An Ordinary Human

Saturday, 3 October 2026

Our family holds an ancient tradition of doing the Jita puja as it's colloquially called in the region we hail from and currently live in - the area in Jharkhand surrounding the districts of Purulia, Bankura and Pashchim Medinipur of West Bengal and in the vicinity of Jamshedpur.

People call this puja with different names, viz., JitaAshtami, Jimutvahan puja, Jiutvahan puja or Jivitputrika vrat, etc.

This puja has very close similarities to the famous Chhat puja observed by Bihari folks worldwide. But the deities are different where the God / demigod Jimutvahan is Suryaputra (son of Sun god) and chhat's main goddess is Chhathi Maiya.

The first day, gram is soaked in a huge kalash and decorated with some specific plants with their roots or leaves - like Maan leaf, Shaluk flower with the stem, etc.

Second day the puja happens. Idols are made at home, jimutvahan riding on his horse, accompanied by Jackal and Shakuni (a big bird resembling something between an eagle and a vulture).

This year's idols that we made are below.

For the puja, a chamber is created inside which various kinds of rooted plants are put. Sugarcane, Turmeric, Mango leaves, Dumur, Pakur and many other types of plant and roots are put in the chamber which is either made of bricks and clay or some other object to hold all the plants. Then it is decorated with Shaluk flower and other flowers.

Below is this year's setup we did in our terrace's Tulsi podium.

Once puja is done, a Jagor Pradeep (earthen lamp for night) is kept alight for the whole night.

This puja is for betterment and wellness of kids in the cultural/ religious context.

The third day is the most exciting day as it is the Paaran day or Panna day when the idols are immersed in water. For that, all the plants are taken, sugarcane is cut into pieces, idols are taken along with all the eatables given on 2nd day to a nearby pond or river. Once the idols are immersed, on the shore of the pond or river, prasad is made from those eatables. It feels so tasty when I remember my childhood days when this used to happen. And the thrill of bathing in pond. It used to be so much fun with everyone celebrating the Panna.

Jita Puja

Posted by Subham | No comments

People call this puja with different names, viz., JitaAshtami, Jimutvahan puja, Jiutvahan puja or Jivitputrika vrat, etc.

The first day, gram is soaked in a huge kalash and decorated with some specific plants with their roots or leaves - like Maan leaf, Shaluk flower with the stem, etc.

Second day the puja happens. Idols are made at home, jimutvahan riding on his horse, accompanied by Jackal and Shakuni (a big bird resembling something between an eagle and a vulture).

This year's idols that we made are below.