New Delhi, February 14: Thirty-six years after her death, screen goddess Madhubala came to the rescue of Hindu College students on Valentine’s Day.

In a complete departure from the nine-year tradition of worshipping the “hot babes” of Bollywood and Hollywood, or people who have been in the news for ‘‘some notorious action’’, the college today performed ‘‘Damdami Mai ki puja’’ with posters of Madhubala. Incidentally, February 14 is also the birthday of the late actress.

And, for the sake of ‘‘tradition’’, there were posters of US singing sensation Christina Aguilera, whose latest foray into headlines has been for an entirely non-controversial reason — engagement to boyfriend Jordan Bratman.

The puja, held under the ‘Virgin Tree’ at the hostel campus, is an invocation of the goddess of the girls, named in college lore as ‘Damdami Mai’. The aarti starts as ‘‘Jai jai Damdami mata, jinki ek hai unki do char kara de’’.

Till Friday, the choice had been former Miss Jammu Anara Gupta, whose role in a pornographic CD is far from being established. Principal Kavita Sharma, said the students, warned that any such move would be dealt with sternly.

Hostel president Utkarsh Misra, a third-year student, said it was the first time two people were worshipped as Damdami Mai. ‘‘The compulsion this time was to select somebody entirely non-controversial. That’s where Madhubala came in,’’ he said. Christina was a last-minute addition, a concession to popular taste and ‘‘tradition’’.

In yet another departure from ‘‘tradition’’, the puja was held in the afternoon ‘‘to avoid media glare’’. And the posters, which are usually kept under the Virgin Tree throughout the day were removed soon after.