Pushpanjali
The collective flower offering, with folded hands.
Devotees gather before the goddess with flowers in their folded hands, and repeat Sanskrit verses line by line after the priest, offering the flowers at the close of each round.
It is offered each morning of the puja, but the anjali of Maha Ashtami draws the largest crowds, standing shoulder to shoulder in and around the pandal.
The offering is made in rounds, usually three, each ending as the flowers in the hand are laid at the goddess's feet. The priest recites the Sanskrit lines and the gathering repeats them, phrase by phrase; most people hold flowers and a few bel leaves, and many keep a fast until the anjali is given and the first flower has left the hand.
Anjali means the cup of the joined palms, and the rite is exactly that, a handful of flowers held up together and let go. It is the one moment of the puja where the whole crowd does the same thing at the same time, strangers pressed shoulder to shoulder saying the same words, and its power is in that shared voice as much as in the flowers.
It is offered each morning of the puja, but Maha Ashtami draws the greatest crowds, spilling out of the pandal and into the street. No priest turns anyone away, and a child, an elder and a stranger stand in the same line; you need bring nothing but folded hands and a flower to belong to it.
