Odisha Dips In Vishwakarma Puja Fervour; Folklores About The Divine Craftsman

Bhubaneswar: Lord Vishwakarma, the god of architecture, is worshipped all over India and this festival has always been a very popular festival in Odisha. The grandeur of the puja in the port town of Paradip, Rourkela, Cuttack, Hirakud, Nalco Nagar at Angul and other industrial sites are seen to be believed and held with a lot of religious customs and traditions that last for a full week.

Twenty-nine magnificent pandals, depicting Dubai’s Burj Khalifa and Ahmedabad’s Vishnu temple, have been put up in Paradip for Vishwakarma Puja near Jaydev Sandan by Paradip Port authorities and workers’ organisations and boat, dumper and truck owners’ associations. Cultural programmes in the evenings over the next seven days is expected to pull more crowds to the pandals.

Similarly, 19 puja pandals, depicting new Parliament house and cultures of different state, have been erected in Nalco Nagar, Angul, and the celebrations will continue for 8 days.

Workers worship the moustachioed Lord to increase their efficiency and productivity in the fields and factories on the occasion which is followed by two days of merriment and revelry.

It generally marks the last day of the month of Bhadrapada, according to the Hindu calendar. Interestingly, this festival is determined as per the Solar calendar while the other festival dates are based on the Lunar calendar.

Odisha connection

Lord Vishwakarma, the son of Brahma, the chief architect of the world, is a divine craftsman who designed Dwarka, which is now submerged in the Arabian Sea and Maya Sabha for the Pandavas. The ancient cities of Indraprastha, Hastinapur and Lanka were designed by him.

Another popular folklore related to Vishwakarma is that he sculpted the Puri Jagannath idols. He is also attributed to have designed and built several weapons for Gods like Shiva’s Trishul, Vishnu’s Sudarshan Chakra, Ravana’s Pushpak Viman and Indra’s Vajra (thunderbolt).