For the first time, the presiding deity at Sri Durga Malleswara Swamyvarla Devasthanam appeared as Maha Chandi Devi on the fifth day of Dasara festivities on Thursday. Much to the surprise of the devotees, the Vaidic committee has done away with the Swarna Kavachalankrita Durga Devi to introduce Maha Chandi Devi.
Usually, the deity will be decorated as Swarna Kavachalankrita Durga Devi alanakaram on the first day of festivities to mark that the goddess Durga Devi showering her choicest blessings on king Madhava Varma, who ruled Vijayavatikapuri (now Vijayawada) and was an ardent devotee of Kanaka Durga. Appreciative of the King’s devotion to Her, Goddess Kanaka Durga resurrected the dead boy and showered gold on the city for a while. It was then that She got the name Kanaka Durga and had since then has been worshiped as ‘Swarnakavachalankrita Kanaka Durga Devi’.
Devotees believe that by having Her darshan, all forms of deprivation will go away. The Vaidic Committee, however, discontinued the tradition, which has been followed for decades.
The Vaidic Committee says that the new alankaram was introduced in view of issues such as Adhika sravanam thithi etc. But, when a similar situation had arisen in 2016, the Kanaka Durga temple priests introduced Katyayani alankaram but the Swarana Kavachalankrita Devi alankaram was not discontinued. The Dasara festivities were organised for 11 days then due variations in ‘tithi’ as per the Telugu almanac is attributed as the reason for deviation from the usual nine-day or 10-day festival. Katyayani Devi is one of the incarnations of the goddess waging a bitter battle with ‘asuras’ (demons). Hence, it was one of the 11 alankarams in 2016 said temple priests.
The priests said that Maha Chandi Devi is the most powerful Goddess, and worshiping her on the fifth day is akin to worshiping Aadi Shakti. She is believed to give prosperity, education, and courage to face tough situations in life, the priests said.
