India, Sept. 30 -- Agartala: Thousands of devotees gathered on Tuesday at Ramakrishna Mission in Tripura's Agartala, to witness the 'Kumari Puja', the worship of the Mother Goddess in her imagined virgin form, on the auspicious occasion of Durga Puja.
Kumari Puja remains an extremely popular ritual and a distinctive aspect of Durga Puja celebrations in Tripura.
Besides the Ramakrishna Mission in Agartala, several other community Puja organisers also perform this form of worship for the Mother Goddess.
Traditionally, people worship a minor girl, usually between six and sixteen years old, as the living embodiment of divine feminine energy on this day.
This year, organisers selected 7-year-and-11-day-old Swarnamita Chakraborty, a resident...