KER

 KER literally means austerity in English. This Puja is celebrated 14 days following the end of Kharchi puja. It is the strictest puja ever performed by Tripuri people. It may be mentioned here that no puja or worship is so strictly performed as is the Ker of Tripuri people, by any section of the people in the world. In this also all the gods of Tripuri people are worshipped at a time.

After the Ama pechi or Amba buchi, the mother earth became unholy, then by performing the kharchi the earth is purified, all the god and goddess became sacred again. It is some thing like Abul Ssuhmani of Tripuri people or some thing like shraddha a kind of purification of the nature and gods. After the kharchi all the gods are sacred again, then the Ker is performed by the Tripuri people.

During Ker a particular area is demarcated, this area is bounded by the Ker symbol. Every entry or exit point of the area, village, city ares is identified. The road to entry or exit is totally blocked by Ker symbol. Before the Ker puja is started all the dying person, or expectant mothers are shifted to a neighbor villages. Now once Ker is started, then no one shall be allowed to go out from the area bounded by Ker. Similarly no one shall be allowed to cross into the Ker boundary of the village or area of town. It shall be considered as violation of Ker area. Once any unknown person enters into the Ker area he shall not be allowed to go out of the area on any condition.

  Usually Ker starts in the morning at about 8-10 AM. Once Ker has started, no one is allowed to speak loudly; no one is allowed to laugh. Shouting, crying, using obscene or slang languages, making derogative fun, talking of dishonest, and any other unmoral activities are totally prohibited during the Worshipping of Ker in the ker premises.

At the Ker puja, the gods are worshipped for the welfare of the villages, in the state level at the Palace compound the Ker is performed for the welfare of whole of the states in general. The gods are prayed to avoid natural calamities like storm, earth quake, floods, droughts etc. The gods are also to prevent of epidemics like cholera, small pox, chicken pox, typhoid, and many other diseases. In the puja different kind of animal may be sacrificed viz. Cock, goat, Buffalo etc. according to the affordability of the villagers. The required expenditure are collected from the members of the villages. In the earlier days when Tripura was a kingdom, the king would bear the cost of states expenditures, but now the state government is bearing the expenditures as per the condition of accession merger agreement.

In the Agartala city, an area had been identified for performing Ker puja. The Ker starts early in the morning, with a big bang sound, intimating the public that Ker had started. Before that through the states electronic media and print media also people are informed in advanced about the timing of Ker, when it will starts and when it will break. The Priest in chief of Tripuri people, the Chantai performs the Ker in the capital Agartala. In the villages level the head priest of the villages that is Ochai performs the Ker puja.