Kukur Puja: Tihar

Today is second day of Tihar which is Kukur Puja as well as Laxmi Puja. Some years due to the placement of moon and other planets in the universe, some of the pujas fall on the same day.

I will write about Laxmi Puja tonight after I perform my Laxmi Puja at home.

Kukur Puja

The second day of Tihar is called “Kukur Puja” or “Khicha Puja” (“worship of the dogs”) by the Newars.

A dog is considered as man’s best friend and for Hindus, a dog is also considered as the steed of God “Bhairab” as well as Yama’s (God of death) gate keeper. The Hindu epic Mahabharata talks about the close relationship dogs have enjoyed with mankind. According to it, a dog is said to have accompanied Dharmaraj Yudhisthir on his journey to heaven alive. Dogs howling is considered a bad omen as it means that, they saw “Yama” coming to take someone away.

The dog is revered as a faithful and loyal animal which has been in the company of humans since ages. Around the year, dogs help humans by guarding their houses. So on the second day of Tihar, dogs are worshipped by putting tika on their forehead and a garland around their neck. They are offered a delicious meal consisting of meat and other dishes.

People perform the puja on their own dogs if they have one at home; otherwise they perform the puja on stray dogs. On this day you can see many stray dogs with red tika and a flower gland in Nepal.

We don’t have a dog here but my parents have a dog called “Chhotu”.

So I performed my Kukur Puja with his photo. I really am grateful to him that he is there to protect and warn my parents against thieves and the likes.

I miss him so much.I hope we will have our own dog one day to do this puja. 🙂

Happy Tihar!!!