📸 Durga for worship or backdrop for photos?
We’ve all seen the photos and videos every year around Navratri. Big name Bollywood celebs at Durga Puja pandals. They’re decked out in their finest silk saris with bangles to match & solid gold jewelry. Sindoor and bindis adorn their foreheads. The celebs, pose and smile for the papparazi, directly in front of Goddess Durga, their back to her – using the Goddess as nothing more than background scenery!
🚫 No backs to the murtis!
While sampradaya rules may vary and this may not apply to all, it’s general temple etiquette not to have your back facing a murti. It’s considered disrespectful. The same goes for not having your feet pointing towards a murti when you sit.
👥 A line to pose for pics!
Temple etiquette seems to be going out the window at the Durga Puja pandals! There’s one neverending line of celebs headed towards Goddess Durga’s murti – and they’re not all there to worship. Some are waiting for their turn to pose in front of the cameras so their pictures get into the magazines and on social media so they stay relevant.
And what of the Goddess? She has to contend with a troop of celebs who think they’re Goddesses in their own right – with their backs towards her!
9 nights of disrespect.
🛕 Showing respect in pandal
While pandals are not temples, it’s important to remember that the murtis still have prana pratishta rituals performed on them. That’s the ritual that invokes Goddess Durga’s spirit to reside inside of the murti. It’s the same way a phone company clicks a button and your phone is turned on, capable of talking to anyone, anywhere – so the Prana Pratishta rituals turn on the murti. Because the Goddess is directly inside of the murti – all of the respect that you’d show her inside of a temple should be shown to the pandal murti.
I’m aware that alot of the pandals are just gimmicks to out-do each other but the prana pratishta is still very real.
🖼️ A happy medium
I think a happy medium would be the celebs posing for pictures in front of a gigantic Navratri poster. This way they get their publicity and the Goddess gets her respect.
Bottom line – The Goddess is there to be worshipped, not to serve as a backdrop for a Bollywood photo shoot.
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