Ganga puja is a

religious festival A religious festival is a time of special importance marked by adherents to that religion. Religious festivals are commonly celebrated on recurring cycles in a calendar year or lunar calendar. The science of religious rites and festivals is known ...

of the northeastern state of

Tripura Tripura (, Bengali: ) is a state in Northeast India. The third-smallest state in the country, it covers ; and the seventh-least populous state with a population of 36.71 lakh ( 3.67 million). It is bordered by Assam and Mizoram to the east a ...

in India. The tribal

Tripuri people The Tripuri (also known as Tripura, Tipra, Tiprasa, Twipra) are an ethnic group originating in the Indian state of Tripura. They are the inhabitants of the Twipra/Tripura Kingdom in North-East India and Bangladesh. The Tripuri people through t ...

worship the Goddess of the river, and pray to be saved from epidemic diseases and for the well-being of

pregnant women Pregnancy is the time during which one or more offspring develops ( gestates) inside a woman's uterus (womb). A multiple pregnancy involves more than one offspring, such as with twins. Pregnancy usually occurs by sexual intercourse, but ca ...

. The celebration involves building a temple of bamboo in the middle of the river or a water stream. The

River Ganges The Ganges ( ) (in India: Ganga ( ); in Bangladesh: Padma ( )). "The Ganges Basin, known in India as the Ganga and in Bangladesh as the Padma, is an international river to which India, Bangladesh, Nepal and China are the riparian states." is ...

, known locally as Ganga, is one of the fourteen prime deities worshipped in this region. The festival is popularly celebrated throughout the state. The festival is popularly celebrated throughout the state somewhere in March, April or May, with its date fixed according to the Hindu Lunisolar calendar.

Custom

Ganga puja is celebrated after the Navanna festival, which marks the

rice Rice is the seed of the grass species ''Oryza sativa'' (Asian rice) or less commonly ''Oryza glaberrima ''Oryza glaberrima'', commonly known as African rice, is one of the two domesticated rice species. It was first domesticated and grown i ...

harvest. Its date is variable, but falls in March or April. It worships the river goddess of the Ganga, or Ganges, one of the fourteen foremost deities of Tripura. On this occasion, tribal communities assemble on the banks of a stream or river and "pare three pieces of bamboo into beautiful flowers". After this they build a temporary temple in the middle of the stream, also made out of bamboo, and hold celebrations reverently. Adult male geese, goats, and even buffalo are sacrificed to the gods, in the belief that through such offerings the gods may use their power to prevent epidemic diseases. Another purpose of the festival is that the gods are reverently asked to ensure the well-being of

. Throughout the state of Tripura traditional dance forms part of the festival of worship.

Related events

To pay for the festival, financial contributions were levied on the people of the tribes by the priests and those in authority under the hereditary ruler of the state of Tripura. In 1943, these charges were raised from 2 to 4 (

Indian rupee The Indian rupee ( symbol: ₹; code: INR) is the official currency in the republic of India. The rupee is subdivided into 100 ''paise'' (singular: ''paisa''), though as of 2022, coins of denomination of 1 rupee are the lowest value in use wh ...

s), leading to widespread protests against this increase by the tribespeople, but their objections were quelled. Following the

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and

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of what had been

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

in August 1947, the acting ruler of the State of Tripura, the

regent A regent (from Latin : ruling, governing) is a person appointed to govern a state '' pro tempore'' (Latin: 'for the time being') because the monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge the powers and duties of the monarchy ...

Kanchan Prava Devi Maharani Kanchan Prava Devi was a Queen of Tripura as the wife of Bir Bikram Kishore Debbarma, King of Tripura State. After her husband's death in 1947, she was regent of Tripura until it was merged with India in 1949. Life She was the daught ...

, did not accede to the new Union of India,Historical background
at Tripura.gov.in, accessed 8 November 2014 and this began an organized movement in the state called the Mukti Parishad, the aim of which was to end the rule of the Maharajahs of Tripura and establish democracy instead. In 1948 the leader of this movement, Desharrath Debbarma, used the occasion of the Ganga puja to raise funds by charging 1 from each family for the Mukti Parishad. However, the activities of his movement were put down, it became less and less active, and in 1950 it finally merged with the Communist Party. In the meantime, Tripura had acceded to the new India in October 1949.

References

{{reflist Religious festivals in India Festivals in Tripura Hindu festivals Religion in Tripura March observances April observances May observances