Durga Puja 2018: This is the reason why soil from a prostitute's brothel is used to make Durga's idol
While the people of the North are celebrating Navratri prior to Dusshera, the people of the East are gearing up for the holy Durga Puja. A lot of practises and rituals are practised during the festival, there are few rituals that do not have a clear explanation as to why they are an age-old tradition. The most common amongst those is the practise of using soil from outside a prostitute's house to create Durga's idol.
This practise might seem as one of the hypocrital tradition of the society as all over the year the prostitutes are looked down by the people but suddenly when the season of Navratri or Durga Puja comes, they are entertained with respect and smiles. As per the Hindu tradition, when the idol of Goddess Durga are prepared, four things are very important that include- mud from the banks of the Ganga, cow dung, cow urine and soil from outside the prostitute’s land which is known as Nishiddho Pallis without which the idol is considered imcomplete.
Here are few reasons why this ritual is practised:
1. It is believed that the soil from outside a sex-worker's home is considered holy and that is why the priest of the temple had to go at the doorstep of a brothel and beg for the mud for the Durga idol. While a prostitute handover the mud to the priest, he had to enchant some mantras. The priest had to keep begging for the soil if they deny.
2. There is another reason why the punya maati is taken which says that while one visits a brothel, they leave their virtue and piousness at the doorstep and enter the sin's world. This is the reason why this soil is taken because it is believed to have all the virtue and piety of all those people who visit.
3. Another reason revolves around a mythological story between Maa Durga and Mahishasur, when the latter tried to put hands on her diginity and molested her which made the Goddess angry due to which she used all her powers to destroy him and all those who look down upon women and this is the reason why using the brothel's soil is treated as a respect for women who have been looked down and humiliated by society.
4. Durga Puja is a festival of all where people from all sections of the society come together and worship God. During these days, prostitutes are well-treated and welcomed to every Durga pandal.
First published: 25 September 2017, 14:17 IST