Festivals of West Tripura

Ker Puja, Kharachi Puja, Saraswati Puja, Druga Puja, Kali Puja, Shiv Puja, Dol Puja, Rath Jatra, Laxmi Puja, Poush Sankranti, Id-ud-Zuha, Good Friday, Easterday, New Year's day, Ganesh Puja Chaitra Sankranti, Manasa Puja, First baishakh, Biswakarma Puja, Rash Lila, Charak Puja, basanti Puja, Jhulan Jatra, Janmastami, Christmas day, Burdebta Moharram, Bishub Parab, Ganga Puja, Garia Puja, Sitala Puja, Nabanna, Birthday of Swami Vivekananda, Bishahari Puja.

Kharchi Festival
Kharch puja of this territory is performed with great joy and devotion. No other festival in Tripura is held with so much pomp and show as this. It is also called 'Chaturdash' or 'Chaudda Devata Puja'. The place where the festival fair is held is, known as 'Chaturdash Devata' or 'Chaudda Devatas bari, Old Agartala, the second capital of His Highness Krishna Manikya. The old Agartala was the capital of the former rulers of Tripura and 'Chaturdash Devata' were their family deities. When the capital was shifted to Agartala from old Agartala, the family deities were, however, left there for reasons not known. The then rulers of Tipura, however, appointed a group of tribal priests for the worship of these fourteen Gods. From that time onward the Gods are being daily worshipped. But in the month of Ashar (June-July) on the eighth day of the moonlit period (Suklastami), a special worship known as


Kharchi Puja
begins which continues for seven days. As regards genesis of the deities it is believed that in the hoary past there was a king named Tripur who used to rule this land and after whom the place was named as Tripura. It is said that he was very cruel and oppressive towards the subjects. The tyranny and oppression of the king became so intolerable that his subjects lodged protest against him to Lord Siva, who being pleased with their prayers and worship, killed the king Tripur. Though the king was killed, the suffering and miseries of the people instead of abating aggravated, as they were left without a king. They once again prayed to Lord Siva for a king. Lord Shiva was pleased and said that soon the widow queen of Tripur, 'Harabati' would be blessed with a son, who would rule the kingdom to the satisfaction of all. He, however, directed the queen and others to worship daily the following Gods : hara (Lord Siva), Uma (Wife of Lord Siva), hari (Lord bishnu), Ma (Lakshmi), Bani (Saraswati), Kumar (Kartikaya), Ganesh (Siddidata), Brahma (creator of Universe), Prithi (Goddess of Earth), Samudra (God of Ocean), Ganga (Goddess of Ganges), Agni (God of Fire) Kamdev (God of Love and Romance), and Himalaya (God of all Hills). During Kharchi Puja another Goddess, namely 'Burama' is worshipped by a tribal priest.

The deity is made of stone nd kept in a separate hut which is open on all sides and constructed on a pucca plinth. All the year round the deity is kept these, although-worship is done only during Kharchi Puja. Every woman specially married ones after vermilion and lights candle in front of Burama with a fervent hope of being blessed with children. It is believed that ven a barren woman who offers Puja to Burama is blessed with children. The most redeeming feature of the Kharchi Puja is the sacrifice of thousands of the goats offered by religious minded people of all castes and creeds. This act of sacrifice is performed by a special group of priests known as Galim. Body of the animal after being sacrificed, is given back to the person who brings it, while the head is retained by the Galims. After each sacrifice, some quantity of blood and pieces of flesh of animal are offered to fourteen gods.

Ker Festival
Probably the most outstanding and at the same time peculiar festival of Tripura is the Ker Puja. it is held just after a fortnight of Kharchi Puja. The worship for 'ker' is held only one the first Tuesday or Saturday after fourteen days of Kharchi Puja. It seems that the worship of ke has a direct link with the worship of Kharchi, because the ker is also worshipped by 'Chantai' the chief of the priests of old Agartala. In the performance of this worship a particular place is earmarked which is known as ker Chaumuhani at Agartala and it is demorcated from rest of the places by a bamboo fence. This festival is also held in several tribal villages of Tripura where 'Ojhai' (tribal priest) performs the worship. The main feature of this festival is the worship of a long invoked bamboo which is locally known as nagri Pura.