BHUBANESWAR: India is a country where every festival celebrated has an underlying meaning to it. Dhanteras is being celebrated today all over the country. Basically, it’s first of the five-day long Diwali celebrations. It is a significant one as people worship the power of wealth on this day.
Dhanteras falls on the 13th day of Krishna paksha (dark fortnight) in the Ashvin month of Hindu lunar calendar. On this auspicious day, devotees worship Goddess of wealth Laxmi and Lord Kuber. Dhanteras is considered as an extremely auspicious day to make fresh investment especially on gold or silver ornaments and new utensils. It is believed that new ‘dhan’ (wealth) or some form of brand new precious metal signifies good luck. It is believed that the new investments would ensure the inflow of both wealth and luck throughout the year.
Legend has it that King Hima’s daughter-in-law saved his son from the god of death Yamraj who had appeared in disguise of a snake. She prevented him from entering the room by placing a heap of gold jewellery and silver coins along with lots of diyas at the front door. The reflection of glittering jewellery and bright diyas blinded the snake and it returned without killing the king’s son who was destined to die on the fourth day of his marriage. Similarly, buying gold and silver jewellery or new utensils on this day is said to protect you from bad luck. Orissa Post interacted with some enthusiasts of the occasion to delve deeper into the subject.
Usha Padhi Agarwal, a resident of Kalpana area, said, “It’s a tradition at my In-laws place to buy new ornaments on this day. Therefore, I am purchasing some new bangles on the occasion. Her husband Prakash Agarwal said, “Dhanteras is a ritual that we perform with a lot of fervour at my place. Women at our place procure only the most expensive jewellery from the store on this occasion (chuckles). It’s a tradition worth following.”
Pooja Trivedi, owner of a jewellery shop in the city, said, “We worship Goddess Laxmi and Lord Kuber by offering rose or marigold garland, sweets, ghee diyas, dhoop, dweep, agarbatti, camphor and a variety of sweets as prasad. I feed poor people along with my in-laws on Dhanteras every year as we believe that Nara Seva is Narayan Seva.”
Avinash Raheja, a resident of Lewis Road and owner of Raheja food, said, “My family performs pujan of food items on this day as I am in the food industry. We do puja of cereals like wheat, gram, barley, Urad, Moong, Masoor and we also offer Golden Champa flower and sweets to Mata Lakshmi. Generosity and kind-heartedness brings wealth, prosperity and wisdom for all”.
Latika Pandey, owner of Latika dispensary at Damana, said, “Dhanteras is the birthday of Lord Dhanvantari, the God of medicines. I perform puja at my dispensary and distribute free medicines to the needy on this day.”
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