Kumari Puja (Kanya Pujan)
Kumari Puja is held wherever Ramakrishna Math & Mission is in the world. Swami Vivekananda, the founder of Belur Math, had initiated Kumari Puja in appreciation of Sri Ramakrishna’s devotion to Divine Mother and faith in Mother Worship. A similar activity with slight difference in the northern part of India is popularly known as “Kanya Pujan”. Kumari Puja on Maha Ashtami or Maha Navami is one of the traditional ceremonies interwoven with the way Durga Puja is celebrated in Bengal. A small girl child is worshipped as a human incarnation of the Goddess. Worshipping of the girl child or Kumari with lamps, incense sticks, flowers and other holy essentials is worth watching every year.
