Ranchi, Sept. 22 -- In the heart of Ranchi, as autumn ushers in the festival of Shardiya Navratra, the sound of conch shells mingles with gunfire.
For the Gorkha jawans of Jharkhand Armed Police (JAP-1), Navratra is not only a festival of devotion but also a living tradition that binds faith with discipline and culture with courage.
The roots of this Shakti Puja go back nearly a century and a half. In 1880, the Gorkha Brigade began worshipping Goddess Durga with rituals that combined prayer and weaponry.
When the unit later became the Bihar Military Police, the tradition endured, and after the formation of Jharkhand in 2000, the newly named Jharkhand Armed Police continued it with the same discipline and reverence.
The ritual has become...