A ritual that makes priest seek soil from a Prostitute's land
In India, religions and rituals are celebrated like a year full of festival. While each one has their own explanation to each ritual, a lot of these mysterious are only age old practices celebrated in the name of Religion.
Among other unexplainable practices is a practice of using soil from the land of sex workers to prepare Durga Idols in Kolkata. Those who are barely considered a part of the society, women with no character are pleaded to lend soil to make idols. What’s ironic is – the purest of men on earth, at least on the land of India are the beggars – The priest visit the brothels of these women and seek soil.
While she procures the sand, the priest enchants vedic mantras. It is believed that even if she denies, the priest has to keep begging for the soil.
According to Hindu rituals, for the preparation of Durga idol, four things are of utmost importance- mud from the banks of the Ganga, cow urine, cow dung and soil from a prostitute’s land or Nishiddho Pallis (forbidden terrorities).
Together the mixture constitutes the sacred idol of Goddess Durga; without the sand from a prostitutes’ land, the idol is considered incomplete. Now that gives me chills!
This one tradition has been going on for years, but no one knows the exact reason why it started.
It is considered that the soil from the prostitute’s land is the purest because it beholds the virtue and purity of those who visited the place. It is said that whenever a man visits a prostitute, he leaves behind his purity and virtue on her doorstep.
So, all the pureness gets accumulated outside her house. Hence, this ‘punya maati’ becomes an unavoidable element in the Durga Maa murti.
It is believed that the path they have chosen to lead their life is a sin in itself, and for that reason including the soil of their land for Durga idol making, purifies them in the process.
Amazes me the land of goddesses that begs a prostitute on one day while the rest calls her dirty, cheap and characterless.
-PTC News
