JANAKPURDHAM: Friday is Janaki Nawami, the birthday of Janaki or the Hindu divine Goddess deity Sita. Janaki Temple which used to be crowded with Hindu devotees is sans crowd this time, yet the celebration has drawn the attention of many for the ‘unusual’ celebration this year.
The lockdown enforced to curb widespread coronavirus pandemic has compelled the ‘tyohar’, the festival observed on Janaki Mahotsav.
First time in the history of Janaki Temple, the main gate of the temple is shut on this day. The place which used to be full of thousands of people is sans worshipers this day.
The devotees are missing the celebration including ‘sohar’, the birthday celebration song. “ We used to sing and dance, it was a sight worth time spending,” Januki Yadav, one of the lonely devotees seen at the place spoke. There were few people around.
Despite missing the celebrations, the people are convinced of the cause for locking the main entrance of the temple.
The successor of the incumbent priest of the Janaki Temple, Mahantha Ram Roshan Das had publicly requested people to stay at home and offer prayers from home.
But the thing that drew everyone’s attention and the photos went viral was the special Prasad, the birthday cake.
Birthday cake to Hindu deity, Sita
Again a rare sight at Janaki Temple, Janakpur was the birthday cake to Hindu deity. Often prohibited in orthodox Hindu family as a Christian way of celebration, this year Goddess Sita was offered a birthday cake.
The cake thus offered to Janaki was later distributed to the devotees.
The cake offering has been criticized as controversial issue, some have labeled it as unholy thing. Others have called it even sinful, few have described it as the deterioration of the essence of the values which in long run can put all rituals at stake.
The temple authority has, however, defended it as something usual, nothing worth commenting. “We used to offer sweets and fruits, this is slightly different this year,” said Muni Jha, excited to have birthday cake on the occasion.
The picture of cake offered to Janaki has gone viral in social media.
Mahantha Das also asked everyone to take the cake as a type of sweets and accept it. “We used to offer laddu, peda and barfi, this time it’s a cake, it’s just a sweet, nothing to exaggerate,” Mahantha Das said.
Despite the defense of the Mahantha, the priest at Janaki Temple, culture experts wonder what will happen to the culture provided such adoption goes everywhere and urge the concerned authority to abide by the rituals unless the change becomes unavoidable.
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