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| Charak Puja | |
|---|---|
 Charak Puja being performed at village Narna, Howrah, April 2014. | |
| Also called | Nil Puja, Hajrha Puja |
| Observed by | Hindus |
| Type | Hindu |
| Related to | Gajan |
Charak Puja or Pachamara Mela (also known as Chadak, Nil Puja or Hajrha Puja)[1] is part of the Hindu folk festival of Gajan, held in honor of the deity Shiva or Dharmathakur.[2] The Gajan festival includes numerous forms of austerities like walking on hot coals or piercing the body with metal rods;[3] Charak refers to the practice of hook-swinging which generally is the last penance performed during the festival.
Gajan and Charak Puja is primarily practiced in the Indian state of West Bengal and in Bangladesh, but hook-swinging is traditionally practiced in other parts of India as well.[4]
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.[5]
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.[6]
- ^ from Syncretism, Narratives. "Mid-Seventeenth-Century Mughal Bengal: A Study of Social Transformation and Narratives from Syncretism to Conflict." Himachal Pradesh University Journal: 45.
- ^ Bhaumik, Sudarshana. "Locating Dharmamangal in the Rarh Bengal: A Brief Analysis of its Social Significance" (PDF). Vidyasagar University Journal of History. 6: 127–135. Retrieved 22 August 2024.
- ^ Nicholas, Ralph W.; Curley, David L. (2008). Rites of spring: Gā̄jan in village Bengal. New Delhi: Chronicle Books. pp. 4–5. ISBN 978-8180280351.
- ^ Oddie, Geoffrey A. (1995). Popular religion, elites and reforms: hook-swinging and its prohibition in colonial India, 1800 - 1894. New Delhi: Manohar. ISBN 8173041016.
- ^ 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.