Priest performs rituals and burns incense sticks, at Naina Devi Temple during Nanda Devi Mahotsav in Nainital - Uttarakhand.
A priest wears a very tomato red attire to do the obsequies. Gladiolus flowers adorn the mantle with the idols. Watch the trident or trishul right on top! Smoke from dhoop batti or incense sticks rises up, while small cymbals build up the beat. The situation is set for a deeply spiritual out-of-body religious experience!
A man wears a thick belt (surely it couldn't be made from leather!) with large bells on it and dances round and round in circles. He's building up the mystic connect... while his companions beat copper thalis or plates, for rhythm.
(Notice the old cathode ray tube CRT television set to one side - devotees are viewing the proceedings on this screen!)
The name "NAINA" which means eye is derived from a temple to the goddess 'Naini Devi" built on the upper edge of the lake and was destoyed by the landslip of 1880.
It was subsequently replaced by the present structure. The word "Naina" means 'Eyes' and 'Tal' means 'Lake'. The perimeter of the Naini Tal lake is of nearly 2 miles.
The word Naina is synonymous with Sati's eyes. Since then, devotees started visiting this temple. Once the devotee reaches the hill top, prasad can be bought from any of the various shops or it can also one's own offerings from home. After crossing the main gate, there is a big Peepal tree on the left side. On the right side of the temple there are idols of Lord Hanuman Ji and Ganesh Ji. After reaching the main entrance of the temple, there are two statues of lions.
Inside the temple, devotees have darshan of three deities. On the extreme left is Mata Kali Devi, the centre representing two Netras or eyes is Maa Naina Devi and to right side is idol of Lord Ganesh.
Though the temple is named after Naina Devi (another name for Sati), the biggest social occasion here is the festival held in honour of Nanda Devi.
The patron goddess of Kumaon hills and a local princess Sunanda Devi.
On the northern side of the lake is built a temple dedicated to Sati and is called the Naina Devi temple.
Source:- http://www.nainitaltourism.com/naina_devi_temple.html
This footage is part of the professionally-shot broadcast stock footage archive of Wilderness Films India Ltd., the largest collection of HD imagery from South Asia. The Wilderness Films India collection comprises of tens of thousands of hours of high quality broadcast imagery, mostly shot on HDCAM / SR 1080i High Definition, Alexa, SR, HDV and XDCAM. Write to us for licensing this footage on a broadcast format, for use in your production! We are happy to be commissioned to film for you or else provide you with broadcast crewing and production solutions across South Asia. We pride ourselves in bringing the best of India and South Asia to the world... Reach us at rupindang @ gmail . com and admin@wildfilmsindia.com.
