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Chitragupt Puja 2020: Know The Story, Date, Significance And Puja Vidhi Of This Festival

Every year Chitragupta Puja is celebrated two days after Diwali and this year the festival will be observed on 16 November 2020. It is a day when Kayasthas all over the world celebrate Chitragupta Puja and pray for the well-being of the universe and their loved ones. The festival is also known as the Dawaat (inkpot) Puja.

Chitragupt Puja 2020

Devotees believe that worshipping Lord Chitragupta on the second day of Shukla Paksha (second fortnight according to Hindu Mythology) in the month of Kartik can help in seeking the blessings of Lord Chitragupta, the one who keeps the log of every person's good and bad deeds.

There is a quite interesting story associated with this festival. Read on to find out why people celebrate this festival.

The Story Behind Chitragupta Puja

In Hindu Mythology, it is believed that the entire universe was created by Lord Brahma. He gave the responsibility of deciding which soul should be sent to heaven and hell to LordYama, the God of death. But Lord Yama often used to get confused when souls after leaving their human body came to him. At times he would send evil souls to heaven and good souls to hell. Upon knowing this, Lord Brahma confronted Lord Yama and asked him to stay cautious.

To this Lord Yama replied, 'It is hard to keep a track of different living beings born in different life forms in the three world." Lord Brahma, therefore, started to look for a solution to this problem.

It is said that after this Lord Brahma created his 16 sons from his different body parts and went to meditate for a long time. Upon completion of his meditation, Lord Brahma opened his eyes and saw a divine man with broad shoulders and long neck standing in front of him. The divine man was holding inkpot and pen his hands. Seeing the man, Lord Brahma asked the man, 'Who are you?"

The man said, "I was born from your belly. Kindly give me a name and assign me a duty."

"Since you were born from my Kaya (body), you will be known as Kayastha and I assign you the duty of keeping the track record of the good and bad deeds of every human being." Since Kayastha was first conceived in the 'chit' (mind) of Lord Brahma and was later kept 'gupt' (in secrecy), he came to be known as Chitragupta.

Lord Chitragupta therefore, keeps the track of every person's deeds and judges the lives of living beings based on their deeds. He then decides if a particular soul should be rewarded with Nirvana (the completion of life cycles and end of the worldly problems) or punished for their evil deeds.

Puja Items Needed For Chitragupta Puja

In order to worship the Lord and seek his blessings, you will be needing a few items. Those things are as follow:

Sandalwood paste, dhoop, rice, kapoor (camphour), paan (betel leaves), Ganga Jal, fruits, yellow mustard, honey, sweets, gur (jaggery), aadi (ginger), clean cloth, milk, panchpatra (plate made up of five metals), tulsi leaves, sugar, ghee, roli, sindoor (vermillion), haldi(turmeric), pen, ink, paper, betel nut, deep, agarbatti and dahi.

Puja Vidhi For Chitragupta Puja

1. Before starting the puja, you need to clean the puja room first of all. Thereafter wash the idol of Lord Chitragupta with water and then give another bath with rose water.
2. After this, lit a Diya of ghee and put it in front of the idol. Then, prepare panchamitra using Dahi, milk, honey, sugar and ghee. Now take a plate and place few sweets and fruits as prasad.
3. Now you need to make Guraadi which is prepared from mixing Gur (jaggery) and adrak (ginger).
4. Take abir (red color), sindoor (vermillion), haldi (turmeric) and sandalwood paste to make a Swastika sign on the ground.
5. Put some rice on the Swastika and then place a Kalash of water on the Swastika. Put tulsi leaves in the water.
6. Mix Roli, vermillion, and sandalwood paste to apply a tilak on the idol.
7. Light the Agarbatti (incense sticks) and lamps filled with Ghee. Read the holy book of Chitragupta puja. After the completion of Katha, perform aarti with camphour, sprinkle rice on the idol and offer flowers. Now take plain new paper & make Swastik with roli-ghee, then write the name of five gods & goddess with a new pen.

Significance Of Chitragupta Puja

Kayasthas all over the world celebrate this festival to seek blessings in the form of justice, peace, knowledge and literacy from Lord Chitragupta. They also worship books, pens and inkpots to signify the importance of study and literacy in every human. During the puja, the earning members of the family are said to present their logbooks to the Lord Chitragupta and write the extra amount they earned in the entire year along with the amount they would be needing to run their household.

Wish you a Happy Chitragupt Puja!

Story first published: Saturday, November 14, 2020, 15:43 [IST]