The Kumari Puja part of Durga Puja in Belur Math Bengal, associated with Sri Ramakrishna mission, is famous for its annual Kumari Puja observed on the ninth day of Durga Puja.
1308 Bangabda (Bengali Calendar Year) (1901 Gregorian or English Calendar). Preparations for Durga Puja, including the construction of a grand pandal, were underway with great enthusiasm at Belur Math. Swami Vivekananda had long intended to perform Durga Puja, which was to be accompanied by a Kumari Puja (worship of a virgin girl). Being a Sanyasi (monk), he called upon the Mother.
Mother Sarada (Sarada Devi) arrived at Belur Math. Gauri Ma
(one of Sri Sri Ramakrishna's foremost female disciples) decorated and adorned
nine virgin girls. Vivekananda, bowing low to the ground, offered clothes,
water for washing feet, offerings (arghya), and sweets to those Kumari
daughters.
The youngest girl among them was absorbed in her own mood,
in a state of ecstasy. As Swamiji (Vivekananda) applied rakta chandan (red
sandalwood paste) to her forehead, he shuddered and exclaimed, "Alas,
Mother, have I not hurt your third eye!" But to whom was he speaking? That
Mother was then busy happily eating sweets.
That was the first Durga Puja and Kumari Puja held at the
Math.
How is Kumari Puja Performed In Belur Math?
In Kumari Puja, a single girl is usually bathed in sacred
Ganges water and dressed in a fiery-red sari with a red or golden border. She
is then adorned with flowers and jewellery.
The Kumari Puja is performed precisely following the rituals
and rules with which Goddess Durga is worshipped. The offerings and food
dedicated to Goddess Durga are also offered at the feet of the Kumari.
According to the prescribed rites, the Kumari is worshipped and arati (lamp
ceremony) is performed with the chanting of mantras. The monastics offer her
flowers (pushpanjali) and prayers, regarding her as the Mother Goddess.
Greatness of Kumari Puja
The Kumari Devi is the purest, most sattvic form of the
Divine Mother (Bhagavati)—the form in which the Goddess reveals Herself in the
pure mind of the spiritual aspirant. In another sense, the divinity of the
Kumari is perceived in the pure consciousness of the spiritual seeker; the
gross, human vision disappears there. Sri Ramakrishna, the Yugavatar
(Incarnation of the Age), also referred to the Kumari as a part of the Divine
Mother (Bhagavati). He used to say that the Mother-sentiment is a very pure
sentiment. Seeing the manifestation of the divine mood in the Kumari or
worshipping her as the Mother is a perfect expression of that pure sattva
(purity). The ceremony of Kumari Puja during Durga Puja is the scriptural and
practical realization of this sentiment.