18 Mar 2023 | 05:52am IST
Shidiyotsav and Gadyotsav festival celebrated in Balli with great enthusiasm
Hundreds of devotees took blessings of Shree Shantadurga Ballikarin and received Kaul prasad from GODO Gadyotsavam of Shree Shantadurga
Vijay Dessai
Annual Shidiyotsav and Gadyotsav
festival of Sree Shantadurga Ballikarin Sansthan in Balli was celebrated with
great enthusiasm and religious spirit. On March 16th, around 8:30 in the
morning, the Traditional GODO was raised on the wooden LATH (horizontal wooden
log tied right angles to Vertical wooden bar) erected in front of the temple.
Godo was tied face down to earth on a horizontal log and was swung from clock
to anti clock wise. After that, the devotees present accepted Kaul Prasad from
the hands of the godo.
This festival is ancient and has great
meaning. The Mahajans of Ballikarin have a unique ritual of GODO bhetovni which
means every boy takes the blessing from Goddess on the day of Godetsov . They
pin a needle and thread to the abdomen of the boy and they fast and offer
prayers to the Kuldevi.
This festival has rich History .Devotees
present their worries and problems before the Goddess Ballikarin and ask
blessings to resolve the problems they are facing and ask for blessings to
fulfill their wishes .It is believed that devotees get what they ask from the
goddess. In fact it’s a five day festival which started from March 13 and ended
yesterday.
As part of festival Gulalotsav was
celebrated yesterday in the morning and at night Rituals of Galkhamb and Garane
were performed.
This festival has a special importance and
the Mahajans of Devi perform the ritual of offering their children to the
Goddess. A LATH wooden log wave was installed in front of the temple after a
special ritual and then on the day of Gadayotsava, the GODO give blessings to
devotees and ask godess blessings on all devotees. On Monday 13th, a procession
of Devi was taken out in Vijayaratha.
On Tuesday 14th, on the day of divjotsav,
women offered divaj to the goddess. At night Devi was taken out in a procession
on a lion chariot. On Wednesday 15th morning, after the completion of the
religious rituals, a procession of Devi was taken out on Maharatha. Devi’s
Mahajans, Kulavi, participated in the Maharatha procession. On Thursday the 16th,
the famous Gadeutsav of the Goddess was celebrated with great fanfare.
Thousands of devotees were present on this occasion.
The President of the Sansthan Committee,
Nilesh Phal Desai, Nitin Phal Desai, Sreejit Phal Desai and Sameer Phal Desai
and other Mahajans worked hard to make Shidayotsav a success.
