Lord Panjurli is very much discussed after the release of Kantara movie, due to which everyone wants to know who is Panjurli Dev? Which people worship him? And on which festival and in what way Panjurli God is worshipped? So if you are also curious to know about Panjurli Dev then stay tuned. Because today we are going to give you some such interesting and mysterious information about Lord Panjurli that you will be completely surprised to hear.
Who is Panjurli?
First of all let us talk about who is Panjurli Bhagwan? Actually Panjurli is the divine spirit of a male varaha i.e. a boar who is worshiped by people in Tululand, a region of Karnataka, at the Bhuta Kola festival. Panjurli means offspring of a wild boar in the Tulu language of Tululand. According to ancient legends prevalent among the Tulu people, Goddess Parvati kept the progeny of a wild boar as her pet. And she loved him dearly. This pig was very mischievous. And once, while playing mischief, he destroyed the gardens of Lord Shankar. Enraged by this, Lord Shiva killed the wild boar which caused a lot of pain to Mother Parvati. In such a situation, to console Mother Parvati, Lord Shiva sent that boar in the form of a soul to protect people and lead them from evil to good. After which the people of the earth started worshiping this boar as Lord Panjurli, because he used to protect the people from the demons.
Who worships Panjurli dev?
If we talk about worshiping Panjurli Dev, then Panjurli Dev is generally worshiped by the people of Southern India i.e. Karnataka and Tululand, the main areas of this state. The people of Tululand speak the Tulu language and worship Panjurli Dev on their main festival, Bhuta Kola.
Bhuta Puja in the form of Bhuta Kola is celebrated in Tululand as well as in southern coastal Karnataka states such as Mangalore, Udupi, Kundapura and the northern Malabar region of Kerala. This festival is a major part of the socio-cultural life in the village. Some believe that the origin of Bhuta Puja is older than Hinduism itself. Bhoota in Tulu language means divine spirit. According to beliefs, Bhoot means divine spirit promotes the welfare and protection of its worshippers. According to Tululand texts there are at least 350 types of ghosts that are classified as totems. These deities are either Hindu deities or divine beings who are called Gods after death.
‘Bhoota Kola’ is always done by a trained person. Because people have such a belief that for some time he himself becomes ‘God’ and Panjurli’s soul enters him. When this happens, the body language of the person doing Bhuta Kola changes completely. Then he dances to the beats of dhol and other musical instruments. After the entry of the soul of Panjurli God, the person performing the dance becomes very scary and angry. But, still the people standing there look at the person doing Bhoot Kola with reverence.
Lord Panjurli makes some predictions through that person which turn out to be completely true. People believe that the deity protects their village from evil and dark forces. On the occasion of ‘Bhuta Kola’ the whole village assembles at one place. Some families are responsible for getting the Bhuta Kola done. This responsibility keeps changing from generation to generation. It has also been seen that if the father does Bhuta Kola, then he passes on this responsibility to his son.
All these things have been shown on the big screen in Kantara movie. In the film you can see Panjurli Devta entering the body of a dancer and making some predictions. A special miraculous boar is shown in this film which contains the soul of Lord Panjurli.