Wednesday, November 07, 2012

Ram Lila and Durga Puja

Ram Lila is performed over a period of 9 days before Dussehra in Northern India. During these 9 days, the great Hindu epic Ramayana is performed portraying the life of Lord Rama.

The scene is where Lord Ram's brother Laxman is critically injured by Ravan's son Indrajeet

Enjoy these pictures of the Ram Lila performance in South City 1, Gurgaon. I was told that that there were only two Ram Lila performances happening in this part of Gurgaon and this was the better of the two. I would suggest everyone to attend this performance live to actually enjoy it fully. 

The wise Jaamwant suggesting Hanuman to find Sukhen vaidya

Hanuman contemplating on how to get Sanjeewani booti

The mighty king, Ravan

I guess this was a good crowd for a city like Gurgaon

After this, we left for a Durga Puja Pandal put up near Mariott Courtyard in Sushant Lok. Durga Puja is celebrated in the hindu  month of Ashwin for a period of 10 days and commemorates Lord Rama's invocation of goddess Durga  before going to war with the demon king, Ravana.

Goddess Durga flanked by Ganesha, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kathikeya
I have never been to a Durga Puja Pandal before and always assumed that there must be a sincerely spiritual aura inside them. However, I must admit that I was seriously disappointed when I entered this pandal only to find that only a small part of the pandal was dedicated to the goddess. Major area was occupied by huge crowd enjoying some cheeky bollywood songs sung by a female artist.

Beauitful but fiery Durga killing Mahishasur

The blood red eyes of the goddess