Today Is Kojagrat Purnima: Bidding Farewell To Dashain, Welcoming Lakshmi Today is Kojagrat Purnima; the Bada Dashain festival is being concluded, and Goddess Lakshmi is being welcomed.
On the occasion of Kojagrat Purnima, people stay awake throughout the night to worship and offer prayers to Mahalakshmi, the Goddess of wealth and prosperity. With this day, the 15-day-long ‘Durga Paksha’—the great Nepali festival of Bada Dashain—comes to an end.
This evening, devotees worship Mahalakshmi—a manifestation of Durga—and stay awake throughout the night. It is a religious belief that by doing so, Lakshmi enters the home and bestows upon it wealth and prosperity.
The tradition of receiving “tika” and “jamara”, which begins on “Ashwin Shukla Dashami”—also known as “Vijaya Dashami”—concludes on the day of “Ashwin Shukla Purnima”, or “Kojagrat Purnima”.
Early in the morning, all the “phul-prasad” (sacred offerings of flowers and plants) and “jamara” from the “Dashain-ghar” are taken to a nearby river, lake, pond, or other sacred water body and immersed.
Starting tomorrow, the “Kartik Snan” (ritual bathing during the month of Kartik) begins, and there is a tradition of lighting and offering “Akashdeep” (lamps placed on high poles). This period is also viewed as a transition—marking the end of the Dashain holidays and the beginning of preparations for Tihar.
According to scriptural tradition, those observing the ‘Kartik Snan’ (ritual bathing during the month of Kartik) must abstain—from today until the full moon day of the bright fortnight of Kartik—from consuming split pulses and legumes, such as black gram, mung beans, lentils, chickpeas, and soybeans.