Ranpur: Several hundred revellers were witness to an age-old tradition associated with Dusshera celebrations here wherein the presiding deity Maa Khilamunda takes flight to her abode on a pigeon’s body!
The shrine is located in Ranpur forest. As per tradition, the deity is invoked at the palace on the occasion of ‘Dwitiya Osha’. She is taken to the palace on a wand and is worshipped till Dusshera. She returns to her abode in a pigeon’s body, it is believed.
Thousands of devotees of Ranpur and surrounding areas congregate at Dussehra grounds to watch the ritual with great enthusiasm.
Ranpur king Dillip Chandra Singh, his ministers and other courtiers are taken in a grand procession to the Dusshera grounds at Hata Sahi in the evening. The atmosphere is reverberated with religious hymns, sound of gongs, drums, trumpets and crackers. Later, the devotees take out a procession of the deity through the town before it culminates at the designated altar.
After offering puja and following all rituals, a pigeon is freed amidst the bang of cannons. It is believed the deity rides the pigeon before reaching its abode.
The devotees discover the pigeon dead near the temple next morning. The omen is suggestive of Devi Khilamunda’s return to her abode. The event also reaffirms the locals’ faith in the deity.
PNN