Folk dance contest on Nanda Devi festival eve in Almora

Our Correspondent

Pithoragarh, September 17

A folk dance competition was organised at the historic Nanda Devi ground at Almora today on the eve of the five-day Nanda festival in the town.

Judges witnessed traditional Kumauni dances of “Jhora” and “Chnchari” all day. “We have organised a folk singing and dancing competition as through these songs we please Goddess Nanda Devi,” said Navin Singh Bisht, organiser of the competition.

Chief Minister Harish Rawat will inaugurate the festival at Almora on September 18, while the traditional puja by heirs of the erstwhile Chand Kings of Almora will begin on the morning of September 18 when KC Singh Baba, former Nainital MP and scion of the erstwhile Chand Kings, will solemnise the traditional puja of the royal goddess with his family.

“During all six days of the Nanda festival in Almora, we have organised an aarti at 6.30 pm daily, besides several cultural competitions at different places,” said Bisht.

In Garur subdivision of Bageshwar district, preparations are on for the celebration of the festival at the Kot Bramari Temple. Kot Bramari is considered a form of Nanda Devi as the Chand King, who brought Nanda from Garhwal in the 15th century, was instructed by the goddess that she would also remain at Garur and would be worshipped as such in Almora.

While the people of Champawat, the original capital of Chand Kings, have started preparations for the six-day festival, a team of youths from the Nachni area of Talla (lower) Johar region today set out for high region glaciers to bring “Brahma Kamal” from there. “After reaching a glacier, we will first seek permission from the goddess to collect her flowers and only then pluck them,” said Nain Singh, a devotee from Nachni village.