Call from Mount Kailash......

DURGA PUJA: PART 3

Bonedi Barir Sabekiyana

A glimpse of Kolkata’s traditional household pujas

Kolkata, on its canvas, draws two different portraits of Durga puja, one being traditional and the other contemporary. As there is significant divergence in the style statement of north and south Kolkata, the puja is also not an exception. Pujas of north Kolkata showcase traditionality in every term, from rituals to fashion whereas south Kolkata pujas convey contemporality.      

In the documentation of Durga puja in Bengal, Kolkata’s household pujas is another important section which needs a significant emphasis. Pujas are performed according to bishuddho siddhanto mot (a specific ritualistic genre) with the touch of traditionality. Kanad Sanyal, an avid photographer from Kolkata has captured the instances of traditional household pujas which have more than 100 years of vintage essence. He covered thirty-seven houses out of shortlisted forty-two within twenty hours spread over three days. Let me take you to the journey of unravelling the nitty gritties of traditional household pujas of Kolkata through Kanad’s lens.

The following photograph depicts the courtyard of Ghosh family in Pathuriaghata Street where the puja is held. The thakur dalan (the courtyard where the idol is worshipped) is nicely decorated with two banana trees placed at the entrance, which is considered to be subho (good) in every Bengali occasion.  

Large panch khilan thakur dalan

 Khelat Ghosh family, 47 Pathuriaghata street, Kolkata

The deity inside the dalan

Khelat Ghosh family, 47 Pathuriaghata street, Kolkata

Noibeddyo, an integral part of any puja in Bengal is an elaborate offering to the goddess. It is prepared with rice at the centre of the plate and decorated with various fruits and vegetables.

Durga pujor ‘Noibeddyo’

Khelat Ghosh family, 47 Pathuriaghata street, Kolkata

Maa Durga or Mahisasurmardini (the form of Debi Durga killing Mahisasur with trishul) has been worshipped daily for more than 250 years in Halder family of Kali Prasad Chatterjee Street in Kolkata.

Mahisasurmardini established in Halder family

171, Kali Prasad Chatterjee Street, Kolkata

Mallick family in Darponarayan Tagore Street has celebrated 262 years of their puja in 2014.

Ek-chalar Thakur

Mr. and Mrs. Mallick in 32, Darponarayan Tagore Street, Kolkata

If one carefully observes the previous photograph (Darponarayan Street) and this following photo collage, it is found that Debi Durga is sitting on the lap of Lord Shiva (husband of Durga). This is definitely a rare posture of the goddesses where Shiva seems to be an adorable husband.

Of loves and romances: Debi Durga sitting on the lap of her husband Lord Shiva

Left: Dutta family, Hidaram Banerjee Street, Kolkata

Right: Laha family, Muktaram Babu Street, Kolkata

Sabeki thakur-dalan

 Saha family, 122A Maniktala Street, Kolkata

Maa Durga arrived in Saha paribar, Mr. Saha busy in final ornamentation

The idol worshipped in Dutta family of Bidhan Sarani, typically depicts a family visiting the in-law’s place. Lord Shiva leads his family with his wife and four children Lakhshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh.

Lord Shiva, an adorable husband and father

Dutta family, 3 Bidhan Sarani, Kolkata

As Maa Durga comes to the earthly abode, she is worshipped in multifarious forms during her stay. The most significant form of Durga is Kumari which is the virgin and the purest form of the goddess. Kumari form of Debi Durga depicts mahashakti which overpowers the evil forces and establishes peace and serenity on earth. Kumari puja is one of the most significant rituals in traditional household pujas. The girl, aged between one to sixteen symbolising the Kumari form of Durga is worshipped in front of the idol on nabami (fourth day of the festival). Here goes the Kumari puja ritual in Dawn family at Vivekananda road.

Little princess on the throne

Ritual of Kumari puja in Dawn family, 20B Vivekananda Road, Kolkata

Some moments of Kumari puja on Nabami

Dawn family, 20B Vivekananda Road, Kolkata

Sandhi puja, another integral part of Durga puja is performed at the juncture of ashtami (third day) and nabami (fourth day). Its duration starts from the last 24 minutes of ashtami and ends by the first 24 minutes of nabami. During this juncture or sandhikkhon, Durga is worshipped in the form of Chamunda as she killed the two asuras named Chando and Mundo at sandhikkhon. The main ingredients of sandhi puja are 108 lotuses and 108 lamps.

The lunar moment: Sandhi puja going on at the juncture of ashtami and nabami

Basu family, Kailash Basu Street, Kolkata

The photo documentation vividly illustrates the ‘Sabekiyana’ of the bonedi families of Kolkata in every means, from idols to rituals to attires of the family members. One thing to mention here, without which the definition or the essence of sabekiyana will be incomplete, is the eyes of the goddess. Every idol in each of the families has a specific shape of the eyes, which is popularly known as Jamini Roy style. Bengalis refer to these idols having this particular style of eyes as Sabeki protima. The following photograph portrays the eye style more explicitly.

Trinayan of Debi Durga, Jamini Roy style

Dawn family, 20B Vivekananda Road, Kolkata

Author’s Bio- Note:

Kanad Sanyal is an avid photographer based in West Bengal. He continuously tries to capture many stories of everyday life through his lens.                                  

  

Call from Mount Kailash......

DURGA PUJA: PART 2


Looking beyond...

Essence of festivity outside Kolkata 

Our very own Durga Puja is what we, proud Bengalis live for, well, at least most of us would love to believe likewise. It is not only the biggest and brightest festival of Bengalis, I would say it can claim to be one of the most fascinating festivals in the world, with all the grandeur of decorative pandals, breathtaking lightings, the beautifully sculptured idols of Maa Durga, and the ever so fashionable people all decked up to their best! 

My memories of Durga Puja resonates to exactly these kind of festivities, which one can identify with Kolkata; no offence to Mumbai though, it has grown on me over the years, and I like it here too! My memories also take me to our ancestral home, around 60 kms away from Kolkata, in a quaint little village called Bhebia; off the slightly more known border town of Basirhat. And off late I have realized that these are the memories I will cherish more than the apparently more attractive Kolkata Pujo. 

Happiness is a journey, not a destination they say, and it’s true! The journey to this destination used to start from our place in South Kolkata, near Deshapriya Park; where we would be joined by our aunts and families and we would start off in Sonababu’s van (may be the first of the SUVs on the Indian roads way back in the 80s, with maximum speed of 45 km/hr and all other associated features). 

Our next stop would be Paikpara in north Kolkata, where the rest of the extended family would be picked up and ensure Sonababu’s van has more than a handful to carry. The lunch or brunch break used to be either in Deganga, the same road side restaurant every year with the yummiest kochuri and aloo’r tarkari! Enough of travel tales, so we reach our place post lunch, this is Shashthi (the first day of the puja), and so Durga Maa’s face is covered till bodhon in the evening. 

Various family members start arriving in our 100 year old house, although at the cost of sounding immodest, it is more than a house, with more than 50 rooms spread across the arena. Kids start running around, playing games, not mobile games!! Evening starts with wearing new clothes, seeing the Bodhon, first glance of the Goddess. Next three days, would be same as ever, as we religiously go across performing the same duties as they should be done, the pushpanjalis, the afternoon bhogs, kala-bou being brought in, sandhipujo, evening arati, where the ghonta-bajano used to be the duty of yours truly! More than the Puja, it was always spending time together with the near and dear ones, a few of them like my first cousins whom I would meet at least 20 more times in a year, a few would be not so near ones, and this would be once a year, may be even less than that! There would be this uncle of mine, an avid angler, and we would give him company all the way from assembling his fishing rod, to spending countless hours with him, with the fishing rod in our hands and waiting for that slight movement and a successful catch! The elder cousin, who would captivate us with his repertoire of ghost stories, narrated sitting in the lakeside in the evening, he still does it even now! And then, the grand finale, the bisarjan, starting with sindoor-khela in the afternoon, the dance of Joya and Bijoya, two of Durga’s company during her five day trip to our world. 

Then, the sad moment to say goodbye to the Goddess, when it would be difficult to hold back the tears, in spite of all the rational thoughts and atheistic ideas! But then, we always sign off with the hopeful thought of “asche-bochor-abar -hobey”!! I so wish, next time I will be in Bhebia, saying this! God bless you all!

Author’s Bio-Note:

Saurajit De is a chartered accountant by qualification; born and brought up in Kolkata, now living in Mumbai for last 15 years and engaged in various professional assignments. Like most Bongs, he loves to chat, eat, drink and make merry. He is also a sports fan, having played a bit of soccer and cricket in school days. He is an enthusiast about sports, specially soccer, tennis; and a huge rock music fan who worships Floyd, Eagles, Springsteen and loads of others. 

Call from Mount Kailash......

DURGA PUJA: PART 1


Commencement of ‘Debipakkho’: The festive aura at its peak

Mahalaya is the inaugural day for Debipakkho. ‘Debipakkho’ indicating the yearly session of Durga Puja starts with hearing the stotropath (reading out of sanskrit shlokas) by famous Birendra Krishna Bhadra at the break of dawn. This particular voice telling “Ashwiner Sharod prate” triggers the feeling of homecoming of Debi Durga. The men, early in the morning play a ritual on this particular day called tarpon. Tarpon is the offerings to ancestors. The men pray and offer teel and Tulsi in the name of their ancestors. According to the Hindu mythology, pitripakkho comes to an end and matripakkho starts on this very day and hence the significance of tarpon.

Ritual of Tarpon on the morning of Mahalaya

Offerings to the ancestors in river Ganga

Photo credit: Niladri Roy

Editing and collage: Nirmita Roychowdhury

Dhak (drum) is a membranophone instrument of South Asia and an integral part of Durga puja. The celebration and the festive aura are incomplete without the maddening beats of dhak. Every year, as debipakkho starts, the ‘dhaki’-s (drummers) start coming to Kolkata from rural areas of Bengal with a hope of earning. By and large, Durga puja is the only festival when the persons of this profession can earn a substantial amount. The organizing members of the puja committees come to this dhaki bazaar in Sealdah station and book them by advance payment. This is a profession by generation. Though dhak, having a shape from cylindrical to barrel and huge in size, the newer versions of the instruments are coming up.   As the collage depicts, the young dhaki-s are playing small dhaks which do not look alike the traditional ones. On one side, bookings are going on in the station by the puja committees and on the other side, they are waiting for the opportunity, which is yet to come.

Dhaki bazaar at Sealdah station

Bookings going on by the members of puja committees

Photo credit: Niladri Roy

Sealdah and Howrah, being the two main railway junctions of and near Kolkata, depict two different stories simultaneously. When Sealdah is busy with its dhaki bazaar, Howrah is busy in selling flowers. Howrah is the biggest flower market in Kolkata metropolitan area and flowers are sold here in retail price. As Durga puja knocks at the door, one can feel the busyness of the place. Lotuses are sold in huge numbers because 108 lotuses is a vital ingredient in sandhi puja (a ritual performed at the end of ashtami and beginning of nabami). As debipakkho starts, one witnesses the rush in Howrah flower market.

Ful bazaar at Howrah ful ghat

Photo credit: Niladri Roy

Author’s Bio-Note:

Niladri Roy is a documentary film maker, film editor & graphics designer based in Kolkata. He has worked with renowned film maker; Mr. Goutam Ghosh in his various projects. Besides this profession, he has passion in photography. Presently, he is working on a photo story and documentary film which is his dream project.