Vishwakarma Puja, the annual Hindu festival to celebrate and pray to the Hindu god Vishwakarma, was celebrated in India on 17 September.
Celebrated in the states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Jharkhand in the north, Karnataka in the south and Assam, West Bengal Odisha and Tripura in the east, Vishwakarma Puja falls on Kanya Sankranti every year, which is just after the Ganpati festival in India. It usually falls in the month of September or October. In some places,Vishwakarma Puja is also celebrated the day after Diwali, which means it falls in October or November. The festival also entails the flying of kites in many regions of India.
Vishwakarma -- also referred to as the divine architect in the Puranas -- is credited with building first the Heaven (Swarga), and then Lanka -- the City of Gold that would come to be ruled by Ravan and destroyed by Hanuman in what is the modern-day Sri Lanka -- and the city of Dwarka, where Lord Krishna would come to live.
In the earliest days of Hinduism, however, the name Vishwakarma was used to be attributed to lord Brahma. In fact, the story of the universe being born out of Vishwakarma's navel mirrors the story of Brahma giving birth to the universe. The name would later be used to refer to other gods as well.
Cutting across professions such as artisans, architects, engineers, taxi drivers, mechanics and welders, Vishwakarma is the god of working class people who seek blessing of the presiding deity for success in their trade and craft. Here are some photos of the event:
