By Kshitiz Siwakoti, Kathmandu, Feb. 16: Saraswoti Puja, the day when children start their education by learning for the first time to write or read, has been celebrated at the Neel Saraswoti Temple in Lazimpat, Kathmandu, today.

One-year-old Rohan Shrestha wrote his name for the first time today by holding his father Santosh Shrestha's hand at the Neel Saraswati Temple.

“I believe that helping my son write on the wall will ensure a bright future for my child,” Sanotosh Shrestha told The TRN Online. 

A student of physical therapy, Aditi Shrestha, said that she had come to the temple to ask the Goddess for more strength and knowledge so that she could serve the people like her old parents by means of her subject of study-physical therapy.

The devotees stood in a queue to venerate the shrine of the Goddess with flowers, fruits, and traditional oil lamps. The atmosphere in the temple was that of a deep reverie. With a pile of slippers and shoes gathered outside the temple, the devotees stood barefoot in the cold to pray to the Goddess.

Outside the shrine, the temple had two priests who were putting tika on the forehead of the devotees. Keshab Kandel, a priest at the temple, said that the day is auspicious for every seeker of knowledge.

“The Goddess will bless all those seekers of knowledge who pray to the Goddess on this day. Many devotees also fast in the name of the Goddess. It is my responsibility to provide blessings to all the devotees,” he said.

Saraswoti Puja which coincides with the advent of the Spring season according to the Lunar calendar is the day when students worship Saraswoti, the Hindu Goddess of knowledge to be better students and gain more knowledge. 

(Kshitiz Siwakoti is an intern with the TRN Online)