A teen Gayapal panda performs pinddaan rituals for devotees at the Pitripaksh Mela in Gaya. Picture by Suman

Gaya, Sept. 19: Pilgrims, who have come to town to perform pinddaan, are being greeted by a strange site. Many Gayapal pandas, who are leading them in the rituals, chanting Vedic mantras and blessing them, are teenagers.

Around 2,000 priests, many of whom have come from other districts, are helping nearly one lakh pilgrims perform the pinddaan rituals. Many of these priests are aged between 12 and 16.

Clad in dhoti and kurta, with tilak smeared on their foreheads, these priests can be seen chanting Vedic shlokas in and around the Vishnupad Temple and different ghats of the river Falgu, like Akshaywat, Ramshila and Pretshila.

Mahesh Gupt, a senior Gayapal panda, told The Telegraph that nearly 200 youths were engaged in helping the devotees.

The pilgrims, who come here to perform pinddaan, have to carry out two major rituals. First, they have to execute karmkand, and then, they have to seek sufal blessings. Only Gayapal pandas can bless devotees with sufal without which the ritual is considered incomplete.

Gupt said: “Gayapal pandas are the tirth purohit (pilgrim priest) of Gaya. Only members of this samaj can bless the pilgrims performing pinddaan with sufal. Thus, we impart training to the young members of our samaj so that they can keep alive the ancestral profession. During Pitripaksh, there is a huge rush of pilgrims. Therefore, we employ the services of the young members as well.”

Sources said young priests need to be properly trained before being engaged to perform the rituals, as people from different places prefer to perform karmkand according to their own traditions.

Two senior priests, Swami Raghwacharyaji Maharaj of Ramanuj Math and Swami Ramacharyaii Maharaj, have been running a three-year course for priests, where training to perform karmkand is imparted. This year, they have around 48 students of whom 20 are minors. Students from other districts like Bhojpur, Nawada, Aurangabad and Ara also come here to receive training.

Students are mostly trained in the tradition of Shukla Yajuraveda because most pilgrims from northern parts of India prefer to perform karmkand in this custom. Students are also given practical training, where they perform pinddaan under the guidance of their gurus.