Charak Puja

Charak Puja
Charak Puja
	Charak Puja being performed at village Narna, Howrah, April 2014.
Also called	Nil Puja, Hajrha Puja
Observed by	Hindus
Type	Hindu
Significance	Done in order to supposedly gain prosperity and success from the Hindu Gods, Shiva and Durga.
Date	Midnight of Songkran (13–14 April)

Charak Puja or Pachamara Mela (also known as Chadak, Nil Puja or Hajrha Puja)^[1] is a Hindu folk festival held in honor of the deity Shiva. The festival is observed in the Indian state of West Bengal and in Bangladesh on the last day of the month of Chaitra (Choitro in the Bengali calendar) at midnight.^[2]^[3]

People believe that by satisfying Shiva, the festival will bring prosperity to them, eliminating the sorrow and sufferings of the previous year.

The preparation usually starts a month in advance. The people responsible for the arrangement of the festival go from village to village to procure the necessary components like paddy, oil, sugar, salt, honey, money and other items needed for the ritual. At midnight of Songkranti, the worshippers gather to worship Shiva and Ma Durga for success. Afterwards a puja, the prasad (Items blessed by the deity) are distributed.^[4]

Rarely, it’s also known as "Hajrha Puja". Women fast before this festival and male devotees swing from a pole with hooks being attached to the pole with ropes thrust through their backs.^[5]

^ from Syncretism, Narratives. "Mid-Seventeenth-Century Mughal Bengal: A Study of Social Transformation and Narratives from Syncretism to Conflict." Himachal Pradesh University Journal: 45.
^ Ghosh, Abhik; Sinha, Anil Kishore (October 2007). "A Second Charak Festival from Delhi". The Anthropologist. 9 (4): 289–294. doi:10.1080/09720073.2007.11891014. ISSN 0972-0073. S2CID 80082768.
^ "Charak Puja 2022: Charak Puja Priested by Fallen Brahmins! Know the unknown story". bangla.aajtak. in. 14 April 2022. p. 1. Retrieved 14 April 2022.
^ Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australasia. Wm. H. Allen & Company. 1839.
^ Oddie, Geoffrey A. (1995). Popular religion, elites, and reform : hook-swinging and its prohibition in colonial India, 1800-1894. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 81-7304-101-6. OCLC 33970904.

[1] rom Syncretism, Narratives. "Mid-Seventeenth-Century Mughal Bengal: A Study of Social Transformation and Narratives from Syncretism to Conflict." Himachal Pradesh University Journal: 45.

[2] Ghosh, Abhik; Sinha, Anil Kishore (October 2007). "A Second Charak Festival from Delhi". The Anthropologist. 9 (4): 289–294. doi:10.1080/09720073.2007.11891014. ISSN 0972-0073. S2CID 80082768.

[3] "Charak Puja 2022: Charak Puja Priested by Fallen Brahmins! Know the unknown story". bangla.aajtak. in. 14 April 2022. p. 1. Retrieved 14 April 2022.

[4] Asiatic Journal and Monthly Register for British and Foreign India, China and Australasia. Wm. H. Allen & Company. 1839.

[5] Oddie, Geoffrey A. (1995). Popular religion, elites, and reform : hook-swinging and its prohibition in colonial India, 1800-1894. New Delhi: Manohar Publishers & Distributors. ISBN 81-7304-101-6. OCLC 33970904.

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