21 Kanjak Pujan (with video graph)

Navaratri days are here, let’s do Kanjak on Ashtami: 

With celebrations of Navaratri, I am reminded of my days in North India, when my daughter bathed and got ready early in the morning on Ashtami day to accompany her friends as they were invited in many neighborhood households for Kanjak, a ritual very popular in North India as young girls that had not attained puberty were invited to be worshipped, fed with delicacies like puri, halwa and were given gifts or money. I remember the glow in my daughter’s eyes as she felt proud that she had some money to spend all by herself and it was her very own. 

Navaratri celebrated twice in North India as Chaitra Navaratri and Vasant Navaratri, the first falling in the month of September/October and the other in the month of March/April have a great significance to the worship of Devi the feminine power that brings about courage in the mind, wealth prosperity, knowledge and spiritual wisdom in the form of Goddesses Durga, Laxmi and Saraswati. 

Understanding what is Kanjak or Kanya Pooja: 

Navaratri as it is celebrated in the month of September/October is the period when Goddesses Durga, Laxmi and Sarawati did penance sitting on a needle to get enough strength to slay the demon Mahisuran, who was causing havoc to everyone. It is said that finally on Vijaydasami Day they were able to get victory by slaying him that signifies the importance given to this day as important to start learning any art, study or any new venture. 

Kanjak is a ritual that is carried on either on Ashtami/Navami day in both Navaratris, after a 7/8 days fast with eating only restricted foods and abstaining from eating non-vegetarian foods, abstaining from alcohol and smoking at times. With a purity of mind and spirit, it is on this day that puri, halwa, chana and subji are prepared and young girls that have not attained puberty are given a feast. 

It provides a festive spirit with color and grandeur to see young girls dressed in finery with colorful lhenga and choli and matching accessories to go with it. These girls are considered as a form of the divine; Devi, and are invited into home in the neighborhood. Their feet are washed, with alta sometimes being applied and then a red thread in tied on their hands in an auspicious fashion. Tikka in red is applied on the forehead of each young girl and they are worshipped as the divine and their blessings are taken with each child patting the head. Sometimes family members also touch the feet of each girl child. 

Celebrated in most households in Chandigarh, Haryana, Punjab, Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh, it is a pleasant warming sight to see these girls being fed with delicacies, given gifts in the form of necklaces, handkerchiefs with money. It is still more heartwarming to see the smiles in the eyes of these young children as they boost to their friends and family of all the things they got and enjoyed eating.