User:Vyumyum/Bhagwati puja

Bhagwati puja is a puja to invoke the Godess Durga in all her different incarnations. It is performed by the Palghat Brahmins of Kerala and is normally conducted in the evening. This puja requires a good deal pf preparation in terms of the material required for the puja and the prasad that needs to be prepared before the puja

Priests from Tattamangalam performed the puja in Coimbatore and as they recited the Lalitha Sahasranamam and Durga ashtakam and other Devi slokas, they decorated the area around the kuthu Vilakku, (the traditional lamp that is used in all south indian religious pujas), to form a beautiful portrait of the devi itself.

As the priest chants the prayers the devotees present do the namaskarams (shastanga namaskaram) at the completion of every few lines of the slokas. At the end of the puja, as the priest chants the last few stanzas (the 11th chapter of mahatmvamand) then lights the aarti, it the culmination of the puja after which prasad is distributed.