Shas­tri Boodan

Spe­cial prayers would be of­fered for T&T when thou­sands of Hin­dus par­tic­i­pate in the Kali Ya­tra fes­ti­val that runs from Sep­tem­ber 8-17.

On Thurs­day, the or­gan­is­ers of the fes­ti­val in­stalled a clay mur­ti of Moth­er Kali and hoist­ed a mas­ter flag to in­di­cate vic­to­ry and the start of cel­e­bra­tions at the NCIC Na­gar, Ch­agua­nas.

Pun­dit Bal­li­ram Chan said the fes­ti­val start­ed 10 years ago in T&T as a street pa­rade that com­menced at Cal­cut­ta Road #2, Freeport and cul­mi­nat­ed at the Ashti Sid­dhi Tem­ple, Ari­ma Old Road. As it gained pop­u­lar­i­ty, the fes­ti­val moved from be­ing a street pa­rade to a 10-day event of prayer and was tak­en to the NCIC Na­gar eight years ago to ac­com­mo­date a larg­er fol­low­ing.

Pun­dit Chan said, “Kali Ya­tra is to en­light­en devo­tees about De­vi Ma­ha Kali. Many peo­ple have the mis­con­cep­tion about the wor­ship and think Ma­ha Kali is a de­mon, bad or evil. The Di­vine Moth­er took the form of Kali to re­move the evil and the neg­a­tiv­i­ties around us. The Di­vine Moth­er has many forms such as Dur­ga, Ka­teri, Parmeshi.”

He said the mur­ti is made of clay and would be im­mersed in­to the Va­len­cia Riv­er on Sep­tem­ber 17. He said the im­mer­sion is al­so sym­bol­ic of the re­moval of trou­bles and prob­lems of the devo­tees. Pun­dit Chan said every night would be filled with wor­ship and singing.

“It is open for each and every­one, re­gard­less of re­li­gion. Peo­ple who want to come should ab­stain from meat and al­co­hol. They can al­so choose to make of­fer­ings of fruits and of­fer their prayers. Moth­er Kali is about heal­ing and cleans­ing. Once you come with faith,” he added.

Kr­ish­na Ar­joon, one of the di­rec­tors of the event, said spe­cial prayers would be of­fered for T&T to help the na­tion rise out if the pletho­ra of so­cial ills be­ing ex­pe­ri­enced.