I love to spend Diwali in Mumbai and never leave the city during this time of the year. Diwali in Mumbai, or for that matter entire North India is very different from my home state Bengal. In my part of India Diwali or Deepavali is celebrated as “Kali Puja” or “Shyama Puja” and not "Lakshmi Puja" unlike the rest of the country. After Durga puja this is the second largest Puja for the Bengalis.
As a child I used to be terrified of this day. I was scared of the darkness of “amabasya”, the protruding red tongue of the deity and of course the myth surrounding the goddess.The idol of Kali is intimidating in itself. She is stark naked with dishevelled black hair and a protruding red tongue against blue or jet black complexion. Her ornaments are not the ordinary ones made out of gold or silver, instead she wears a garland of severed heads and a skirt of chopped hands. Out of her four hands she holds a “kharga” (a form of sword or axe) in one hand and a bleeding severed head in the other, with a fox beneath to lick the dripping blood from the severed head. Below her lies Lord Mahadev on whom she had stepped mistakenly. Legend has it that after mistakenly stepping on Shiva she protruded her tongue out of shame. Readers now tell me one thing isn’t the idol scary?
The legend of Mahakali states that she is the tamer of ghosts and spirits. A day before Kali puja is known as “Bhoot chaturdashi”or the fourteenth day dedicated to Ghosts. On this day Bengalis light fourteen lamps and eat “choddo shaak” or an assortment of 14 green leafy vegetable. I remember as a child I used to be scared to death on this day, as per legends this is the day when ghosts and spirits roam around freely. Now tell me which child would not be scared of such legends?
Kali puja is performed at midnight. Kali is worshipped by dacoits and tantriks, a religious sect who are said to believe in cannibalism, at odd places like jungles and crematoriums respectively. Legend has that on the day of kali puja the dacoits sacrifice a human child in front of Ma Kali and drink its blood. Even the tantriks do the same and they drink the human blood out of a human skull. Among the unique offerings that is made to Ma Kali is meat and “karonbari”(alcohol).
I used to be so scared of this puja that I hardly used to step out of my house. Ever since I shifted to Mumbai am slightly relaxed. Firstly now I am a grown up and secondly here they worship goddess Lakshmi. Among Bengalis a girl should be like lakshmi or Lokkhi(Bengali pronunciation for Lakshmi) and not Kali. We refer to a quite, docile and good girl as a “lokkhi Meye”(meye means girl). So in Mumbai it is all Lokkhi Lokkhi and nothing to be scared of.
