Unusual Practice: Family Worships ‘Ghost’ On Dussehra In Odisha’s Puri

Puri: In a departure from normal practice of worshipping Goddess Durga in different forms during Dussehra, a man performs puja for a ghost in Odisha’s Puri town.

According to Aditya of Harchandisahi in the town, the practice of worshipping ghost has been followed for five generations of his dynasty. He had seen his grandfather performing the puja in his childhood. Subsequently his father followed it and now he is doing the unusual puja during Navratri.

It is known as Hadia ghost puja in the town. The practice was started by Aditya’s great great grandfather Hadibandhu. Hence the name Hadia ghost.

Except the idol which looks like a ghost, all other rituals of Durga puja are performed by Aditya’s family for the Hadia ghost puja. It starts from Saptami (7th day) of Navaratri and continues till Dasami (10th day) when the final puja is performed.

Like Durga puja, the idol of the ghost is adorned with new saree and dresses and decorated with ornaments, flowers and other make-ups. Aditya also performed yajna and offered an elaborate platter of bhog of fruits, dry as well as cooked food of various delicacies to the idol.

Aditya informed that his grandfather Hadibandhu had experienced presence of some unusual power in the house during Dussehra. Believing it to be acts of a ghost, he started performing puja for the unseen spirit. The practice has been followed to save the family from bad influence of the evil spirit, he added.

“Even today I feel the presence of unidentified power in the house while performing puja during Navratri. Though I cannot give any scientific explanation for this, I have been doing the puja due to the age-old practice of my family and my belief in presence of ghosts,” he said.