Basant panchami(Saraswati puja)

Basanta Panchami / Saraswati Puja :

Basanta Panchami or Saraswati Puja is celebrated Throughout Orissa on Magha Shukla Panchami (January - February). People and specially students worship Goddess Saraswati and celebrate this festival with great enthusiasm.

The Deity of Saraswati
Saraswati, the goddess of wisdom, art and music. The worship of Saraswati is prevalent since the age of the “Vedas”. During the Puranic age her form was conceived and accordingly images were built. Clad in white, She rides a white swan while playing a 'veena'. White is the sign of her purity.

In Her four hands She holds a stylus, a book and plays a veena (flute) with two. The stylus and the book signify learning and the veena, music. She is seated on a lotus, which signifies beauty and heavenly origin. The swan is the vehicle as of Her father Brahma.

Time For The Festivity
This festival, held on the fifth day of the bright fortnight of the lunar month of Magha is mostly celebrated in the educational institutions. Students observe fasting since morning, wear new garments and propitiate the Goddess to bestow them with learning and eloquence. They offer 'Puspanjali' (handful of flowers) to the deity and then break their fast.

Images of the deity are built by traditional clay-modelers, who are famous in the country for their artistic skill. They make hundreds of such images small and big, for sale. In the evening cultural programmes and feasts are arranged as a part of the celebration. The next day, the images are taken in procession to nearby tanks or rivers for immersion.