Chitragupta Puja By The Kayastha Community

The Kayastha puja is celebrated on the next day of the Diwali puja by the Hindus. The Puja is especially popular among the kayastha community who are considered as the children of the Chitragupta. The Vedas and Upanishads reveal that the kayastha are the descendants of the Lord Chitragupta, the Kayastha Chitragupta Puja is said to make you free from all the bad deeds that you have done in the past and makes you eligible to go to heaven after your death. The people of the kayastha Community also call themselves as Kayastha Chitragupta as they consider themselves as the scions of the Lord Chitragupta, the name Kayastha is given to the community as it is believed that the Lord Chitragupta was born of the Kaya(body) of the Lord Brahma.

The story behind the Chitragupta Puja is very interesting. It dates back to ancient when a cruel and ambitious king was wandering around in the forest. His name was Saudas and he was the king of Saurashtra, while wandering around he saw a Brahmin saint performing some kind of Puja, he became interested and went up to the Brahmin. He asked him what kind of Puja was the Brahmin saint performing, the Brahmin Saint answered that today is the second day of the Kartika month and I am worshipping Yama raja (the god of death) and Chitragupta(his assistant), which atones for all your sins and makes your soul pure. On being asked the benefit of the Puja, the Brahmin replied it saves you from hell and paves the way for your soul to the heaven.the King got impressed by the answer and asked the Brahmin saint about the method of the puja. After coming back to his palace, the King performed the Chitragupta Puja with friends and family as per the vidhi (method) suggested to him by the Brahmin saint. When the king died and was brought before the judgement panel, Chitragupta opened the book of his deeds where it was revealed that he has committed various sins and deserves to go to hell, but the book also revealed that since he performed the Puja of Chitragupta and Yama raja, he cannot be sent there and hence was ultimately sent to the heaven. From then onwards, the puja is performed by the Hindus in order to please the Yam raja and Chitragupta to save them from the clutches of the hell.