Banani Puja Mandap to celebrate Mahalaya digitally tomorrow

Gulshan-Banani Sharbajanin Puja Foundation will celebrate Mahalaya programme on Thursday at a limited scale due to the Covid-19 situation.

The programme will start at around 5:30 am at the puja foundation office beside the Banani puja field where the puja mandap is set up every year.

"Keeping the safety in mind we have taken this decision this year so that we can maintain proper social distance," said President of the organisation Dilip Dasgupta.

"The program will be telecasted live from our Official Facebook Page, YouTube Channel and we are hoping some television channels to cover it as well."

This year at the Mahalaya Program, Gulshan-Banani Sharbajani Puja Foundation plans to pay a tribute to the historical performance of "Mahishashur-Mardini" by Birendra Krishna Bhadra, which was first performed on Kolkata Radio in 1931, that is 90 years ago! The program is designed with Sanskrit shloka recitation (Chandipath) and religious songs which come from one of the oldest running radio shows in the sub-continent, Mahishashura-Mardini (1931), that is still broadcasted by All India Radio, Kolkata at the dawn of Mahalaya every year.

Popular musical artists Pramod Datta, Champa Banik and Chhaya Karmaker will perform at the event, and the audience can enjoy the programme on digital platforms.

The whole purpose of this event is to pray to Goddess Durga for the welfare of the country and its people.

Since 2008, Banani Puja Mandap has been one of the biggest arrangements in the city and also in Bangladesh for the occasion of Durga Puja.