[Geta]

Hindus in Tamil Nadu celebrate Ayudha Pooja on the ninth day of Navaratri. This day is essentially for cleaning, maintaining and paying obeisance to your professional equipments and machinery, for serving you well through the year. Since Navaratri is the celebration of the invisible energy (Shakti, personified as womanhood) it may be construed that the reverence is to the energy that is a part of the professional machinery.

So we wash our vehicles, wipe them clean, apply sandal paste and vermilion on bonnet, garland them, do a customery Pooja to ward off the evil eye, break coconuts and pumpkins and crush lemons under the wheels.

I am not sure whether such a custom is practiced in the other states. Hence just felt like sharing this with the other enthusiasts here

[CliffHanger]

Excellent! It was a fantastic sight to see all the vehicles decked up in the city today. Decked up my vehicles as well along with the customary pooja

[rajshenoy]

Have been following this ritual in Karnataka as well. Would love to know if this is only specific to south in general or followed in rest of our country as well. The custom goes beyond just the automobiles and is applicable for any of the industrial tools and equipments which can be termed as "Ayusha" or a tool or weapon.

[pkulkarni.2106]

It's followed in Maharashtra as well. Instead of ninth day, we do it on Vijaya Dashami (Dussehra). Along with vehicles, we also do wash/clean/do Pooja of tools/equipments etc.

[RedTerrano]

Originally Posted by pkulkarni.2106

It's followed in Maharashtra as well. Instead of ninth day, we do it on Vijaya Dashami (Dussehra). Along with vehicles, we also do wash/clean/do Pooja of tools/equipments etc.

+1
However, in lots of places (think industries) the Pooja for the machinery is done on the ninth day, which is called Khande Navmi.

[4x4addict]

Just finished pooja for my office/company vehicles as well

[Nithesh_M]

We performed it yesterday in our office. Not the religious kind but get forced into it owing to peer pressure.

[TurboKat]

Originally Posted by Geta

I am not sure whether such a custom is practiced in the other states. Hence just felt like sharing this with the other enthusiasts here

Here, in Assam, the Hindus clean their vehicles, machinery and worship them (applying vermillion tikas on bonnet, steering wheel, putting garland on cars, equipments etc.) on the last day of the month Bhado of the Hindu calendar, also known as Biswakarma Puja/Viswakarma Puja.

[swunkjyn]

Originally Posted by TurboKat

Here, in Assam, the Hindus clean their vehicles, machinery and worship them (applying vermillion tikas on bonnet, steering wheel, putting garland on cars, equipments etc.) on the last day of the month Bhado of the Hindu calendar, also known as Biswakarma Puja/Viswakarma Puja.

Yes, even in Himachal, you will see vehicles being worshipped on Vishwakarma Day and usually Trucks/Lorries or Transport vehicles will not ply on the roads. Its their Pooja + resting day.

[DicKy]

Originally Posted by Geta

So we wash our vehicles, wipe them clean, apply sandal paste and vermilion on bonnet, garland them, do a customery Pooja to ward off the evil eye, break coconuts and pumpkins and crush lemons under the wheels.

Personal cars for Ayudha Puja is news to me. Usually commercial vehicle owners keep their vehicles for Ayudha Puja, in short any vehicle that is a source of income is kept for it. But then, it is not just tools of trade, people often keep their hobby tools too. ( Even game controllers!!! ). So one can surely keep their own personal vehicles too for Ayudha Puja.

[Simha.k]

Didn't miss this opportunity to celebrate Ayudhapooje despite being away from India.

Got my car washed and applied vermilion and kunkuma. Squashed the lemons under the tyres. Unfortunately no garlands available here. Sought blessings from gods. Feels great.

[NirmalK]

I am from Hyderabad and we perform Ayudha pooja on Vijayadasami. We perform pooja to our electronics and vehicles. The vehicles get the lemons (3 each) tied to them to ward off evil and they also get to crush lemons.
I got my bike and car washed a couple of days ago to beat the rush at the car wash/bike wash as the Pooja day approaches. They would not be used until the Pooja to ensure they look their best on the day of festival. Daily duties are being handled by our Activa which too got the same treatment but is being used.

[GForceEnjoyer]

I see a ton of decked up cars in Hyderabad on Dussehera. They sometimes have a garland of flowers on the front bumper but three lemons are always present. Most cars also have a swastik on the hood.

Back when I used to live in Delhi-NCR, I'd see this during Vishwakarma Divas/Vishwakarma Pooja, but more often on trucks rather than private cars.

[fhdowntheline]

As a family we have decided to use flowers at a bare minimum for any ceremony, because I personally feel we are just overusing the flora and literally wasting it the next moment after it is used. It then ends up clogging drains, nallas and rivers. So very little by way of ceremony for my Ayuddhas,i.e. the laptops or my cars.

[thanixravindran]

Apart from TN, I have seen this in Bangalore and Hyderabad but on Dussehra day. But in TN, apart from the vehicles and machinery, the ninth day, Saraswati Puja is also done to keep the books, pen and pencil. This I have not seen in other places. Books can be taken out only after Vijayadasami. So no need to study for 2 days

When I was in school before the start of Puja holidays we clean the boards in school and paint all the puja symbols so that no classes are there in the last day Thanks for bringing back old memories as I no longer do this due to laziness.