New Delhi: 'Pran pratishtha' of Maa Annapurna's idol is scheduled to be performed by Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on November 15 in Kashi. According to Additional chief secretary Awanish Kumar Awasthi the statue will be installed in Kashi Vishwanath Temple on November 15. "Before this, as it is a proud moment for every Indian, the statue of Maa Annapurna will be received with fanfare at four places including Kasganj, Kanpur, Ayodhya and Kashi. People will be given an opportunity to do darshan," he added. The grand celebrations to mark the handing over of the 18th-century idol of Maa Annapurna to the Uttar Pradesh government was attended by several Central ministers and state ministers in attendance in New Delhi. Today, the idol of Maa Annapurna will be taken to UP. UP govt will take out a 4-day Mata Annapurna Devi Yatra to Varanasi. On 15th Nov, the idol will be installed at Vishwanath Temple by CM Adityanath: Awanish K Awasthi, Additional Chief Secretary, Home Dept, UP Govt at Delhi pic.twitter.com/ef4aUdX3x9 — ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2021 The event was the first such grand official handing over the statue retrieved from a foreign country by the Archaeological Survey of India. The idol of Maa Annapurna was dressed in red lehenga while silver chhatr was placed on her head. The statue sat elegantly on a grand wooden throne and will cover the journey of 800 kilometres from Delhi to Kashi Vishwanath temple. The representatives from the Uttar Pradesh Government received the stone statue from the ASI after a religious ceremony amid the chanting of mantras. A shobha yatra has been planned before it reaches the temple. Delhi | The idol of Goddess Annapurna which was retrieved from Canada begins its journey to Kashi Vishwanath Temple in Uttar Pradesh's Varanasi. The idol will be installed at the temple on 15th November. pic.twitter.com/U53eeJ2cso — ANI (@ANI) November 11, 2021 Central ministers who were present in the ceremony Hardeep Singh Puri, Dharmendra Pradhan, Meenakshi Lekhi, Ashwani Kumar Choubey, Anupriya Patel, Smriti Irani, B L Verma, Arjun Ram Meghwal, Pankaj Chaudhary, Lt Gen V K Singh, G Kishen Reddy, Sanjeev Balyan, SPS Baghel, Mahendra Nath Pandey and UP ministers Suresh Rana, Bhupendra Choudhary and Baldev Aulakh registered their presence. Maa Annapurna, is considered the Goddess of food and nourishment. The idol was received by India from Canada on October 15.
