The Daily Pioneer
INDIA, October 5, 2003: Pujaries have been invoking Maa Durga on behalf of others for decades, but their prayers are yet to be answered. While most manage to keep on in their profession, their progeny are not willing to take up priesthood anymore. Their sole complaint — thousands are spent on decorating the puja pandals (worship places set up for the Durga festival), thousands are spent on clothes, jewelry and travel for puja, but the priests have to struggle with clients to get their due. “In pujas at any home we spend two to three hours per house while chanting the slokas, but what we get is merely US$2 to $10,” says priest Bhanuprasad Pandey. The priest at the various puja pandals fare slightly better and may earn up to $40 for their services of nine days — which is one of their best jobs for the year. The poor payments are discouraging the younger generations. “If we offer puja in two to three houses during Durga Puja, we hardly earn around $10 to $20. Even a laborer gets $2 per day. What is the benefit of carrying out this traditional job when it is unable to feed our family?” asks priest Navin Dubey. At the famous Baidyanath Temple of Deogarh, where more than three million people visit every year, the next generation of Pandas has gone into other professions like rickshaw-pulling, working in shops as laborers, etc.