Durga Puja
This is a collection of articles archived for the excellence of their content. |
Contents |
History, traditions, stories
1610: Sabarna Roy Choudhury family Puja
Chanchal Mazumder, TNN, Oct 2, 2022: The Times of India
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From: Chanchal Mazumder, TNN, Oct 2, 2022: The Times of India
Right now, Kolkata is a city of Durga Puja pandals. Every street has one. Some are known for their grandeur, others for their antiquity, and yet if you had to choose a fi rst among these equals, odds are you would pick the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family Puja.
Celebrated continuously since 1610, it is the oldest of the old extant Pujas. It’s also known for adhering to tradition instead of being swayed by new themes and fads every year. But there’s something else that makes the Roy Choudhury family Puja special – it owes its origin to a land grant by Mughal emperor Jahangir, mediated through his general Raja Man Singh of Amber, the modern Jaipur.
Chapter Of History
Not many people know their great-grandparents’ names. Fewer still can trace their ancestry beyond 5-6 generations, but the Roy Choudhury family is privileged in this regard. They now count 35 generations between the founder of the Puja, Lakshmikanta Gangopadhyay a. k. a. Sabarna Roy Choudhury, and the youngest living member. And Lakshmikanta himself was from the 22nd generation of Bengal’s illustrious Gangopadhyay Brahmin clan. How the stars brought together the Badshah, the Raja and a Bengali court offi cial to start the Roy Choudhury family Puja is quite a story. Lakshmikanta’s father Jiya Gangopadhyay was a renowned Sanskrit scholar who lived at Kali Kshetra (today’s Kalighat in Kolkata), says Devarshi Roy Choudhury, one of the thousands of Lakshmikanta’s 35thgeneration descendents. He says there are more than 20,000 of them spread around the world and he is joint secretary of the Sabarna Roy Choudhury Parivar Parishad. In 1570, Jiya Gangopadhyay’s beloved wife Padmavati Devi died soon after giving birth to Lakshmikanta. Thedistraught husband lost interest in worldly matters and became an ascetic under the title Kamdev Brahmachari. He travelled to Varanasi, leaving little Lakshmikanta in the care of the priest at Kalighat.
In Varanasi, Kamdev Brahmachari was destined to meet Akbar’s redoutable general, Raja Man Singh of Amber. The Raja became a disciple of the ascetic from Bengal, and the rest – to use a cliche – is history.
Guru Dakshina
Raja Man Singh was one of Akbar’s navratnas (nine gems). He had the power and infl uence to change people’s fortunes, but his guru, Kamdev Brahmachari, did not crave material possessions. However, in 1608 the Raja induced emperor Jahangir to bestow a vast rent-free jagir on Brahmachari’s son Lakshmikanta as guru dakshina.
This ‘jagir’ stretched from ‘Haveli Shahr’ (now Halisahar) in the north of present-day Kolkata to Diamond Harbour in the city’s south. Lakshmikanta also impressed the Mughal with his effi ciency in record-keeping and administrative skills, so he was conferred the title Majumdar. And later, when he excelled as a jagirdar, he earned the titles Roy and Choudhury. Since then, Lakshmikanta’s descendents have styled themselves as the Sabarna Roy Choudhury family.
Puja Pioneers
In 1610, two years after Lakshmikanta became a jagirdar, he and his wife Bhagwati Devi decided to start Durga Puja in Barisha, their biggest district. It was not the fi rst Durga Puja – the festival itself is timeless – but they made a stylistic innovation –
‘Ek Chali’. The Barisha Durga Puja was the fi rst to worship Ma Durga and her four children (Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh) together in one ‘chalchitra’ or structure, says Devarshi. This year marks the 413th edition of Puja at the family’s six baris (houses) – Aatchala Bari, Boro Bari, Mejo Bari, Majher Bari, Kalikinkar Bari and Benaki Bari – in Barisha. They also conduct Puja the traditional way at their two houses in Virati Bari and Pathanpur Bari. That means adhering to the instructions in the manual Durga Bhakti Tarangini by Mahakavi Vidyapati. One ritual that they have modifi ed inkeeping with modern sensibilities is animal sacrifi ce. Now all eight houses perform a token sacrifi ce with ash gourds.
Secular Ethos
The Puja that started after a Mughal emperor’s grant has remained a secular and inclusive celebration since. Devarshi says one of the rituals at the Pathanpur Bari Puja is still done with the mohurs that Jahangir gave to Lakshmikanta Gangopadhyay.
Talking about his extended family, Devarshi stresses: “we are one family, a secular family”. He says in the 150-odd years from 1608 to 1757 their ancestors governed the jagir without religious discrimination. They had Hindu and Muslim subjects, and whatever presents they brought for Puja – fruits, vegetables, flowers – were offered to Ma Durga.
Now there are no subjects, but Devarshi says their neighbours and other people living around the family’s eight houses participate in the Puja.
FROM BABUR TO SHAH ALAM
The Sabarna Roy Choudhury family’s association with the Mughals goes back 486 years and has left them with a trove of anecdotes and artefacts. Their first connection with the Mughals happened when an ancestor named Panchanan Gangopadhyay served emperor Humayun in 1536. Devarshi says he fought against Humayun’s nemesis Sher Shah Suri and earned the title Shakti Khan, along with the jagirdari of 85 villages in present-day Halisahar. The family’s collection at Boro Bari includes, among other things, a diamond ring gifted by Jahangir, swords of Shahjahan and Aurangzeb, rare silver coins of Shah Alam’s time, perfume vials of Babur and Jahangir, and a vessel to test food for the presence of poison, Devarshi says. T
1759: Guptipara
Neha Banka, Oct 7, 2022: The Indian Express
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From: Neha Banka, Oct 7, 2022: The Indian Express
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From: Neha Banka, Oct 7, 2022: The Indian Express
As Unesco recognises Kolkata’s Durga Puja in its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage, a look at where it all began in the oldest town in West Bengal, Guptipara
On the way to Guptipara, a small town in the Hooghly district some three hours away from Kolkata, the kashful (Saccharum spontaneum) are in full bloom, signalling that the Autumn festival of Durga Puja is just around the corner. Among the oldest towns in Bengal, Guptipara is best known for its Vaishnava terracotta temples and gupo sandesh, one in the many kinds of mishti found in the state. But what is less well-known is that this town also gave the world Durga Puja in its most well-known form: the barowari puja, or the community Durga Puja.
There are some versions of the story of how the barowari puja started way back in 1759, depending on whom one asks. A community leader and a resident of Guptipara, 52-year-old Subrata Mondal’s research led him to the handful of old books that document the town’s history when it was still a village, written by local historians, one of which is Nrishingha Prasad Bhattacharjee’s book ‘Guptipara’s True Story & the First Barowari’.
Among these stories, one says that in 1759, when a group of women from the village went to a zamindar bari to pray, they were made to leave, perhaps because the family was unwilling to permit outsiders to pray inside their home. Angry at the perceived insult, the men in the village decided to hold their own puja where the community could pray.
It is difficult to identify the zamindar bari in question because it does not find mention in available archival records. Just a stone’s throw from the location believed to be where the first barowari puja started, is the imposing approximately 400-year-old Sen bari, built in pre-British architecture in the Murshidabad style, which some believe is the zamindar bari where the conflict first occurred in the mid 1700s.
Mondal believes that there is little authenticity to claims that the villagers were made to leave the Sen zamindar bari, but that has done little to put a stop to the myths surrounding the incident. “It was the nearest home to the location,” Mondal says, which has resulted in people propagating the legend. “It is an old story, but it happened in a zamindar’s home during Durga Puja,” he says.
A descendant of the Sen zamindar family, 71 year-old Anjan Sen, grew up hearing a different version of the story. “We have been told that villagers were always welcome to the house and participated in the rituals. But this narrative that women of the village were barred from praying and thus had to go outside and start their own puja is not accurate,” says Sen, attributing the narrative to the tales passed down in the family.
“Over the past decade, we started hearing this story, peddled by people who still live in Guptipara,” says Sen. Soon, what the family firmly believes to be a myth, took on a life of its own, and was reproduced by newspapers, televisions news broadcasts and travel bloggers.
Sen points to the prayers and rituals of the festival when it is held within rajbari and zamindar homes, where outsiders don’t typically participate intimately in the preparations of the barir puja. “Outsiders are welcome to visit, but they don’t really participate in the rituals. Our family records don’t indicate that we had any dispute with villagers or that an incident like this happened,” Sen says.
While the circumstances surrounding the incident that eventually led to the start of the barowari puja are unclear, what is not in dispute is that it started in the village of Guptipara 263 years ago.
One of the earliest written records in English on the barowari puja can be found in an article published in the May 1820 edition of the newspaper The Friend of India, a predecessor The Statesman newspaper. “A new species of pooja which has been introduced into Bengal within the last thirty years called Barowaree. About thirty years ago at Guptipara near Santipur town celebrated in Bengal for its numerous colleges, a number of Brahmins formed an association for the celebration of a puja independently of the rules of the Shastras,” says The Friend of India article.
The newspaper report from May 1820 delves deeper into the formation of the barowari puja and how the villagers of Guptipara eventually succeeded in setting it up, and creating a blueprint for what is recognised as the barowari puja today. “They elected twelve men as a committee, from which circumstances it takes its name and solicited subscriptions in all surrounding villages. Finding their collections inadequate, they sent men into various parts of the country to obtain further supplies of money, of whom many according to current report have never returned,” the article says.
Sen believes that the villagers of Guptipara who set out to solicit donations possibly travelled across the modern-day Hooghly district and the undivided Bengal province in pre-Independence India, creating the concept of soliciting ‘chaanda’ that is still in existence today. “Having thus obtained about 700 rupees they celebrated the worship of Jugudhatree for seven days with such splendour, as to attract the worship from a distance of more than a hundred miles,” The Friend of India article says.
The villagers, unable to celebrate Durga Puja the way they wished to, marked the next festival that appeared in the Bengali calendar: that of Jagaddhatri, an avatar of Durga, whose festival comes approximately a month later.
While travelling across villages to collect donations, the villagers also spread word of their cause, inspiring others across towns and villages of Hooghly, like Bandel, Chandannagar and Krishnagar in modern-day Nadia district etc. to visit Guptipara’s barowari puja and start their own.
“The formulas of worship were of course regulated by the established practice of the Hindoo ritual, but beyond this, the whole was formed on a plan not recognised by the Shashtras. They obtained the most excellent singers to be found in Bengal, entertained every Brahmin who arrived and spent the week in all the intoxication of festivity and enjoyment. On the successful termination of the scheme, they determined to render the pooja annual, and it has since been celebrated with undeviating regularity,” says The Friend of India article.
By the turn of the century, the concept of the barowari puja had reached Calcutta, where it evolved even further. The first barowari puja in the city started in the 19th century, in the locality where the neighbourhood of Kalighat and Bhawanipore meet, near the Adi Ganga, off Balaram Bose Ghat. Inadvertently, the barowari puja and its popularity also provided an impetus to the artisans of Kumartuli, who made idols of the goddess and her family, generating more opportunities for their craft and subsequent income.
Still, it would take another century for the barowari puja to be entirely open to the public. “It was only in the twentieth century with the establishment of sarbajanin puja that the festival culture became public and the goddess traveled from the parlour to the streets,” write Knut A. Jacobsen and Kristina Myrvold in their book ‘Religion and Technology in India Spaces, Practices and Authorities’ (2019).
“The word sarbojanin (for all men) came to be substituted for barowari at the time of the Indian National Congress (INC) held in Calcutta in 1910,” write authors Subhayu Chattopadhyay, Bipasha Raha in their book ‘Mapping the Path to Maturity A Connected History of Bengal and the North-East’ (2017), where this form of puja was used as a nationalist forum in religious guise.
Today, many across West Bengal and elsewhere where Durga Puja and other forms of the goddess are worshipped through the year, interchangeably use ‘barowari’ and ‘sarbojanin’ to indicate the communal nature of the festivities.
Back in Guptipara, the location where the first barowari puja started is now identified as the Bidhyabashini Barowari tola, named after the goddess Jagaddhatri who is worshipped here in the avatar of Bidhyabashini. The term ‘tola’ is a Bengali word for the location where a deity’s idol is placed. Diverging from the standard features and colours of the Durga idols most commonly seen in Bengal and in those created by artisans from the state, this idol is painted vermillion, but nobody is acquainted with the back story. Like many others familiar with the town’s association with this form of puja celebrations, Sen and Mondal are almost tired of correcting people: “It is a misconception that the concept of barowari puja started with Durga Puja. It started with Jagaddhatri Puja and then became widely adopted for other festivals, especially associated with the goddess,” says Sen.
When the Bidhyabashini Barowari tola’s grounds are not filled with devotees lining up to offer prayers to the deities, it would be easy to overlook the structure located deep inside a narrow bylane, surrounded by homes on all sides in the small town. On the tola’s orange facade, two small white plaques with inscriptions in Bengali provide some more information about the site’s history. The first plaque reads: A member of the extended Sen family, Satish Chandra Sen, provided the funds required to establish what forms the exteriors of the Bidhyabashini Barowari tola in 1939. The second plaque says: “The site where the barowari was created. Bidhyabashini devi’s puja. Established in 1116 in the Bengali calendar”.
Nearly three centuries ago, the 12 men of Guptipara set off to make the festival more accessible for the village, inadvertently creating a blueprint for marking the festival that would become its most common, recognisable and accessible form, not just in West Bengal, but across the world, wherever Bengalis come together every festival to pray to the goddess in her many avatars.
Colonial — and anti-colonial — roots
Arjun Sengupta, Oct 21, 2023: The Indian Express
This brief history of Bengal’s greatest festival will discuss the Battle of Plassey, the rise of native Bengali elites under Company rule, and of course, the national movement.
As the oppressive heat of the Indian summer gives way to the gentle chill of autumn, an air of excitement covers Bengal, and eastern India. It is time for Goddess Durga’s homecoming, celebrated by Bengalis as Durga Puja — as much a religious occasion as one for frivolous merrymaking.
Robert Clive and a myth that is a metaphor
Durga Puja has many apocryphal origin stories. The most popular is set in the aftermath of the Battle of Plassey, in 1757. By defeating Nawab Siraj ud Daula, Robert Clive changed the course of Indian history, cementing East India Company’s hold over Bengal, and eventually, the whole subcontinent. The victory also made Clive a very rich man.
The deeply religious Clive credited God for unbelievable fortune, and wanted to hold a grand ceremony in Calcutta to convey his thanks. The former Nawab, however, had razed the only church in the nascent city. So in stepped Nabakishan Deb, Clive’s Persian translator and close confidante. Deb told Clive to come to his mansion instead, and make offerings to Goddess Durga — thus began Calcutta’s first Durga Puja.
Deb’s mansion in Sovabazar, preserved today by West Bengal tourism, still hosts what is colloquially known as “Company Puja”. Yet, this story does not pass muster. There is no record of Deb knowing Clive, let alone being a close confidante, prior to 1757. There is also no evidence of the Puja actually taking place that year, except for an anonymous painting. While the Sovabazar Puja is undoubtedly among the oldest in Calcutta, its origin story is highly suspect.
Nonetheless, the story serves as a metaphor for the sociological origins of Durga Puja in Calcutta. Put simply, the origins of modern Durga Puja can be credited to the nexus between Bengali zamindars and merchants, and the East India Company.
A status symbol in a churning society
With Company rule in Bengal came a host of social and economic changes. Most notable, in the story of Durga Puja, was the rise of a new class of powerful natives who reaped the benefits of Company rule.
First were zamindars, or hereditary landowners. After the decline of the centralised Mughal state, zamindars in Bengal had become increasingly assertive, effectively running their own fiefdoms. The Company effectively treated them as intermediaries between themself and the native population, with the Permanent Settlement Act of 1793 solidifying their position.
Then there was the emergent class of rich Bengali merchants, especially in the fast-growing urban centre of Calcutta. With Company rule came economic opportunity at a scale not seen before — some people got very rich, very quickly. Thus emerged big mercantile families such as the Tagores or the Mullicks.
“For the nouveau riche, the products of the East India Company’s trade and their tenurial system, Durga Puja became a grand occasion for the display of wealth and for hobnobbing with the sahibs,” historian Tapan Raychaudhuri wrote in an essay titled ‘Mother of universe, Motherland’.
According to Raychaudhuri, “conspicuous consumption rather than display of bhakti” was the central motif of these festivals. Rival families would compete against each other to host the grandest Puja possible — idols would be adorned with gold, nautch girls would be hired from as far away as Lucknow and Delhi, even the British governor-general would be called as the chief guest. “During Puja … People spent as much time on looking at the images [of the Goddess] as on window-shopping at the establishments in the red-light district,” Raychowdhuri wrote.
In this way, Puja became an occasion to merry-make as much as worship the Goddess.
Puja takes a nationalist turn
By the late 19th century, feelings of nationalism emerged in the Bengali population, especially the educated intelligentsia. Bankim’s Ananda Math was published in 1882. A fictionalised version of the late 18th century Sanyasi Rebellion, the novel popularised the phrase “Bande Mataram” — putting into popular consciousness the imagination of the “nation” as the “mother”.
Goddess Durga, worshipped as “Ma” (or mother) Durga, thus became the ultimate embodiment of the nation, as well as the figure who would act as its saviour from foreign rule. Durga Pujas were suddenly a part of the nascent nationalist project.
This meaning became particularly pronounced after Lord Curzon’s decision to Partition Bengal in 1905. ‘Bande Mataram’ became the battle cry of the ensuing Swadeshi Movement, considered to be the first mass movement of the Indian freedom struggle, communal festivities became places where collective consciousness and action was forged.
Historian Rachel McDermott wrote about Durga Pujas of the time in Revelry, Rivalry and Longing for the Goddess of Bengal (2011). “Bengali newspapers were full of advertisements for the Poojahs, nothing bideshi [foreign], everything swadeshi [indegenous]: indigenous oils, silks, dhutis, saris, shoes, tea, sugar, and cigarettes with brands named like Vidyasagar, Sri Durga, and Durbar,” she wrote.
Historian Rachel McDermott wrote about Durga Pujas of the time in Revelry, Rivalry and Longing for the Goddess of Bengal (2011). “Bengali newspapers were full of advertisements for the Poojahs, nothing bideshi [foreign], everything swadeshi [indegenous]: indigenous oils, silks, dhutis, saris, shoes, tea, sugar, and cigarettes with brands named like Vidyasagar, Sri Durga, and Durbar,” she wrote.
The 1900s
M N Kundu, Oct 7, 2019: The Times of India
Since the puja dates back to ancient times and encompasses several stages of God-consciousness of humanity from nature worship to immersion in cosmic consciousness, diverse stories are associated with it, with socio-ethical, mythological and spiritual content. It is therefore imperative to view the puja from a holistic perspective.
The widespread belief on the occasion is that it denotes victory of good over evil. Devi Durga as manifestation of the cosmic power principle covers power of will, action and knowledge of entire creation in which good and evil are two opposites in the stupendous drama of creation. Yet, the absolute supremacy of Spirit over muscle-power needs reassurance from time to time, for a much needed socio-ethical lesson.
The well-known episode of Devi Mahatmyam in Markandeya Purana, of killing demons like Mahishasura in fierce battles by the goddess, and minute descriptions of the battle with the buffalo-demon, is cathartic. Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, who arranged puja in Mandalay jail in 1926 during his detention there, wrote, “In Durga, we see Mother, Motherland and the Universe all in one. She is at once Mother, Motherland and the Universal spirit..... It (Durga Puja) is a source of aesthetic enjoyment, intellectual recreation and religious inspiration affording abiding solace.”
The annual homecoming of Uma, daughter of the Himalayas and Maneka, satisfies the Bengali mother’s emotional concern for her married daughter in her marital home. Her visit with offspring becomes a domestic theme, uniting daily life with the divine theme. This has inspired innumerable melodious lyrics called Agamoni, in Bengal.
Supreme sacrifice of Sati during Dakshayajna on the humiliation of her husband Shiva and his cosmic dance, is a popular theme full of scientific and spiritual significance. Devi as the primordial energy principle could not exist without cosmic consciousness lying at the heart of all created things. Nature dissolves into nothingness without consciousness. Independence of Spirit as being Supreme, over and above nature, is asserted through this mythological narrative.
Then there is the metaphorical presentation of man’s spiritual journey to Self-realisation from wherever we are. Nurturing nature in the form of Nabapatrika gives way to wealth protected by Goddess Lakshmi as daughter of Devi Durga. When subtle intelligence represented by Ganesha is applied to nurturing nature, wealth in the form Lakshmi evolves. Material prosperity begets two associates – learning and fine arts represented by Saraswati and military prowess for protection and preservation represented by Kartikeya.
Material prosperity and military prowess beget arrogance and egotism, unless these are accepted as gifts of the Divine for further progress. But the pernicious ego sheltered under beastly ignorance – personified by the buffalo in the image – and identifying itself to be omnipotent, breaks the natural law of harmony and peace. At this spiritual crisis, primordial nature in the form of Durga intervenes to protect us. It is victory of universal life force over individual egoism and upholding of cosmic cause over indomitable ego.
Finally, Devi Durga is united with Shiva after her worldly play is done for establishing divine realisation through an evolutionary process. Hence all peripherals are immersed into the ocean of cosmic consciousness which is the culmination of spiritual progress involving dissolution of delusive manifestation of apparent reality.
Apart from socio-cultural celebration uniting all in enjoyment and engagement, the puja caters to the concern of all through multiple narratives.
1900s: changing celebrations/ A
Sandip Roy, Oct 2, 2022: The Indian Express
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From: Sandip Roy, Oct 2, 2022: The Indian Express
Durga Puja had always been a festival of homecoming, centred on the deity herself. Now, it has become a way of seeing and situating ourselves in the world
Long before Unesco was thinking of Durga Puja as part of humanity’s “intangible cultural heritage”, Niladri Chatterjee was collecting very tangible artefacts of Durga Pujas past. He has a black-and-white glossy print from 1979 of a Durga image from Tarun Sporting Club — a fairly traditional Goddess on a rearing lion, spearing Mahisasura while emaciated men in dhotis look on from behind bars. At the corner is the artist’s name — Aloke Sen.
This is not a photograph Chatterjee has taken. Before the era of cell phones, Puja pandals would sell prints of the year’s Goddess as collectibles. “These pictures, mostly black and white, would be printed on flimsy glossy paper,” says Chatterjee. “They would sell for 25 paisa or 50 paisa, and I was obsessed with them.”
He still has a collection of a dozen Durga prints, mostly dating back to the Eighties. Some mention the name of the photography studio; some look like old-school studio family portraits that were once in vogue — just a divine version of it. The goddesses are usually traditional, though some are more stylised as if inspired by art classes at the Indian Museum. But as Chatterjee points out, it’s all about the Goddess. The pandals which housed the deities were cookie-cutter “pyramid structures with spires and turrets”. “The artistic energy was overwhelmingly focused on the idol,” he says. Professions like theme maker or installation artist were unknown. These prints only carry the name of protima shilpi or idol-maker.
For a brief period, experimentation happened with the idol. Each year would see some new holy horror — the goddess as gimmick, made out of biscuits or car parts. That wore thin quickly. There’s only so much leeway an artist can take with a religious icon. But the pandal could truly become an artist’s playground. Corporations started instituting awards, drawing in crowds hungry for novelty. Art historian Tapati Guha-Thakurta remembers meeting an artist who could make perfect thermocol replicas of architectural monuments. He could build the Mukteshwar Temple or a Jain temple, often to scale, in the middle of a Kolkata park. “Everyone knew it was thermocol. But the painstaking way in which he replicated the original was a matter of immense pride for him,” she says.
Chatterjee’s pictures are a reminder not just about how Durga Puja has changed but also how its audience has changed in the way it consumes the spectacle. In an age of selfies, we want to be part of the installation, inserting ourselves into the tableau. We want to be entertained but also feel artistically stimulated.
The Vivekananda Park Athletic Club puja this year, spread over 6,000 sq ft, could never be captured in one of Chatterjee’s selfies. It’s like an architectural drawing of an old mansion’s courtyard or thakur dalan but laid on its side, iron skeleton exposed, completely skewing the viewer’s perspective. Its artist Susanta Paul is quite a cult figure among the Durga Puja cognoscenti. As is Sanatan Dinda who has turned the south Kolkata neighbourhood of Bakul Began into Vincent Van Gogh’s Starry Night this year. That neighbourhood once had the who’s who of Indian art build the idol — Paresh Maity, Bikash Bhattacharjee, Meera Mukherjee. Now they have been bitten by the “theme” bug, organiser Ram Kumar Dey says, because “people demand themes.”
Durga Puja had always been a festival of homecoming and mythologises a sense of home. But now, for the spectator, it has become a way to see the world. We can teleport ourselves to the White Temple of Thailand’s Chiang Rai, the Burj Khalifa in UAE or the Vatican and take selfies without leaving Kolkata. During the pandemic, the big pujas went online so we didn’t even have to leave home.
Five days, or even 10, do not feel long enough to consume this excess. So there are new rituals (and selfie opportunities) like Khunti Puja — the day the first bamboo pole is planted to construct the pandal. “The khunti was a ritual within idol making. In the last 7-10 years, it’s become an invented ritual (for the clubs), bringing the season forward more and more,” says Guha-Thakurta.
Chatterjee now has a proper camera and documents the annual festival with great vigour. At one time, he was sceptical about Durga Pujas that mixed in social messaging. These days, he invites friends to come see how the city becomes “one big art installation”. This year even saw a “preview” of select pandals so foreign guests, drawn by the Unesco tag, could get a taste of the festival without the choking crowds. The art interest is huge, says Dhrubojyoti Bose Suvo, secretary, massArt, which organised the preview. “A Brazilian visitor told me why not create an online platform so art lovers can purchase some of the art objects through digital auctions. We want to do it soon.”
That will be yet another new way to consume an old festival. But Chatterjee’s black-and-white prints remind us of a time when the only “theme” of a Durga Puja was Durga herself.
1900s: changing celebrations/ B
Premankur Biswas, Oct 2, 2022: The Indian Express
‘The Durga Puja ceased to be purely religious in its urban form a very long time ago’: Historian Tapati Guha-Thakurta
The academic who paved the way for the inclusion of Kolkata’s Durga Puja on Unesco’s list of intangible cultural heritage on what makes it such a unique sociological phenomenon
In her 2015 book, In the Name of the Goddess: The Durga Pujas of Contemporary Kolkata (Primus), historian Tapati Guha-Thakurta traces the evolution of the traditional pujo to its modern form, that moves beyond religious aspects of Bengal’s most well-known festival to talk about its creative, cultural and social aspects. Little surprise then that Guha-Thakurta was chosen by the Ministry of Culture to put together a dossier highlighting the spirit of the festival for its inclusion in Unesco’s Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage. In December 2021, it was this aspect of Kolkata’s Durga Puja that the Unesco recognised while including it in the list: “As a 10-day celebration, Durga Puja represents the collective worship of the Hindu Goddess Durga. During this time, masterfully designed clay models of the Goddess are worshipped in ‘pandals’ or pavilions where communities get together and celebrate. Several folk music, culinary, craft, and performing arts traditions add to the dynamism of this celebration,” says its official press release. In this exclusive interview, Guha-Thakurta reflects on how the festival transformed over the years and how she engages with it as a Kolkatan.
Excerpts:
What made you undertake such an exhaustive project?
It was exciting fieldwork. In fact, it was the kind of research work that I enjoyed more than anything I did before. Firstly, it was on contemporary history, it was on my city, on something happening around me. I never thought I would do academic work on the pujos because I never felt that sense of distance. As a Kolkatan, I have grown up enjoying the pujos, and unlike many intellectuals, I was never thrown off by it. But having said that, the pujos of my childhood and of my student years were very different. A lot of my childhood was spent in New Alipore where my grandparents lived. It was a very small parar pujo (neighbourhood puja) and I enjoyed that ambience. Then, through the years of my high school, college and university, it became about touring and getting together. Much, much later, my late colleague Anjun Ghosh and I, decided to do an academic study on the puja as a sociological phenomenon. I also saw it as an artistic phenomenon. New kinds of artists were coming into the field, so the look of the pujo, the creative community, was transforming. This was the early 2000s when we began our work.
How do you look at the blurring of lines between the religious and cultural aspects of Kolkata’s Durga puja?
What drew me to the book is absolutely critical to the kind of identity that the pujo has taken on now. I was clear that I’m not writing a religious history — it would be hard to write a purely religious history anyway about Durga Puja. The Pujo has been about so many other things throughout its history, through the almost 100 years of sarbojanin (community) pujo, and with bonedi barir pujo (pujo at the houses of the elite), we are dealing with a 300 year history. Besides, pujo has always been about competition between, initially, wealthy homes, and then between clubs. It’s about showing off. So, the pujo ceased to be purely religious in its urban form a very long time ago. Instead, it became a grand social celebration, a place for coming together.
Has Durga Puja always been about a celebration of indigenous art and artisans?
There was always immense artistry involved in the making of the pratima (idol) and the mandap. One can never write away the artistry of the traditional heritage skill set involved. With theme pujos coming in with a new social category of artists and designers, many of these older artisans did feel threatened. But you also realise that the need for the pratima and the need for basic bamboo and structural work has not gone away, so those livelihoods remain, but they haven’t gained in prestige, stature and visibility in the way that other kinds of creative people have. And, I think, that’s a difference. Many of the artists who are coming into the field are themselves from very humble backgrounds and the difference between the artist and the artisan collapses here. As an art historian, what I found fascinating is how it complicates the definition of who is an artist and who is not. What is the line of divide between the artisan, the craftsman, and the artists.
Tell us more about this new crop of artists
In the 2000s, a new kind of pujo emerged. It was more of an integrated production where a single artist would be in charge of site-specific work, very much like in a film set, where there are many people who work, but there’s a single director who takes the lead. The site here is a narrow street, an open stretch of road. Some artists have used that to tremendous effect. When I began my work, there were a handful of seven or eight of them whose careers I followed for almost 10 years. Many who did not have an art-college background learnt on the job. Many came from craft backgrounds. This was a season when many could earn a livelihood, earn seasonal fame. Many had no aspirations to be artists. They saw it as a vocation, a new opening, while others had aspirations to be artists and that was something they struggled with. But now I would say that the pujo has even thrown up its own avant garde. You have some couture artists who will continuously be breaking the barrier every pujo. I would specifically like to mention Bhabatosh Sutar, Shanatan Dinda, Sushanta Pal among them.
How important do you think is documentation or preservation of this phenomenon?
Older ways of idol making and pandal making had a logic of destruction written into them. Some stuff could be recycled, some of the panels would be sold, the bamboo would be re-used. When the Durga Puja took on the form of installation or production, then you were using permanent material like fibre, stone, wood. It did create that aspiration for an afterlife, but never really acquired the status of a work of art. Now, there’s been an understanding that the work you do is ephemeral and they play with that ephemerality much more productively. They use biodegradable material. Even artists have begun to understand that it is festival art, it will come back every season and there may be bits of it you can bring back into your studio and have an exhibition of, but the clubs will not maintain it. But I still feel some of these pujo installations can find a permanent place, become part of an eatery or a bookstore, perhaps. I am soon going to start working on a Durga Puja archive with my two decades of research, one that I hope will be a more immersive experience for people.
Economics
Bengal, as in 2019
Subhro Niyogi & Udit Prasanna Mukherji, Oct 12, 2019: The Times of India
From: Subhro Niyogi & Udit Prasanna Mukherji, Oct 12, 2019: The Times of India
Key Highlights
Kolkata’s Durga Puja also one of the largest employment generators in the West Bengal, providing jobs to over 1 lakh people for nearly six months every year.
From those erecting the pandals to the decorators, idol-makers to craftsmen, electricians to security persons, priests to dhakis, the Pujas help thousands boost their earnings.
Kolkata’s Durga Puja, one of the biggest street festivals in the world, is also one of the largest employment generators in the state, providing jobs to over 1 lakh people for nearly six months every year.
With more than 10,000 Pujas in the state and 1,000 more in other parts of India and overseas, the festival has in recent years emerged as a hub of activity with each community Puja sustaining a micro-economy, particularly in Kolkata. From those erecting the pandals to the decorators, idol-makers to craftsmen, electricians to security persons, priests to dhakis, the Pujas help thousands boost their earnings.
“The five-day festival generates transactions worth Rs 4,500 crore in Kolkata and Rs 15,000 crore in the entire state,” says Kajal Sarkar, president of Forum for Durgotsav, a body of the city’s 100 mega Pujas.
“Of the the 4,500-odd community Pujas, 200-odd provide employment to more than 50 people each. The remaining 4,300-odd Pujas employ at least 20 people each. For those who feel so much money is being wasted on art, decor and celebrations, it is pertinent to point out that the money does not go down the drain. It goes into the households of labourers and craftsmen, sustaining the lives of nearly 4 lakh people for over six months,” said Sarkar.
According to Ravi Poddar of Enkon and Avishek Bhattacharya of Brand & Beautiful, who play a major role in linking advertisers with organisers, the corporate spending in Kolkata’s Pujas amount to nearly Rs 500-800 crore, with advertisement through banners and gates accounting for nearly Rs 150 crore.
India Inc finds value in Durga Puja advertising
It was Bosepukur Sitala Mandir, the Durga Puja that Kajal Sarkar helms, that transformed Durga Puja from a religious festival to a megacelebration of street art with a pandal decorated with earthen cups in 1999. That changed the character of the festival, ushering in innovative themes that caught the imagination of the masses and drew people in lakhs. The top draws soon started recording footfalls of 2-3 lakh a day. India Inc was quick to realise the magnetism of these Pujas and spot the opportunity to catch over a million eyeballs over five days. Soon, mega-bucks and sponsors followed.
With the advent of corporate sponsorships, Puja organizers are no longer dependent on contributions from local residents. If the budget of more traditional and low-key Pujas is around Rs 15 lakh, that for the big ones can go up to Rs 1 crore depending on the location, size and execution of the theme. Corporate funding and outdoor advertising account for about 90% of the cost.
“From firms manufacturing biscuits and cakes to bikes and cars, just about every firm finds value in advertising at Durga Puja,” said Rana Ghosh, director of an advertisement agency that operates in the Puja market.
If a multinational served its popular brand of fruit juice at pandals during bhog, another tied up with more than 100 housing society Pujas to get their bhogcooked in an edible oil from its stable and splashed its new range of spices at community pandals. At many mega-Pujas, volunteers serving bhogsported aprons with the logo of a popular restaurant chain. Even saris of idols carried tags of apparel stores and dhakis wore tees sponsored by well-known brands. Among the national brands that made its presence felt this Puja were Emami, Dabur, Amazon, Hindustan Unilever, HP, Samsung, Apple, Mi, Flipkart and others.
Aditya V Agarwal, director of Emami Group that was one of the biggest advertisers at this year’s Durga Puja, said: “The festival’s appeal cuts across geographies and communities and connects people with its unique essence. The four days of celebration fervour on this enormous scale also offers brands a significant opportunity to easily connect with the target group and spread brand awareness at one go. This is an occasion when brands get to reach out to wider audience as lakhs of people also come from outside Kolkata for pandal hopping and celebrations giving us the chance to expose them to our brands.”
Indian Chamber of Commerce director general Rajeev Singh believes Durga Puja’s turnover in Kolkata could triple to Rs 15,000 crore in the next few years. “By 2030, Durga Puja has the potential to touch the scale of the mega Kumbh Mela that generated a turnover of Rs 1lakh crore earlier this year,” Singh said.
“The grandeur of Durga Puja need be marketed globally to make the event as big as the Rio Carnival,” felt the Merchant Chamber of Commerce president Vishal Jhajharia.
Immersion of Idols
Delhi
2019: Break from Tradition
Sidhartha Roy & Jasjeev Gandhiok, Oct 9, 2019: The Times of India
From: Sidhartha Roy & Jasjeev Gandhiok, Oct 9, 2019: The Times of India
Even from the Nehru Place metro station, you could hear the throbbing sounds ofthe dhaak (drums), and as you approached Astha Kunj park around half a kilometre away, piercing chants of “Bolo Durga Mai ki jai!” added to the festive din. The 200-acre park had one of the temporary ponds created for the immersion of Durga idols. Devotees from areas in the vicinity such as Chittaranjan Park, Kalkaji and Alaknanda gathered there and lowered the idols into the water with the help of a crane.
Puja organising committee members and many others said that while immersion of this sort was definitely a break from tradition, it was a step in the right direction. “Nothing is more important than the environment,” asserted Amit Mukherjee, member of the Alaknanda Puja Samiti. “I remember when we used to carry the idols with our hands into the water. Over the years, we started using cranes to lower them into the river. That too was a break from tradition. So there is no reason why we can’t adapt to immersion in artificial ponds because this is the right thing to do.”
Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Greater Kailash Saurabh Bharadwaj was at the site overseeing the arrangement right from the first slot for immersion at 12 noon. “We carried out the shuddhikaranof the water with Ganga jal. It was linked to the main pipe to ensure enough water in the pond,” Bharadwaj said, adding that the flowers would be composted and the wooden framework of the idols disposed of by the South Delhi Municipal Corporation.
While the puja samitis were happy with the arrangements, many complained about the water levels in the ponds. “The idols are not getting properly submerged,” pointed out Amitabha Sarkar of Kalkaji DDA Flats Durga Puja Samiti. Balaram Das of Miloni Samiti too said, “The water level is really low, but we still support the cause of protecting the environment.” Sarkar, however, was effusive about the security arrangements at the artificial pond.
Deepshikha Banerjee, a CR Park resident, felt that immersion in a pond didn’t quite have the same feel of going to the Yamuna. “But,” she said, “this is a good step. Even in Kolkata, most idols are immersed in ponds, not the river.”
The eco-friendly method also offered new benefits. “This place is near our locality and we have space to park our cars. There is no dust like on the Yamuna banks,” noted Bikash Ghosh, a Kalkaji resident. “Also, since there is no overcrowding, you can bring the entire family without worrying about their safety.” His view was corroborated by Satarupa Biswas, also from Kalkaji, who was happy to have been able to bring her seven-year-old daughter Shivalika to an immersion for the first time.
Many pujas in CR Park such as at Cooperative Ground, Mela Ground and Pocket 52 had their own ponds dug in the pandal area. The Dakshin Palli Durga Puja Samiti of Pocket 52, in fact, pioneered the immersion of idols in temporary ponds six years ago.
Not all artificial ponds, however, were as accommodating as at Astha Kunj. At RK Puram Sector 12, the Sarojini Nagar Durga Puja Samiti struggled to submerge the idol in the shallow water. “The pond should have been better made,” said Samir Kumar Das, general secretary of the samiti, though he shrugged off the inconvenience because “this will help the environment”.
At Subhash Park in south Delhi, members of the Moti Bagh Durga Puja Samiti were dismayed to find that the temporary pond was already crammed with immersed idols before they reached. “There is no one from any civic agency to remove the remnants of the immersed idols,” complained RK Biswas. It took the samiti members more than an hour to move the older debris to one end of the pit before they could slip their idol into the water.
In east Delhi’s Mayur Vihar Phase I, puja organisers had been allotted two hours to reach and carry out the immersion. Three pits had been dug, each over 25 feet wide and with three feet of water. However civil defence volunteers pointed out that the polythene sheets lining the pits had ripped easily and leaked water. “The DJB tankers keep replenishing the water, but the process takes time. This means people have to wait,” said Jaspreet Singh, a civil defence volunteer.
This wait for water vexed some puja samitis. As MK Saha, chairman, Kali Bari Mayur Vihar Samiti, said, “The overall arrangements were good, but the government needs to get a fix on the water supply. The depth of the water here was a mere 2-3 feet and we had to wait for the tankers for more water.”
After the monitoring committee expressing concern earlier this year at the Yamuna’s water being poisoned by idols, the National Green Tribunal directed the city authorities to stop immersion in the river. Delhi government responded by creating the artificial ponds and allotting time and place to each puja samiti.
The cultural aspect
M N Kundu, Durga Puja Is A Great Cultural Bonanza, Oct 07 2016 : The Times of India
Devi Durga, the cosmic power principle of the Absolute manifested herself in response to the collective prayer of the gods for subduing devilish death-bound demons creating perpetual disharmony in creation. As a part of this cosmic play , where good triumphs over evil, Durga Puja is celebrated.
A society and culture undergoing a critical period is characterised by drastic slide in social, moral and human values.Rule of vice over virtue and shameless evildoing, abandoning all positive teachings tend to cast a shadow over all that ought to have great potential for good. In this context Durga Puja is exceptionally significant with its theology , mythology, scriptures, customs, festivities and rituals with cultural variations that provide deep insights into life and living.
Durga being Shakti or power personified remains neutral till devotees invoke her intervention. Even Rama sought her blessings before fighting with Ravana. In social life she brings prosperity and power of knowledge. In cultural life she endows us with fine arts. In the domain of defence she gives power to combat evil attackers.In spiritual life she annihilates our endless desires multiplying like Raktabij and finally subdues our last enemy , the sense of separateness, the ego, hidden like Mahishasura so that we can progress towards the goal of Self-realisation.
The concept of Durga Puja went through a prolonged process of cultural evolution. In pre-Christian era she used to be pictured alone, riding a lion.Later on she was contemplated as spouse of Shiva as the dyna mic power principle with her offspring and Shiva as passive consciousness. She is also worshipped as Dasamahavidya, the ten-wisdom-embodiment. Durga embodies Shakti, the dynamic aspect of ultimate reality and its role in creation, protection and transformation.Durga also embodies empowerment of women and reverence for them. Durga gives the eternal message of hope and assurance for divine intervention in times of trouble.
Durga Puja intermingles the various parallel legends.Although essentially a spiritual metaphor, the legend of the homecoming of Uma, daughter of the Himalayas inspired innumerable devotional songs called Agamani.Another legend relates to Sati destroying the Shiva-less sacrificial ceremony of Daksha. In Chandi of Markandeya Purana she first represents herself as Mahamaya, the goddess of cosmic delusion. In the second part, as Mahishasuramardini, the vanquisher of the buffalo-demon and then as Kalika, the killer of Chanda and Munda and their masters Shumbha and Nishumbha, she is seen as protector.
Shakti and Shiva symbolise energy and consciousness. Although Ganesh, Saraswati, Kartik and Lakshmi have been associated with her in the battlefield symbolising wisdom, learning, prowess and wealth, the four refer to human pursuits.Ten weapons in her ten hands symbolise subjugation of tenfold sense-attractions before finally overcoming the ego.
Apart from spiritual significance the magnificent socio-religious ceremony as a part of traditional ritual engenders a feeling of oneness among all, despite all differences. It provides a great opportunity for sociocultural bonding of everyone in society via cultural, religious and artistic programmes performed in attractively decorated pandals, with people turning out in their festive clothes. From once being an exclusive celebration by those who could afford it, Durga Puja is now `sarbojanin' or accessible to all.
Mahalaya Durga Puja
A backgrounder
Oct 20, 2023: The Indian Express
What is Mahalaya (Durga Puja): History and Significance
The central theme of Mahalaya is based on a legend from the “Devi Mahatmya” (The Glory of the Goddess), an ancient Sanskrit text that is a part of the Markandeya Purana. This text narrates the story of the goddess Durga and her battle against the demon Mahishasura, a buffalo demon who terrorised the heavens and Earth.
Mahishasura, who had obtained a boon of invincibility from Lord Brahma, was causing havoc and subduing the gods. Unable to defeat him, the gods combined their powers to create the goddess Durga, who was endowed with extraordinary strength and weapons. The battle between Mahishasura and Durga raged for nine days and nights, ultimately culminating in the demon’s defeat on the tenth day, which is celebrated as Vijayadashami.
How is it celebrated?
Mahalaya is celebrated with great enthusiasm and devotion in India, especially in the state of West Bengal, where it holds tremendous cultural and religious significance.
The most iconic and widely observed tradition on Mahalaya is the recitation of “Mahishasura Mardini,” a hymn from the “Devi Mahatmya.” Many people wake up before dawn to listen to the special radio broadcast of this hymn, which has been a tradition since 1931. It is considered an auspicious start to the day and is believed to invoke the goddess Durga’s blessings.
Devotees offer prayers, fast, take a dip in the Ganges, participate in cultural programmes, among other things to celebrate the auspicious occasion. Traditional Bengali dishes, sweets, and delicacies are prepared and shared with family and friends. The festive meal is an integral part of the celebration.
In different parts of India, Mahalaya might be celebrated with variations in customs and traditions, but the common thread is the reverence for goddess Durga and the anticipation of the grand Durga Puja festival that follows. It is a time when people come together to celebrate the triumph of good over evil and to seek the blessings and protection of the divine.
Pandâls: the themes
Kolkata
2019
Sumona Chakravarty, Oct 16, 2019: The Times of India
From: Sumona Chakravarty, Oct 16, 2019: The Times of India
From: Sumona Chakravarty, Oct 16, 2019: The Times of India
“What could this mean?” “What is the theme?” “Who is the artist?”. Sounds like art buffs at an exhibition, doesn’t it? But that’s how conversations go in Kolkata’s Durga Puja pandals. As cameras click away, the theme of the pandal is slowly revealed like a sculptor unveiling an installation. And as one enters the main enclosure to finally face the goddess, one can fully grasp the artist’s vision.
One such artistic highlight of this year’s puja was at Tarun Dal, tucked away in the lanes of Dum Dum, North Kolkata. At the entrance, the first visual cue was a wall of rainbow-coloured kites. Then, deeper into the lane, there was a sculpture of a child, locked inside a home and being berated for ‘girly’ habits. Inside the main tent, there was an installation of a fairy breaking out of a cage hanging above, with the walls around decked with large pride masks. The idol embodied the features of both Durga and Krishna, a unique androgynous representation of the deity. The final detail was the third eye above the idol, with a projection of trans-women dancing.
Pandal-hoppers at Tarun Dal discussed how this might be the first LGBT-themed puja. Even those who were unfamiliar with the popular LGBT symbols used in the pandal turned to their friends and family to find out what they meant. In this way, in the unlikeliest of places and contexts, thousands of people each day were starting a conversation on LGBT identities.
Almost every neighbourhood in Kolkata builds a pandal as a home for the goddess and her family, welcoming her like a daughter or as a feminine force against evil (depending on their interpretation). The festival gives every locality an opportunity to establish itself in the collective imagination of the city. It has also become a celebration of the city’s inclusive spirit in many ways. This year, a pandal in South Kolkata, 75 Palli, decorated the entrance with a web of electric meter boxes with the names of local citizens. Inside, in front of a towering cityscape, were wireframe sculptures of diverse religious architecture, and the sound of mantras was interspersed with the azaan, Catholic hymns, and readings from the Guru Granth Sahib. The organisers were at hand to explain that the meter boxes represented the diverse people who power the city. A similar pandal on communal harmony in Beliaghata drew some heated criticism on social media, but this was quickly countered by overwhelming support online and enthusiastic crowds at the pandal.
While many pandals had a social message, they stayed away from preaching or dictating beliefs, instead using metaphors and symbols to encourage audiences to question and engage. Of course, a few took a more literal approach. A pandal on the harm caused by radiation to the bird population greeted one with a dish antenna and mobile tower, and another one on plastic pollution immersed visitors in a trail of plastic bags to drive home the message, while contradictorily sporting flex banners right outside. However, overall, nothing was sacrosanct and everything up for interpretation, including what Durga represents, how you celebrate and who can participate.
Other pandals may not have had a social message but, like the best works of art, were engaging and sparked a dialogue. In the middle of an empty field in Tala Park, in the extreme north of the city, artist Sushanta Pal and his team celebrated the power of imagination by creating a liminal space between heaven and earth titled ‘Kalpa Lok’. Pandal visitors were heard exclaiming how they felt transported into an alternate world that they did not want to leave.
In many ways, this pandal was a fitting symbol for this year’s puja — representing a fantasy world where we have the privilege of escaping from the daily grind and distracting ourselves from the crises — ranging from Kashmir and Assam to Amazon — that cry for our urgent attention. However, this fantasy also created encounters with diverse perspectives and ideas, sparking an imagination of a more inclusive and joyful world.
The spiritual aspect
The Evolution Of Human Spirituality
M N Kundu, Durga Puja And Evolution Of Human Spirituality, September 21, 2017: The Times of India
The human mind being finite, cannot conceive the abstract idea of infinite Brahmn, the non-dual one without a second. Ancient sages therefore contemplated suitable symbols for progressive realisation of the Divine through various levels of God-consciousness in our march from lesser truth to greater truth towards ultimate realisation. Durga Puja encompasses the entire gamut of spiritual process of realisation.
A fortnight before the pujas we start tarpan or offering to ancestors till mahalaya. It is intended to work out the genetic bondage to enable us to proceed to the Divine and awaken our divine consciousness on the first day of the puja.
The image of the goddess is enigmatic, being a spiritual metaphor synthesising a quantum leap from matter to spirit in and through an evolutionary process. To a man with an empty stomach, food is God and hence the first human worship had always been towards nurturing nature, worship of trees giving fruit as food. On the first day on mahashasti worship is made to wood-apple tree as the abode of the goddess. On mahasaptami, the second day of the puja, nine leaves and a banana tree called navapatrika are placed for worship. The paradoxical presence of the four offsprings of the goddess in the battlefield is symbolic and we need to decipher the meaning. When subtle intelligence represented by Ganesha is applied to nurturing nature, wealth in the form of Lakshmi evolves.Material prosperity begets two associates learning and fine arts represented by goddess Saraswati and military prowess for protection and preservation represented by Kartikeya. All these four offsprings of the goddess are worshipped for worldly achievements. Material prosperity and military prowess invariably beget arrogance and egotism unless these are accepted as gifts of the Divine and used as steppingstones for further progress. But the pernicious ego, under the sway of beastly ignorance (buffalo in the image) and identifying itself to be omnipotent, breaks the natural law of harmony and peace. At this stage of spiritual crisis, primordial nature, in the form of Goddess Durga, intervenes to vanquish the ego and makes it surrender to her. It is victory of the universal life force over individual egoism and upholding of cosmic cause over untoward interests of the indomitable ego.
With ten weapons in her ten hands and the wisdom of the third eye, the goddess transcends the ego-bound ten human senses of perception and action represented by Mahishasura. She represents the universal principle of energy or holy vibration of the cosmos.
We witness progressive departure from nature worship to worship of material prosperity , military prowess, learning, fine arts and intellect, leading to the realisation of the ultimate futility of all these being impermanent and delusive. Thereafter, the ego is made to surrender to the omnipotent cosmic energy of goddess Durga.
The journey to Self-realisation ends with awakening cosmic consciousnesss as the destination. Above the image of Durga there is Shiva, representing cosmic consciousness. On the fourth day of the Puja or the day of special victory , Devi is united with Shiva after her worldly play is done for establishing divine realisation through an evolutionary process. Hence all peripherals are immersed into the ocean of consciousness of Shiva, which is the culmination of spiritual progress along with the dissolution of delusive manifestation of the apparent reality .
The significance of Durga Puja
MN Kundu, Many Significant Aspects Of Durga Puja, October 16, 2018: The Times of India
Durga puja covers a lot, including God-consciousness nurturing nature, being mindful of wealth, learning and fine arts, wisdom, military prowess and also the Absolute. It embodies mother worship, gender equity, victory of good over evil and cosmic spiritual power over temporary brute force. Ultimately, one overcomes the ego and the obsession with mundane and material needs, towards achieving unison with cosmic consciousness.
The Absolute, infinite spirit is manifested through Shakti, with divine properties. Power principles like existence and its essence are inseparable like fire, its energy and illumination. Ancient seers contemplated a comprehensive and convenient image of Shakti for invoking the Absolute as primordial energy – the cosmic principle of will-force, wisdom, and dynamism of doing. The concept of Devi Durga encompasses all these as manifestation of the supreme power of the Absolute.
The concept of Divine Mother as the focal point of human worship is found way back in the Harappan civilisation. Literary record of the same is traceable right from the Rig Veda where we find the wonderful hymn, Devishuktam. Here the goddess declares that she is the supreme power behind all creation. The Kenopanishad refers to her as Uma Haimavati. In Tantra cult the goddess acquires different dimension in the form of ten great wisdom forms, as Dasha Mahavidya. In Devi Mahatmyam, in Markandeya Purana, venerating the Mother Goddess acquired even more importance.
Devi Durga, literally meaning the deity protecting devotees as durga, fortress, is invoked as the creating, nurturing, protecting, loving and above all liberating deity of the devotees. Apart from looking after us during our earthly abode she ultimately delivers us from the darkness of delusion by cutting our sense bondage with ten weapons in her ten hands leading to final dissolution of the indomitable ego by making it realise the supremacy of the cosmic life force behind creation as all creatures owe their existence to her.
The image of Durga as Mahishasuramardini is comprehensive. We seek refuge in God predominantly for material prosperity, protection from enemies, intellectual and artistic excellence and finally for ultimate realisation overcoming human bondage. The four offspring of the goddess – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganapati and Kartikeya – are the givers of all material gifts as the deities of wealth, learning, wisdom and overpowered by the goddess standing over a tame lion, the symbol of subdued animalism.
Apart from the spiritual undercurrent, a series of mythological legends cater to popular taste and poetic feelings. Devi Uma, along with her four offspring, is coming to her parents, Himalaya and Menaka, for a short period of three days. A typical Indian mother’s concern for her married daughter inspires a set of melodious Bengali songs called Agamoni. While the legend of Sati, the destroyer of Daksha’s sacrifice ceremony has a different appeal. Emergence of Chandi on the combined prayer of the gods for their protection by destruction of demons forms an important metaphorical myth for spiritual aspirants.
The grand celebration with multidimensional appeal involves everybody in the community socially, economically, ritually and above all, culturally. The innovative image of the goddess, pandal, release of special issues of literary magazines, musical albums, creatively, socially and culturally involve all concerned making it a celebration for creation, unison, elevation and above all awakening of higher consciousness.
