnight
specially sacred for offering oblations to the departed ancestors. Durga -
goddess of deliverance - comes to earth on the seventh day after the autumn new
moon. She is depicted by the 'kumors' or potters as a resplendent golden figure
standing on a lion's back, each of her ten arms bearing a particular weapon, as
she triumphs over the demon Mahisasura.
From
this day starts 'Devipaksha' and marks the end of 'Pitri-paksha'. It is the day
when many throng to the banks of river Ganga, clad in dhotis to offer prayers
to their dead relatives and forefathers. People in the pre-dawn hours pray for
their demised relatives and take holy dips in the Ganges. This ritual is known
as 'Torpon'.
This
day bears immense significance for the Bengalis. It is according to the myths
that Sree Rama hastily performed Durga Puja just before he set for Lanka to
rescue Sita from Ravana. According to Puranas, King Suratha, worshiped Goddess Durga in spring. Thus Durga Puja was
also known as Basanti Puja. But Rama proponed the Puja and worshiped Durga in
autumn and that is why it is known as 'Akal Bodhon' or untimely worship. It was
considered untimely as it is in the myths that puja was performed when the Gods
and Goddesses were awake i.e. "Uttarayan" and was not held when the
Gods and Goddesses rested ie."Dakshinayan". It was on the day of
Mahalaya, the beginning of "Devipoksha", the Gods and Goddesses woke
up to prepare themselves for Durga Puja.
Akashvani Mahalaya:
In the year 1930, Mahalaya was first broadcasted
over the radio in Akashvani. The programme was organised by Premankur
Aatorthi,
Birendra Krishna Bhadra, Nripendra Krishna Mukhopadhya and Raichand
Boral. It
was broadcasted live then. Later it was recorded and played. Bengal's
cine
star, Uttam Kumar had once recited Mahalaya while Hemanta Kumar
Mukhopadhya was
the music director. But it was not popular among the mass and from then
it has always been the voice of Birendra Kishna Bhadra enthralling
the listeners in the pre-dawn hours of Mahalaya. The script was written
by Bani
Kumar, music was directed by Pankaj Kumar Mallik while Dijen
Mukhopadhya,
Manobendra Mukhopadhya (Tabo Achinta....), Sandhya Mukhopadhya, Arati
Mukhopadhya, Utpala Sen, Shyamal Mitra and Supriti Ghosh (Bajlo tomar
alor benu....) sang in their melodious voices.
