Maha Mrityunjaya Yajna in former President Pranab Mukherjee’s ancestral village in Bengal

Pranab Mukherjee is on ventilator support in Delhi’s army hospital.

Villagers at Kirnahar - the ancestral village of former President Pranab Mukherjee – in West Bengal, started a Maha Mrityunjaya yajna on Tuesday while his condition remained critical at the army hospital in Delhi.

The Yajna being conducted at Pranab Mukherjee’s ancestral village in Bengal (HT Photo)

The yajna, which started around 7:50 am, in a Shiva temple around 2 km from the former president’s ancestral house, would continue for the next two days and is being held for the speedy recovery of Mukherjee.

“He used to worship in this temple since his childhood. And every time he came to the village during the Durga puja, he used to worship here. His son Abhijit Mukhrejee requested us to organize the yajna,” said Rabi Chattoraj, secretary of the temple committee, who shares a very close and cordial relation with the Mukherjee family.

Every year during the Durga Puja, Mujherjee visits his ancestral house at Kirnahar in Birbhum district, around 170 km north of Kolkata and performs puja at his home. The last time he came to the village was during the 2019 Durga Puja.

“We started the yajna at 7:50 am on Tuesday and it continued non-stop till 2 pm. It would again start at 8:16 am on Wednesday. Dozens of villagers had come to attend the yajna,” said Chattoraj.

The puja was held by three priests and their two assistants. Several villagers also held pujas in their own houses and in temples across the village and prayed for Mukherjee’s speedy recovery.

The former President who underwent a brain surgery and is on ventilator support also tested positive for the novel coronavirus.