Odisha unmarried girls and also married woman celebrate the sacred traditional Khudurukuni Osha this week by worshiping Goddess Mangala for the welfare of their brothers. Khudurukuni Osha has a socio-cultural connection with Odisha.
History and Back ground of this Tapoi Osha
Once upon a time, in the family of a wealthy merchant ‘sadhava’ and his wife had seven sons, seven daughters-in-law and one daughter named Taipoi, who was loved by everyone as she was the youngest. Once Taipoi was playing with her friends, a widowed brahmin came and teased her for playing like an ordinary girl, being a daughter of a ‘sadhava’ family, and asked her to play with Sunachand (moon made of gold) instead. Taipoi went to his parents and demanded that they make a gold moon for him Her parents happily agreed. But within a few days his father died and the hope of ‘Chand’ remained unfulfilled. Taipoi became an orphan and neglected. Gradually, the financial condition of the family deteriorated. When the trading season came, all his brothers left for sea voyage Earlier, they ordered their wives to take care of their only sister. But, one day that wicked widow came to the Brahmin Sadhav’s house. Acting on his advice, the sisters-in-law began to abuse Taipoi The elder sister-in-law forced Taipoi to take care of the cattle and goats. Taipoi went to the forest to graze the goats, but on his way back, seeing a goat named Gharmani missing, the brothers-in-law forced Taipoi to go to the forest despite the heavy rain to find the goat. That rainy evening, Taipoi was looking for goats in a dark, dense forest when he came across some unmarried girls who were ‘mangla puja’. She started worshiping the goddess with them and prayed for the safety and speedy return of his brothers. Goddess Mangala was pleased with his prayers and sincerity and Taipoi got back his lost goat and his brothers also quickly returned from their foreign journey.
Tapoi Osha or Puja Bidhi
Unmarried girls gather in groups at a common place and worship Maa Mangala on an image called ‘patti’ or a clay idol of Maa Mangala as a ‘Bhalukuni’ goddess. Various flowers, fruits and other decorations are offered along with seven handfuls of sand and seven apamarangas along with unripe and ripe bananas.
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