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By D N Singh
It is strange that a festival like Dussehra is mired in a controversy over the heights of the idols. The state government as a measure of precaution has put a cap on the heights of idols of Goddess Durga in order to avoid any pomposity and overcrowding at the pooja pendals.
It is all about faith and there is nothing which can be measured by any calculus of pomposity or height.
Strange that some ‘pooja’ pandals in Cuttack have moved the High Court of Odisha challenging the ceiling imposed on the heights of idols at several locations.
However, meanwhile, in response to a PIL filed by the Pooja Committees contesting the cap on heights of idols, the Orissa High Court has rejected the petition
There may be certain reasons behind the decision of the government but the legal steps taken by the Pooja committees somehow do not augur well with the time when the nation still battles with the pandemic.
Faith, however, cannot be measured by the feet and that is what has played out itself in the millennium city sparking a clash of ego.
Cuttack is a city where people exemplify culture and brotherhood. Competitions and recognitions apart, what is paramount is religious virtuosity. Faith and love for Goddess Durga is not a thing that can be buttonholed by such measurements.
Legends have it that before venturing into Lanka to release Goddess Sita from the clutches of the demon Ravana, Lord Rama had worshipped Goddess Durga and solicited her blessings. It was all done from the wilderness of His ‘ vanavas’ (banishment) and the Goddess blessed him. What must have moved the Mother was faith but not any portentousness shown by Lord Rama.
But, while celebrating the festival today’s worshipers refuse to borrow a lesson from the prehistoric times’ ideals and rather run into the zones of competitive fervor and cry for identification through grandeur instead of attachment to the occasion.
Some even plead in favour of traditions as old as 500 years and attach the claim about 7 to 8 ft high idols of the Goddess. But the pandemic has not been there all those years and a virus of such nature keeps the entire world perplexed and ignorant.
It should never be given a political undertone that a MLA or MP volunteer for a fast unto death till the caps are lifted.
Pending what comes out of the honourable High Court, there must be a space given to logic and solemonise the great festival with the required restraint and reason.
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