Garia Puja-The Feast Of Communal Harmony Celebrated In TripuraBy Thetripurapost Desk, AgartalaApr 20, 2024326Like every year this year also Garia Puja, one of the biggest festivals of Hindu tribal community is being celebrated across the state of Tripura on Saturday. All though this is the biggest festival of the tribal community but non tribals are also equally take part in this festival. In a part of north-eastern India where tribal groups fight Hindu settlers, a feast is raising hopes for peace and harmony. The festival is a unique example of India as a melting pot of cultures, races and language where humanity in all its diversities has merged and united. The rituals of this puja are very different from all other pujas. The priest of worship is called Chantai. Every year from the first day of the month of Baisakh, a group of people go to every house of the village with the Garia deity. When the women of the house saw the Garia deity coming home, they sprinkled water in the yard and put a clean wooden chair. Gariya Murthy is kept in that temple. After that, all the members of the family, including the head of the household, offered incense and bowed down. At the same time, rice and other crops and cash offered as contribution. The men and women accompanying the deity in the courtyard sit on the steps and dance around the Baba Gariya to sing and dance. One of these songs is 'Gariya Re Gariya Tillatakkar Bhaniya'. Similarly, Parikrama is performed from one village to another for seven days from Pahela Baisakh. On the seventh day of the month of Boisakh , the main gariya puja is performed. On this day, puja is organized with the donations collected by visiting the village. Baba Gariya idol is completely different from all other Hindu idols. Garia idols are made of bamboo, tribal handloom cloth and jum rice. The Garia Puja place is also made of bamboo. Duck, chicken, pigeon and goat are sacrificed on the day of puja. Some people leave the pigeon without sacrificing it to Garia. Home-made pure wine and chicken eggs are required for the puja. The tribals of Tripura have been organizing this puja for ages to please the Garia deity, mainly wishing for the well-being of the village people and praying for more crops on Jum. However, with the change of era, there have been many changes in this worship. Now people from different neighborhoods of Agartala and even clubs organize Gariya Puja. Now, even though there is no parade for seven days, Garia Puja is organized every year following the rules of Boisakh 7th and with full respect. The biggest Garia festival is held in the Abhaynagar area of the capital Agartala. A two-day long fair also organized. Chantai of Gariya Puja said The Tripurapost that Gariya is Almighty Mahadev's son Ganesh. People of tribal section worship this with great respect. However, he could not say when this worship started. According to him, this worship is being done since the creation of man. A woman named Shanti Debbarma, who came to worship at the Garia Puja place in Abhaynagar, said that this puja is very old. She heard from his forefathers that gariya has been worshiped here since the time of kings. She also used to come to worship with her parents when she was young. Now she brings her son and daughter. She wished the family well with puja. She also said that on the occasion of puja, traditional food including Pithapuli is prepared at home. Apart from Agartala, this puja is being done in every town inhabited by tribal in the state. Sarmishtha Chakraborty a non-tribal devotee, who participated in the festival along with his daughter said, "Both non-tribal and the tribal community people jointly celebrate this festival and it is a big event."