AYUDHA POOJA

• Well celebrated on penultimate day of Navarathri

Mangalore/ Bangalore, Oct 8, 2008: The Navarathri celebrations during the nine days is a cluster of festivities. While the last day is the Navarathri the succeeding day is the Vijayadashami and preceding day is the important festival of Ayudha Pooja - It is a day when man pays respect to his implements and machinery that includes agricultural implements, industrial machinery, vehicles and nowadays even the computers. In short whatever Man woman or child uses for learning, earning and living is offered poojas on that day.

Walk through the streets of any city town or village you will find bullock carts, buses, cars two wheelers or anything that moves on wheels will be smeared with chalk paste, Kumkum, turmeric and bedecked with flowers, after being serviced the previous night. Or go into any machine shop right from printing to high-tech satellite launch sites all machineries would have received the same treatment and perhaps an additional ‘aarati’ also.

There is a philosophy behind the Ayudya Pooja. In Hindu school of thought even the mechanical non living things have to be respected for they help the mankind to progress and prosper. They are made of metal and some of them could be dangerous to use if anybody uses them without care. The pooja offered will help the human beings to respect the non living things and use them safely without hurting themselves and make judicious use of the materials and implements.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The true splendor of the Ayudha Pooja could be seen in the Mysore Palace where every gun, every spear every armaments, vehicles that belonged to the erstwhile Maharaja are cleaned given a coat of fresh polish and are displayed in the exhibition for the common man to see.
 
No historian is able to predict the time of this the emergence of such a meaningful practice and reverence to the non living things, but it is believed that Goddess Durga when she slayed the demon king he had threatened to take over the world with his evil force and infuse life into the non living things as the mission she undertook was perhaps the last chance for the forces of god to prevail on this earth.
 
Later the Rajpuths, the Kadambas, Marathas, Peshwas, Wodyears, Cholas, Pallavans, Cherans have practiced Ayuda Pooja, at certain time of the Bhakti movement even the alien Moghul sultanates had followed this tradition on the advise of their Hindu ministers and commanders. Akbar, Aurangazeb, Humayun are some of the kings of the Moghal empire who did celebrate Ayudha Pooja say historians. 
 
 But in the modern days this tradition is being followed at all levels right form the street corner lathe to the ultra modern IT or BT parks observe holiday for Ayudha Pooja. The KSRTC and BMTC offers pooja to over 10,000 buses on this day and every drive conductor and Mechanic irrespective of their religious affiliations offer pooja to their vehicles.
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