“Pitrupaksh”

7 October 2010 02:30 pm

An Indian Hindu devotee performs “Tarpan”, a ritual to pay obesience to ones forefathers, on the last day of “Pitrupaksh” - days for offering prayers to ancestors on the banks the river Mahananda in Siliguri on October 7, 2010. In Hindu mythology, this day is also called 'Mahalaya' and described as the day when the gods created the ten armed goddess Durga to destroy the demon king Asura who plotted to drive out the gods from their kingdom. The five-day period of worship of Durga, who is attributed as the destroyer of evil, commences on October 13 and ends October 17. AFP