Bishohori Puja at Nartiang Village in Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya – Bishohori Puja Dedicated to Snake Goddess

Bishohori Puja is quite similar to the Manasa Devi Puja observed in Bengal. The puja is dedicated to Snake Goddess and is very popular in the Nartiang Village in Jaintia Hills of Meghalaya. The puja and ritual on the day is dedicated to Goddess Bishohori or Monosha, who is worshipped as the Mother of Snakes.

The ritual is observed during the Bhadrapad Krishna Paksha Panchami Tithi or the fifth day during the waning phase of moon as per Hindu lunar calendar followed in North India.

Times of India reports

The temple of Bishohori was built by the ancient Jaintia Kings. Bishohori literally means one who takes away poison.

"The Jaintia kings had inculcated this ritual from the plains of erstwhile undivided Bengal bordering their kingdom of Jaintiapur," said Naba Bhattacharjee, working president of the Central Puja Committee.

"The kings had integrated this borrowed ritual with their own traditional form of worship, which can be witnessed even today among the followers at Nartiang, patronized by the Doloi (traditional village headman) and performed by Lyngdohs (the priests)," Bhattacharjee, who had witnessed the traditional puja of Bishohori, added.

In fact, the Bishohori puja is performed in almost every household in this historic village with much more pomp and grandeur than the annual Durga Puja.