At Shirgao, goddess to return to temple without pomp

Panaji: A few days after the Shree Devi Lairai Jatra stampede tragedy left six dead and 74 injured, the temple’s ‘kaulotsav’ was subdued, with fewer devotees attending due to the unusual circumstances.
The temple committee decided not to have any procession taking the goddess back to the temple on the last day of the jatra on Tuesday. The procession is usually accompanied by dancing, but this won’t happen this year.
From the second day, the goddess visited each house in the village until she returned to the temple on the fifth day of the jatra. Those who were not able to attend the jatra usually come in large numbers for the ‘kaulotsav’ to seek the blessings of the goddess.
After the stampede, the number of devotees visiting Shirgao reduced to a large extent, but a crowd was still witnessed at the house to seek the goddess’ blessing. Usually, devotees, including ‘dhonds’, special devotees of Lairai, visit for ‘kaulotsav’.
“We saw a decrease in the number of devotees visiting Shirgao for the ‘kaulotsav’ to take the blessing of the goddess,” said a resident, Upendra Goankar.
Temple president Dinanath Gaonkar said that the committee decided to remove all the stalls along the roadside by 8am on Tuesday, and accordingly, the mamlatdar issued the order.
“We have asked people not to come to Shirgao on Tuesday to avoid a crowd. Except for the ‘chowgule’, who are with the goddess throughout the jatra and will accompany the goddess in the temple, nobody else will be allowed inside the temple mandap,” said the temple president.
“Usually, we carry out a procession on the last day from Tisk to the temple, a distance of around 300m, before the goddess is installed in the sanctum. During the procession, people dance on both sides of the goddess, but in view of the stampede, this year, there will be no such procession,” he said.
Six people died and 74 others were injured in a stampede at jatra early on Saturday morning. Three of the deceased — two women and a 16-year-old boy — were identified as ‘dhonds,’ special devotees of the goddess. The stampede, perhaps the first in post-Liberation Goa’s history, occurred on the second day of the five-day jatra that began on Friday.