28 September,2014 05:49 AM IST | | Chetna Sadadekar
The GSB Sabha Dahisar Borivli creates nine avatars of the goddess for all the nine days of the Navratri festival
GSB Sabha Dahisar Borivali
With the Navratri festival in full swing, pandals in the city have come up with innovative ideas for their theme and décor. The GSB Sabha Dahisar Borivli, which is celebrating the festival near NL Complex, Dahisar East, from September 25 to October 3, is in its seventh year of organising and has come up with some interesting ideas as well.
GSB Sabha Dahisar Borivali used 100 kg of vegetables to decorate the stage at Dahisar East this year. Pic/Nimesh Dave
On Saturday, for the third day of the festival, which is dedicated to Annapurna Devi, the mandal was decorated with 100 kg of vegetables. They will use the veggies as prasad today.
This was for the first time that this mandal came up with the idea of using types of vegetables for decoration. Green leafy vegetables adorned the place.
On the second last day of the festival, a day dedicated to Mahakali Devi, the mandal plans to keep black as the colour of the décor and light thousands of diyas to light up the venue.
Year after year
They did the same thing last year and the traditionally-lit up pandal had attracted a number of visitors. More than one lakh devotees visit the pandal, which is spread over two acres of land. The mandal is also involved in doing Anna Daan (serving food) to all devotees. The huge pandal hosts the nine avtars of the goddess - Saraswati Devi, Mahalaxmi Devi, Annapoorna Devi, Durgaparmeshwari Devi, Shantadurga Devi, Chandika Devi, Vaishnav Devi, Mahakali Devi and Sharda Devi.
These avatars are created by the artists and members of the mandal. "This is a unique way of Navratri celebration. We are the only organisation in Mumbai which creates different avatars of the goddess on all the nine days and celebrate the festival in a traditional way," said Uday Padiyar, General Secretary, GSB Sabha Dahisar Borivali.
