Malkangiri Shines Bright with Festive Lights of Kali Puja and Diwali

Malkangiri, 28th Oct 2025:  Kali Puja and Diwali festivals were celebrated with great pomp and enthusiasm at various places across Malkangiri district. In particular, the Malkangiri Town Kali Puja Committee, which has been organizing the worship of Goddess Kali for the past 58 years at the Municipal Council building premises, constructed a unique and artistically designed gate (torana) for this year’s celebration.

Public puja committees from several areas — including Dandakaranya Playground, the Municipal Kali Puja Committee, Reclamation Colony, Ramakrishna Nagar, MV-7 Jagannath Palli, Damsite, Korukonda, Balimela, Chitrakonda, Kalimela, Padia, MV-79, MV-19, Mathuli, and Govindapalli — set up beautifully decorated pandals and gates where idols of Goddess Kali were installed and worshipped.

Starting at midnight on Monday, rituals were performed to worship the Goddess in ten different forms, and offerings were made to her. Several pandals hosted devotional music (bhajan) programmes, while others featured local dramas and cultural performances.

The MV-7 Sarbajanin Palli Mangala Kali Puja Committee celebrated the festival with particular grandeur. On Monday, hundreds of women collected holy water from the sacred Tamasa River and carried it in a grand procession around the village before placing auspicious water pots (jal kalashas) in the temple. Priests and scholars conducted the homa, yajna, and other rituals according to tradition.

Every evening near the puja pandals, baul songs, devotional gatherings, and mass prasad distribution were organized for devotees. Mini fairs (mina bazaars), circuses, and a variety of stalls were also set up, providing entertainment and joy to visitors and devotees. Large crowds thronged the pandals, and arrangements were made by the puja committees for all to partake in the prasad.

Meanwhile, Diwali was also celebrated with equal fervor across the district last night and tonight. In many places, people burst firecrackers, lit oil lamps, and called upon Goddess Lakshmi to bless their homes, while some temples observed special pind daan and shraddha rituals in a spirit of devotion.