Durga Puja, West Bengal, India
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Tridhara Sammilani Pandal, Rashbehari Avenue
The theme for this pandal was the rich culture of Indian tribals and how they are struggling to preserve their heritage. The Pandal consists of their hunting weapons and masks and buffalo heads. The idol resembles a tribal goddess. Two tribal troupes from Gujarat's Gir forest and Jhargram in West Bengal were brought in for dance performances. |
For the past three years, the newly awakened Bengali spirit in me has been wanting to experience the `Pujas’ in Kolkata, a period of intense activity, festivity, creativity and noise that many of the local residents endeavour to escape most of the time by taking off to quieter destinations.
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| Tridhara - The boundary wall was lined with these masks. |
The Hindu festival of Durga Puja, the biggest and grandest event in India's eastern state of West Bengal, is a 10-day period sometimes in September and sometimes in October, which celebrates the victory of the Goddess Durga over the demon Mahishasura, epitomising the prevalence of good over evil. The story goes like this.
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| Tridhara - Stunning details. The pandal won 32 awards this year |
Mahishasura, a demon, after a long and hard penance was blessed by Lord Shiva, that no man or God could kill him. He could only be killed by a woman. So the dude got really chuffed that he would live forever because come-on, how is it possible to be killed by a girl right? So buoyed by his sense of invincibility, he went on a rampage and started a reign of terror across the universe and even attacked the Gods and became the leader of heaven.
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| Tridhara - Masterfully crafted. |
Now what? The three most powerful Gods, Brahma, the creator, Vishnu the preserver and Shiva the destroyer, the Holy Trinity, got together and created a woman who would have the power to destroy the demon. Her face reflected the light from Vishnu, her 10 arms came from Shiva and her feet from Brahma. She got other features from various other gods. They then gave her weapons to vanquish the demon and in a nutshell, she did.
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| Tridhara - The deity. The picture is hazy due to the smoke from the Puja fire. |
The main days of celebration are actually the last five, Sasthi, the sixth day, Saptami, the seventh day, Ashtami, the eighth, Navami the ninth, and Dashami, the tenth, when the idols are removed from their pedestals and taken to the river for immersion. The most important days of the Pujas are Ashtami and Dashami. This year Dashami was on October 11.
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Suruchi Sangha Pandal - New Alipore
The theme was peace and harmony. The pandal is a recreation of a Buddhist Monastery in Bhutan. The attention to detail and intricacy of the carvings was impressive. It apparently cost 300 million rupees to build. |
On all five days, there is Anjali, or the offering of prayers and flowers to the deity in the morning, followed by bhog, vegetarian food that has been especially prepared, blessed and served to the people after noon, which can range from simple fare to elaborate. The bhog that we ate was in my grand-uncle’s apartment building and the traditional Bengali food was downright delicious. Moreover, everyone who works in the apartments as cooks, cleaners and nannies also sat down to eat and were served by the residents. I loved that.
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| Suruchi Sangha - Buddhist prayer wheels |
In the evenings there is the Aarti, where light from wicks soaked in ghee - clarified butter - or camphor is offered to the deities accompanied by the sounds of the dhaaks, or drums. That is followed by cultural programs featuring songs, dances and skits by residents of the neighbourhood or individual buildings, and in the bigger pandals, by performing troupes and the like. Overall the city is buzzing with lights and action in the evenings, which also unfortunately results in major crowds and traffic snarls and a sea of population jostling to get a decent look at the pandals. It’s tradition to visit various pandals and youngsters and highly enthusiastic people try to visit as many as possible, sometimes making it an all nighter. We skipped the evenings this time as none of us are particularly enthused by crowds.
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| Suruchi Sangha - This is the Palden Lhamo, or the Glorious Goddess. Protector and wrathful deity. Worshipping her relieves her followers of all misery especially diseases. |
Many housing complexes, buildings and condominiums also have their own individual pujas and celebrations. Each apartment has to pay a certain amount of money, which differs depending on how elaborate you want to make it. Then there are the `Bari’s’ or the houses of traditional wealthy families, some of whom have been hosting the pujas in their homes for more than 100 years across many generations.
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| Suruchi Sangha - Stunning craftsmanship |
In Kolkata, formerly known as Calcutta, families start buying new clothes for themselves and gifts for their relatives weeks in advance and it’s bonus time for employees. There’s a sense of excitement and anticipation in the air for the carnival-like time to come.
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| Suruchi Sangha - The deity |
It’s just awe-inspiring to see the creativity of the artists and artisans in Bengal when you see the pandals, or marquees which host the deities. Every neighbourhood has a few pandals, some simple and some extremely opulent. Most of the pandals have a theme, many of them aiming to create awareness of social issues. There are thousands of pandals across the city with individualistic depictions of the Goddess using materials ranging from bricks to napkin paper.
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Abasar Sarbojanin Pandal - Bhawanipur
The theme here was Fairy Tales. |
Among all the pandals, there are quite a few that have earned a name for themselves and each year they come up with unique creative expressions. Most of these are sponsored heavily by corporates and other agencies and there are various awards handed out to the especially memorable ones by various establishments ranging from the government, to corporates to even embassies of different countries. All of them proudly display all their awards, trophies and cash prizes in a separate stall near their pandals.
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| Abasar Sarbojanin - Did not get a moment for a clear shot of the hall. People kept filing in and out! |
In this period, the administration of West Bengal and government banks shut down completely for five days. Apparently notice has already been given that next year the administration will be shut for 10 days. Better plan ahead because good luck if you have any work with the establishment at this time. Kolkata is in a holiday mood and the Bongs - slang for Bengalis - need little excuse to stop work and chill.
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| Abasar Sarbojanin - The lotuses were made of paper and the fillers of non-woven napkin paper. |
So this year I took my Punjabi husband and the half breeds to experience something new, and for the children, it would be an awareness of a part of their culture. My son and husband were a bit apprehensive about the `pandal hopping’ as they thought we would have to go and pray in each of the pandals, which meant taking off your shoes and putting them back on and all the hassles that come with doing that in public places multiple times and negotiating crowds, but they were very pleasantly surprised.
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| Abasar Sarbojanin - Winged fairies |
My sister in law, a Punjabi who lives in Kolkata, is a rockstar. Her enthusiasm to see the various pandals and willingness to traipse all over the city, north and south, is just infectious. I planned the trip just to experience this with her and it was all that I had expected it to be. As she’s been doing this for a number of years, she was totally clued in on which were the best pandals to visit. We only visited pandals in south Kolkata this time.
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| Abasar Sarbojanin - The deity as a fairy Goddess |
On a muggy sweltering overcast Ashtami day, we set off at 8 a.m. There were barely any cars on the road and the pandals were almost empty as people were recovering from their nightly excursions and doing their pujas at home. We would get dropped off at the entrance of the pandal, view it, and get picked up at the exit by the driver. Ah the luxury! This way, we managed to view a ton of them in peace but by 10.30 a.m. the sun came out, and the roads and pandals started getting a bit busy.
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Badamtala Ashar Sangha Pandal - Kalighat
This one was my favourite. Made entirely out of brick, the pandal had an ethereal look. The theme here was horoscope. |
When the pandals get busy, you can be assured of not being able to get a good picture of the installation or even yourselves without getting photobombed. No-one cares whether you’re getting a mugshot taken or posing with your family. They will walk right between you and the lens and there’s nothing to do but grin and bear it. You just have to jump at a split second opportunity or be extremely patient.
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| Badamtala - Stunning lotus on the ceiling |
Shockingly, between going around a large part of south Kolkata to visit these pandals, there was not a murmur of protest from the kids whom I had expected would be whinging and whining and annoying the daylights out of us by then. They were real troopers and as fascinated by the creativity on display as I was, but by 11 a.m. the heat and the humidity was taking a toll on everyone and I could see them visibly wilt.
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| Badamtala - The Deity |
We went home soon after and when I took stock of how many pandals we had visited all over, I was amazed. Twelve! The driver said that to do these many in the evening would have taken us more than 10 hours. It was truly a wonderful morning and I’m really glad my family got to experience what they did. It’s definitely something they needed to see once. The hubby and son have had their quota for a few years for now but my daughter is most enthusiastic to come back with me the next time I decide to. What we covered however, was less than the tip of an iceberg. There are more than 4,500 pandals in the city at this time.
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| Badamtala - Gemini |
While the others had their fill of the excursions, my sister in law and I certainly hadn’t. On Dashami day, the two of us and her friend woke at 5 a.m. and continued our sightseeing. This year, the rains played major spoilsport. It had rained heavily every afternoon for a couple of hours at least and on the 10th, the downpour lasted the whole night. You can imagine what it did to the revellers on the roads. One lady said that they got all dressed up to go out but the rains forced them to stay home. Her young daughter was so disappointed, she refused to change out of her special outfit. Pretty sad for people for whom these days are the only special times in the year for outings.
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| Badamtala - Libra |
It had stopped raining by the time we ventured out and at dawn, the sounds of the dhaaks was surprisingly soothing. Luckily, the pandals were built to withstand the rain but the floors were wet and mucky and the entry and exits had squishy puddles as they were paved with mud. We saw so many lovely pandals, made with ingenuous materials and unique in their own way but it’s not possible for me to showcase all of them here, so I’ve picked the most elaborate four for this post and will be showcasing some of the others that I found interesting in the next post.
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| Badamtala - Aquarius |
You have to leave some things for the next time right? Not being particularly religious, this time we went as complete tourists on a sightseeing mission. The next trip, I plan to attend a prayer ceremony and evening festivities, and might even brave the night crowds, as the pandals lit up is another experience altogether, completely changing their characteristics.
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| Badamtala - The ceiling hangings were in the shape of canopies and each cavity had a beautifully lit lotus. |
The city itself is aglow with bridges and flyovers lit up in the state’s ruling Trinamool party colours of blue and white. They could have added a few more colours also to break the monotony, though red is an absolute no no as it is the state’s former Communist Party government’s colour!
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| Badamtala - Scorpio |
The Pujas are the time to be in Kolkata. I don't know of any other city in the country that has this kind of dazzling display of artistic talent and electric vibe at any festival. We were warned that the traffic would be a killer during this period, but to our immense surprise during the days it was actually the lightest we have ever experienced! The one negative is that there are loudspeakers in certain neighborhoods blaring songs and hymns starting from 6 a.m. to 1 a.m. and after a while it gets seriously annoying. That aside, I'll be back for sure for part two.
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| Badamtala - Pisces |
I know this has been a loooooooooong post and for those of you who have made it till here without nodding off and reading every bit, you have my heartfelt thanks. Makes all the effort worthwhile.
