Over 10K earthen lamps to be lit up at Baje Kadamtala Ghat

Kolkata: The people of Bengal no longer need to visit Varanasi every year to witness Dev Deepawali from now on as the Bengal government has decided to organise a similar programme in the city itself.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is expected to join the programme this year.

This is for the first time Dev Deepawali is being organised in Kolkata. It will be celebrated through various cultural programmes. More than 10,000 earthen lamps will be lit up at the Baje Kadamtala Ghat on the occasion of Dev Deepawali on November 26 and 27.

Kolkata Municipal Corporation (KMC) is organizing the event. It is taking all arrangements to light up 10,000 lamps at the Baje Kadamtala ghat. More than 6,000 people will be served “luchi” (a kind of chapati made with flour). The senior KMC officials believe that the event will soon be a major attraction for people not only from Bengal but also across the country.

Sources said that singer-turned-MLA Aditi Munshi will perform at Dev Deepawali on November 27. A senior KMC official said that Dev Deepawali will be organised in Kolkata every year from now onward. The entire programme will be divided in three phases ~ taking a dip in the river Hooghly (Ganga), lighting of lamps and Aarti of River Hooghly.

There is a difference between Dev Deepawali and Diwali. Though both are festivals of lights but are extremely different in rituals. The festival is also known by the name of Tripurotsav and is observed on the day of Kartik Purnima (the full moon day for the Hindus).

Celebrated every year in the sacred city of Varanasi, Dev Deepawali or Dev Diwali, marks Lord Shiva’s victory over demon Tripurasur and comes after 15 days of Diwali.

Sources in the KMC said that there are plans to organise the event in a grand manner. People in large numbers from the city are expected to congregate on the banks of Hooghly. Following the instruction of the Chief Minister, the KMC has already started Ganga Aarti at Baje Kadamtala Ghat in Kolkata similar to that of Varanasi.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee in March this year marked the beginning of Ganga Aarti for the first time in the state from Baje Kadamtala Ghat. People of the state no longer need to travel to Varanasi to witness the grand spectacle.