Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
KOLKATA, INDIA, September 2010: Just a few weeks before Durga Puja (Navaratri), several families of the city are organizing training camps for priests to bring authenticity into community pujas. While the old family pujas still follow tradition rigorously, when it comes to community pujas, the general complaint is that the piety gets drowned in merrymaking and that even priests take it easy.
The training camps are trying to bring back authenticity to community pujas. One such camp is on in full swing at the Daw family mansion at Girish Park. The camp is being conducted by Sanskrit scholars like Murari Mohan Bendanto Tirthaand Jayanta Kushari. At least 150 priests were being instructed why they should not take tea breaks in between the pujas and how to get the Sanskrit accents right. “The magic of the mantras lies in the diction. The right mantras will make you feel the presence of the divine, they are so powerful,” said Kushari.