Jamshedpur: Basant Panchami festivities grip devotees, Goddess Saraswati worshiped

Jamshedpur, Feb 5:City celebrated Saraswati Puja on the occasion of Basant Panchami on Saturday. Basant Panchami is considered as one of the most auspicious days in the year for initiation of children into learning. Saraswati Puja is observed on the fifth day after the no moon night in the Hindu month of Magh.

Saturday morning commenced on a festive note as the city celebrated the first religious festival of the year – Saraswati Puja. From educational institutes to households, people were busy appeasing the Goddess of knowledge, who is considered by the Hindus as the daughter of Goddess Durga.

Following the rituals, people place books near the Goddess’ statue or picture and worship her. Book-reading is not allowed on this day. Boys clad in traditional dresses and girls wearing yellow sarees, in most cases for the first time, make the festival all the more special.

Several colleges celebrated Saraswati Puja at the campus. Teachers and staff members with the students offered prayer to Goddess Saraswati.

The lighting of lamps, offering flowers, chanting of Mantras and beautiful floral designs created before Mother Saraswati made the school’s environment pious. Students were in colourful dresses and enjoyed the Puja.

The Puja ended with the Prasad distribution.  “Mainly on this day, students offer prayers to the goddess of knowledge and education Saraswati in schools and the colleges. In the Jamshedpur Women’s College from where I have passed out, I had come specially to be the part of the celebrations here,” said Ritu Saxena, a former student.

Neha, a local student, said she had come for the Saraswati Puja hoping for better results. “We have come here for the Saraswati Pooja as Saraswati is the goddess of knowledge and education so that we get good results,” said Monica.

Tradition has it that adults should not help children into learning, until the initiation ceremony is performed before Goddess Saraswati. A large number of children are initiated into learning at temples or at home in front of the idol of Goddess Saraswati.

Wearing bright yellow clothes signifying the onset of spring, devotees – mainly students and teenagers- lined up to seek the blessings of the goddess. Unmarried girls and boys clad in saris and kurta thronged various puja pandals across the city.

Although the puja is offered in the early morning, the celebrations continue through the day as students keep their books in front of the goddess for her blessings. The day is unofficially considered as ‘no study’ day in Bengal with students not even touching their books.

“It’s a day we look forward to every year. The khichri and labra cooked as bhog (offering) in our school for the goddess always tastes very delicious. We also have chutney and beguni (eggplant dipped in Bengal gram flour and deep fried). There is nothing like eating together with all our classmates,” said Nitin Sinha, celebrating the occasion at his institution in Sakchi.

Saraswati Puja at Shyama Prasad Vidya Bhavan

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Jamshedpur, Feb 5: The Shyama Prasad High School Alumni along with current students organized Saraswati Puja Shyama Prasad Vidya Bhavan Vidyalay premises. They performed Puspanjali and partook of Bhog. Among those present on the occasion were the school’s alumnus Prabal Dev, Tridib Chattaraj, Chandan Chakraborty, Sujit Das, Anupam Dhar, Ripan Das, Kunwar Singh Murmu, Chanda Bose, Pampa Sengupta and Bulu Roy.

Saraswati Puja at Xavier Public School

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Jamshedpur, Feb 5:  Saraswati Puja was organized at Xavier Public School in Kitadih with festive fervor. Students, their parents, faculty and staff members of the school offered prayers. Those present on the occasion included RJ Welfare Society Chairperson Punam Jha, Secretary Raman Jha, Treasurer JM Dubey, Vice Principal Ankita Tiwari, BJP Ghagidih Mandal President Sandeep Sharma ‘Bobby’, Bonga Soren, Suman Kumari, Akanksha Dubey, Himanshu Bharadwaj, Sneha, Pooja, Simran, Priya, Alka, Beauty, Amrita, Mamata Prasad, Simran Kumari and others.

Saraswati Puja in Sai Gurukul

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Jamshedpur, Feb 5: Staff, faculty and students of Sai Gurukul Institute of Hotel Management in Bistupur organized Saraswati Puja in a simple manner due to prevailing COVID conditions. Those present on the occasion included Parmanand Pandey, Sahil Sarkar, Tanya Das, Shukla Majumdar, Pragya Chakraborty, Amrita Lohar, Roshan Tudu, Adarsh ​​Pandey, Punam Singh and others.

Saraswati Puja observed amid COVID guidelines

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Chaibasa, Feb 5: The worship of Devi Saraswati, the Goddess of learning was observed in homes, educational institutions and localities in Chaibasa by adhering to COVID protocols. The police, since morning were seen patrolling along roads and localities, urging people to celebrate the occasion by following all COVID guidelines. SDPO Dilip Khalkho said, “The police teams of different police stations have been moving around the city and nearby areas to ensure peace and safety during the Saraswati Puja celebrations.”

Sainath Devasthanam, Ghorabandha

Jamshedpur, Feb 5: Saraswati Puja was organized at Sainath Devasthanam in Ghorabandha under the aegis of Sai Parivar Vishwa Seva Sansthan, Jamshedpur. Prayers to Devi Saraswati were offered and after the evening Arti, a special Bhajan Sandhya was organized. The host for Devi Puja was Akash Ranjan.

RVS Academy

Jamshedpur, Feb. 5: The advent of spring is ushered in with Basant Panchami when the Goddess of Learning and Art, Saraswati is worshipped. The Goddess was worshipped at RVS Academy in Mango amidst Vedic chants. Among those present on the occasion were Managing Committee Chairman, Binda Singh, Principal Visha Mohindra, Vice Principal Anita Tiwary, other faculty members and staff members.

Vinay IAS Academy

Jamshedpur, Feb. 5:  Saraswati Puja was celebrated at Vinay IAS Academy. The Puja was organized by the students of UPSC and Banking courses. Director of the Institute, Vinay Singh, Soni Singh, Priya Kumari, Roopa Kumari, Murari Kumar, Shailesh Kumar, Amarendra Kumar, Ramesh Kumar, Sonali Mukherjee, Smita Kumari and others were present.

Vijay Academy

Jamshedpur, Feb. 5:  Saraswati Puja was organized at Vijay Academy at Sakchi Thakur Bari Road in, Ambagan area. All the students of the institute participated in the Puja. Vijay Singh, while wishing all the students on the occasion urged them to concentrate on their education and achieve the goals they were aiming for.

Shriman Classes

Jamshedpur, Feb 5: Goddess Saraswati was worshipped at coaching institute, Shriman Classes where Bhog was distributed among all present on conclusion of prayers. Current and former students and intellectuals were present on the occasion. Pandit Dilip Pandey performed the worship.. Shriman Narayan Trigun, the founder of the institute was present as the host. The management announced that Ma Saraswati would be worshipped at the Institute over the next two days. Others present during the Puja and Bhog distribution included Kumar Dwip, Rashmi Shukla, Sujit Kumar, PK Dutta, Niranjan, Kripanand, Pintu Mishra, Jaidev, Anil Kumar and others.

Saraswati Puja in CP Samiti Middle School

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Jamshedpur, Feb 5: Saraswati Puja was organized in CP Samiti Middle School in Cable Basti. School teachers, members of the managing committee and senior class students participated in the Puja event. Those present during the Saraswati Puja included Dinesh Kumar, Khemlal Choudhary, Parmanand Kaushal, K. Savitri, Amit Kumar Singh, Sangita Srivastav, Jagdev Sahu, Devnarayan Sahu, Mohan Kumar, Bedu Bai, Salik Das Devangan, Ramon Kumar, Omprakash Sahu, Shyam Das of the school management committee along with Nagshri Samad, Trilochan Kaur, Hira Das, Rita Sharma, Diksha Sahu, Nirmala Kaur, Sonia Sahu, Saraswati Sahu and others were present.

Saraswati Puja at Telco Martial Arts Training Academy

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Jamshedpur, Feb 5:  Jharkhand Martial Arts Training Center organized Saraswati Puja at Samiksha Academy in Telco Prakash Nagar, Telco. Former BJP district President Dinesh Kumar and social activists Dr Sanjay Giri and Dr Abhishek were present as chief guests on the occasion. Senior and junior students junior students of the Academy including the Head Coach of Samiksha Academy, Sunil Kumar Prasad, were present along with trainees’ parents.

Rajkumar Singh inaugurates Saraswati puja pandals

Jamshedpur, Feb 5: State council vice chairperson cum State BJP Kisan Morcha Vice President Rajkumar Singh on Saturday inaugurated several puja pandals on the occasion of Saraswati Puja on Saturday.

Puja pandals of Namotola Ashram Pada Saraswati Puja Committee, Young Choice Club, Bawangoda, Younger Boys Club in Gadra Driver Colony, Naidu Colony Saraswati Puja Samiti located in Kitadih and Janata Club Burmamines.

Rajkumar Singh attended Saraswati Puja organized at Pramath Nagar near Pintu Godown, Shriman Classes Sakchi and Maa Study Center Pramath Nagar.

Accompanying him were BJP leader Pankaj Sinha, Ghagidih Mandal President Sandeep Sharma, Prabhuram Munda, Dheeraj Sharma, Bishwajit Bhagat, Jaykumar and others.  Pintu Kumar, Rohit, Montu in Namotola Ashram Pada, Dheeraj Sharma, Gautam, Neeraj, Kunal, Avinash, Alok, Ghanshyam in Younger Boys Club Gadra and Anand Chaudhary, Jaikishan, Mohan, Ashutosh, Nitesh, Hrithik, Manish in Young Choice Club Bawangoda Adi welcomed Rajkumar Singh.