Margashira Lakshmi Puja.

This Lakshmi Puja is performed on every thursday during the month of Margashira.[nov/dec]
This puja is done on all the 4/5 thursdays of the month.puja is performed by the Sumangali[savashanis]. the Puja starts from the first thursday of the month. The lady who performs the puja fasts the the full day and performs the puja in evening ang partakes food in the night.In some houses the husband also fasts.For the puja a place is selected and cleaned and a rangoli drawn and haldhi kunkuma put on it, A plank is place on this put rice , draw a eight petaled Padma on the rice. For the Kalas clean a thambya silver, pithal or copper and with lime, [chuna,or sunna] apply two line on arrount the thamya, apply haldhi kunkumaon all the four sides.Pour clean water inside the Thambya and in it put gharike grass a little, one supari and a coin, haldhi kumkum and mantra akshitha. Arround the mouth of the thambya put a bunch of five mango leaves or five vidacha paan[betal leaves.]Over this put a coconut with haldhi powder applied. Apply kumkum on the tuft of the coconut. Put the kalas on the rice.Keep a Lakshmi Picture behind the kalas. In front of the kalas keep savva ruppiaya ie One Rupee and twenty five paise. Before starting the puja, fold your hands in namaskar and pray that she fulfills all your wishes. Pray to Ganesha and start the puja, and tulasi puja.
Start the puja as usual as for Varalaksmi puja, with haladhe kumkum and geja vastra and sweet smelling flowers.On the right side of the Kalas keep the naividya friut coconut any sweet possible and dakshina.
Before the puja one has to do the achamanam ie that in a panchtra you keep water with a udharani, pour a little water in your right palm and drink it , do this three times reciting, Keshavaya swaha, Narayanaya swaha, Madhavaya swaha, Govindhaya namaha, Vishnuve namaha, Madhusudhanaya namaha, Thrivikramaya namaha, Vamanaya namaha, Sridharaya namaha, hrishikeshaya namaha, Padmanabhaya namaha, Dhamodharaya namaha,Sankarshanaya namaha, Vasudevaya namaha, Pradyumnaya namaha, Anirudhaya namaha, Purushothamaya namaha, Adhokshjaaya namaha,Narasimhaya namaha,Achuthaya namaha,Janardhanaya namaha, Upendraya namaha, Hareye namaha, Srikrishnaya namaha.
After this perform the puja as usual. Recite stotras and Mahalakshmi Ashtaka.
If one has the time kumkuma archana reciting Lakshmi Astothara can be performed Like for all other puja lamps have to lit and dhoopa deepa naividya.Do pradhikshana and namaskar.
The story in short. In dwapara yuga , in Sourashtra there lived a king named Shrava.He was well informed and had read the vedas and knew the shashtras and the puranas. He was a good king and the people of his land were happy .The Queen of the land was called Suratha Chandrika.She was a very devoted wife, and the king and queen had eight children, one daughter and seven sons. Mahalakshmi wanted to bless the land and the king and decided to go to Sourashtra. She transformed herself like a old lady and came to the palace, where a maid of the Queen met and enquired whe she was and what she wanted. when told the she wanted to see the Queen.
The old lady[godess in disguise] told the maid that the queen in her last birth was the wife of a Vaisya and was very poor. Due to poverty the couple used to fight often and times the husband would beat the wife. One day dejected the lady left the house and went to the forest where she was roaming aimlessly hungry and cold.Mahalakshmi took pity on her and the godess came as an ordinary lady and told the wife of the Margashira lakshmi puja. Once the wife started to perform the puja she was blessed with all prosperity.
The maid went and conveyed this to the Queen, who was not convinced and she did not pay any attension to the maid, this made mahalakshmi annoyed and she decided she leave the city.
The Kings daughter heard of this and she ran to the old lady and asked her that she pardan her mother, and she would perform the puja, which she did with great faith. In due time she was married to a prince and she continued to do the puja every year with devotion.
After some time the Kingdom of King Shrava became a troubled land due to lack of rain etc.The people had to go without water and food. One day the Queen told the King that he ask his son in law for help and the king went to his daughters place. the daughter and her husband welcomed him. The King stayed there for a couple of days and told his daughter that he wished to return to his land. The daughter gave him a closed vessel full of gold coins, and sent the king to his land. When the King reached his land and opened the vessel he found only the vessel full of coal. When the king saw this he was so sad, that he started to weep. The Queen was very angry that their daughter
had insulted the King and decided to to go her self to the daughter to ask for a explanation, When the Queen did reach her daughter s place the daughter was performing the Margashira Lakshmi Puja. The Queen stayed at the daughters place for all the four weeks thursday puja. The daughter wished that her mother too should join and do the puja but the Queen was not willing. On the last thursday of the month, the daughter forced the Queen to do the puja. After the puja on the last thursday of Margashira the Queen left for her land. when she reached there she found the lost glory of her land had returned all were happy as before.The Queen realised this was the mahima of Mahalakshmi. From then onwards abserved te margashira lakshmi puja evey year.
It is said that Sri Krishna had asked his aunt Kunthi to observe this puja, so her sons could win the war. Kunthi had for naividya made a sweet made with groundnuts and jaggery on the first thursday, second week she made kheer with milk and rice, third week she made apupa kheer[ now we call it appi payasa] and on the fourth week she had made fryed kadubu with the puran filling.
Pray with devotion and all your wishes will be fulfilled.

Recipes for Powders that can be stored.

Saaru or Rasam Powder.
Saaru is an essential part of a meal in most homes in the South.
Incredents;- 100 grams---- dry cillies, 75 grams---- Coriander seeds, 25 grams--- Fenugreek seeds, 25 grams---- Cumin seeds, one table spoon each of---- Pepper, chana dal and mustard, 4 Sprigs of curry leaves, A ground nut size Asophotida{hing}.
In a frying pan put a little oil and fry the coriander and the chillies till the coriander seeds start to splutter, like wise fry all the other incredents one by one. Fry the curry leaves till they are crisp. When all the incredents are cool grind to a fine powder.
This powder can be stored for more than a month.
To prepare the saaru, boil half a cup of tuvar dal in preasure cooker till well cooked. soak a lemon size tamarind and squeeze the pulp. In a suitable vessel pour in the tamarind pulp, three teaspoons saaru powder, salt, a little jaggery, and a few curry leaves and bring to boil. When the raw smell of tamarind dissappears add the boiled dhal and add enough water to suit your need of the saaru. boil for five minutes and seoson with hing and mustard seeds.
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SAMBAR/HULI
For the powder incredents:- Dry red chillies---- one cup
Dhania seeds------one cup
Methi seeds------ one table spoon
Chana dal ------- one table spoon
mustard-------- a little
Dry coconut Desicated--- one cup
Fry the chillies and dhania till the dania starts to crackle and the dania emits a good smell. fry the methi and the chana dal seperatly till golden. Fry mustard seeds till it changes colour and fry the dry coconut till it turns pink. keep the coconut aside.grind the other incredents to a fine powder add the coconut and grind again and store when cool. if the powder is to be stored long omit the coconut .
For a quick bisibele bhath powder, fry seperatly one tblsp of gusgusa[poppy seeds] and 3/4 tsp pepper3/4 cloves, two cadamoms and aone inch peice of dal chini[lavanga patta] grind these with 4/5 table spoons of sambar powder. this powder will be enough for two cups of cooked rice and 3/4 cup tur dal.
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PITLA
Chana dal ---- 1/2 cup, Udad dal a little less than Chana dal, Dhania seeds one tblsp and pepper one tblsp dry chillies 10/12 depending on how hot u want it. fry all the incredents seperatly and grind together. this powder , if used for pitla with lots of different vegetables you can add dry or fresh coconut and grind it to add the the pitla.
This powder can be used for goddu pitla, in which no tur dal is added. only tamarind and any one vegetable like Suran, arvi,raw banana.