Akaal means "untimely" and bodhan means "invoking or awakening."
Durga Puja’s conventional time is during Basanta Ritu or (Spring time). Akaal Bodh is a time of the year when Durga Puja is celebrated in the month of Ashwin, an uncustomary time for commencement of the worship.
In the Ramayan, Ram goes to Lanka to rescue his abducted wife, Sita, from the grip of Ravana, the king of the Demons in Lanka. It is well known that King Ravana was a great devotee of Lord Shiva. But Ravana had also managed to please Goddess Parvati with his devotion and penance. So, Goddess Parvati had blessed Ravana with the boon that he would be victorious in every war he will ever fight. As a result, when Lord Ram went to battle against Ravana to save Maa Sita, he started losing at first. Lord Ram then came to know about Goddess Parvati’s boon and became worried.
He knew he had to invoke Devi’s grace to win this fight so he sought Lord Bramha’s guidance. Lord Brahma laid down the rituals for this untimely invocation of Devi. According to the rituals a 108 Neel kamal (blue lotus) flowers were required to appease Devi. Lord Hanuman as usual set out to bring the flowers and came back with exactly 108 flowers. Lord Ram sat for the puja and while offering the flowers realised that there was a shortage of 1 flower. Devi had purposefully removed that 1 flower with her maya to test Lord Ram. Seeing no other option, Lord Ram decided to carve one of his eyes out as an offering because he remembered that his mother used to say, his eyes were lotus like. As soon as Lord Ram took out his arrow and touched his eye, Devi Durga appeared before him. Lord Ram prostrated in front of Devi and sought her blessings to win the fight. Pleased with his devotion, Devi blessed him and disappeared. Lord Ram then went on to fight the asura king and was victorious.
The print "Akaal Bodhan" highlights the significance of Blue Lotus (Neel Kamal). It attempts to recognise and pay tribute to the sacrifice made by Lord Ram during his fight with Ravana.
Color Variation
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