[Pennant1970]

We used to do Ayudha Pooja in the family as long as my paternal grandfather was alive. After his demise in 1988, our traditional observances fell by the wayside, one by one. Even though we used to do Pooja for our books and educational materials on Ashtami (to be restarted on Vidyarambham or Vijayadashami), that too fell out of observance over the years. Even Onam went the way of negligence. The only religious milestone we still seem to observe is Vishu.

Not that we have stopped being believers - but over the last couple of decades, religion has become more about display, competition and confrontation in our society that we have made our faith completely private and personal. We have a temple nook in our home, go to a couple of nearby temples where we know the crowds are sparse and we keep our opinions to ourselves.

[innqubus]

The day where we can 'officially' shower our love to our machines.
My red and black

[RGK]

Originally Posted by Geta

Hindus in Tamil Nadu celebrate Ayudha Pooja on the ninth day of Navaratri. This day is essentially for cleaning, maintaining and paying obeisance to your professional equipments and machinery, for serving you well through the year.

Buddy, I was envious of you, as I considered opening this thread .

My few cents here...

I put flowers in the dash and a garland on the front grille.

I never forget to apply sandal paste and kumkum to the important areas, such as the front logo, licence plate, the centre of all wheels, all of the interior and exterior lights, the steering wheel, the gear knob, the mirrors, the engine oil cap, radiator cap, coolant reservoir's cap and the brake fluid cap etc., .

Bananas are offered, the agarbathi is lit, and the camphor is lit to complete the act of worship.

Last year's photo taken in my native:

[PrasannaDhana]

Ayudha Pooja has always been special to us, even though we are Christians. But it is inherently a Tamil tradition I guess, just like the Pongal festival.

It is an opportunity to be grateful with the things God has blessed us with.

I have a ritual of washing all my cars myself, and then doing the prayers. It has been a practise for more than a decade now.

Here are my personal vehicles after the Pooja. Kwid was sold 1 week prior to the Pooja. Altroz & Celerio had their 1st Pooja







Attachment 2364852


Last year, I had 5 sets of wheels for ayudha Pooja. Four of them have been sold within last year



And 2 new ones have been added



This aside, I also performed poojas at my schools and farms. One great day indeed!!



We also had Pooja at our gym

[WhiteSierra]

Few pictures of our Ayudha Pooja / Vahana pooja on Dussera.

[dust-n-bones]

Originally Posted by Pennant1970

Not that we have stopped being believers - but over the last couple of decades, religion has become more about display, competition and confrontation in our society that we have made our faith completely private and personal.

+1. Festivals that I remember were celebrated with humility, simplicity and with a warm welcome to all are now about brandishing swords, about proving a made-up superiority that I can't understand.

Happy Dasara to all. Nice to see the decked up vehicles. Was on a brief highway trip today. Can confirm that the reverence we felt towards our vehicles today hardly translated to using them cautiously on the roads, which continue to be gladiatoral arenas for every inch of available space. May the Lords also teach us mutual respect and patience.

Originally Posted by fhdowntheline

As a family we have decided to use flowers at a bare minimum for any ceremony, because I personally feel we are just overusing the flora and literally wasting it the next moment after it is used. It then ends up clogging drains, nallas and rivers. So very little by way of ceremony for my Ayuddhas,i.e. the laptops or my cars.

Now this is what gives me hope for redemption after all.

[mobike008]

Wish you all a Happy Dussera 2022

It's been a tradition in our family (like many families) to do "Vahan Pooja" each Dussera. Learnt it from my parents and I continue the tradition.

Back home in India, it used to be an elaborate affair. But, here in US, I like to keep it simple.

Drive the vehicles over lemon (to drive the evil eye away) and drive over them and not turn back but, do a small round and come back and park the vehicles.

[Ashtoncastelino]

While everyone has done pooja to their vehicles, I took the Swift to Karkala Church to be blessed. T'was a good drive from Manipal. Sharing some edited photos of the same.





Happy Dussehra Everyone!

Regards
Ashton Castelino

[Lone_Wolf]

Originally Posted by thanixravindran

Apart from TN, I have seen this in Bangalore and Hyderabad but on Dussehra day. But in TN, apart from the vehicles and machinery, the ninth day, Saraswati Puja is also done to keep the books, pen and pencil. This I have not seen in other places. Books can be taken out only after Vijayadasami. So no need to study for 2 days

When I was in school before the start of Puja holidays we clean the boards in school and paint all the puja symbols so that no classes are there in the last day Thanks for bringing back old memories as I no longer do this due to laziness.

Here in KA too, Pens, Pencils and Books are offered Pooja on the 9th Day. And it's an unspoken practice by kids to keep the toughest text book for Pooja

[GTO]

My bhabhi did the pooja on Dussehra for all our cars


Bonus pics of celebrations & visarjan from last evening!

[guywholovesuvs]

In north people do this a day after 9th day navratri (know as naumi or navmi) which is the day of dusshera. Not just cars, swords and guns pooja is also done. The idea is that we do a pooja of all the things which are supposed to keep us safe, hence the pooja of weapons too. Although in my family we don't do any such thing, but now that I've got to know the reason why people do this I'll tell this to my dad and we will start doing this from next navratri!

[harsha8253]

Did Pooja on Vijaya Dashami, May Goddess Chamundi Bless all !

Drive Safe !!!

[binge_rider]

Happy Dussehra to all!! Did vahana pooja on the day of Vijaya Dashami.
I have a practice of detailing all my vehicles by myself before performing vahana pooja during Dussehra. It is couple of day's effort, but I do enjoy it.

[powertrain]

Happy Dusshera Everyone!
Some from my side:-

Like Father...


....Like Son!!


Posing!


Bageera


Iron Man


Beige Brute


Dr.No


Regards,
Powertrain

[autohead666]

Originally Posted by Geta

Hindus in Tamil Nadu celebrate Ayudha Pooja on the ninth day of Navaratri. This day is essentially for cleaning, maintaining and paying obeisance to your professional equipments and machinery, for serving you well through the year. Since Navaratri is the celebration of the invisible energy (Shakti, personified as womanhood) it may be construed that the reverence is to the energy that is a part of the professional machinery.

So we wash our vehicles, wipe them clean, apply sandal paste and vermilion on bonnet, garland them, do a customery Pooja to ward off the evil eye, break coconuts and pumpkins and crush lemons under the wheels.

I am not sure whether such a custom is practiced in the other states. Hence just felt like sharing this with the other enthusiasts here

We have similar tradition in West Bengal . We wash our cars , take them to the temple to perform puja on the day of Vishwakarma puja. As per mythology, Vishwakarma is the god of engineering . So all businesses that deal with machinery perform puja on this day at their factory premises. People are invited to participate in the puja , have prasad followed by a lunch ceremony. As per Wikipedia , "The festival is observed primarily in factories and industrial areas, often on the shop floor. As a mark of reverence the day of worship is marked not only by the engineering and architectural community but by artisans, craftsmen, mechanics, smiths, welders, industrial workers, factory workers and others. They pray for a better future, safe working conditions and, above all, success in their respective fields. Workers also pray for the smooth functioning of various machines. In many part of India there is government holiday on 17 September for the celebration but it is not considered as a national holiday but as a restricted holiday.