Kharchi Puja

• PM recently greeted people on the occasion of Kharchi Puja.

ABOUT KHARCHI PUJA

• Kharchi Puja, also called the Festival of 14 Gods, is celebrated in Tripura.
  • The 14 Gods are worshipped by the Royal priest, ‘Chantai.
• It is performed during the months of July-August on the eighth day of the new moon.
• Kharchi is derived from two Tripuri words–‘khar’ or kharta meaning sin and ‘chi’ or si meaning cleaning.
• Festival is centred around worship of Chaturdasa Devata, ancestral deity of the Tripuri people.
• It lasts for seven days, and it takes place at old Agartala in the Fourteen Gods temple known as the ‘Chaturdasha Devata’ temple premises.
• The Kharchi Puja deities do not have a full body; they have only heads which are worshipped.
• On the day of the puja, the fourteen Gods are taken from the temple to the river Saidra by the Chantai members and given bathe with the holy river water, then carried back to the temple.