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Mother of all festivities
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No matter in which part of the world a Bengali might be, a strong tug at his or her heart strings around Durga puja time is inevitable.
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The kali temple on the Beach Road illuminated on the eve of Dasara. The reflection is seen on the roof of a car.
Durga Puja, the worship of `Shakti', is the most celebrated festival of Indians, more so the Bengalis. It reaches a feverish pitch in Bengal and among the Bengali diaspora around the globe during this time.
Most of the religious celebrations in the Hindu culture are draped with legends. They centre on the fight between the good and the evil, and in the end we are taught that the dark forces always succumb to the divine power.
According to the Indian mythology, Mahishasura, the demon king, through severe penance, obtained a boon from Lord Brahma, that no man or deity would be able to kill him. Armed with this gift of life he terrorised the inhabitants of the earth and the heaven. Seeing the threat and unable to stop him all the devas approached the Divine Trinity comprising Siva, Brahma and Vishnu to save them from the menacing tyrant. The three Lords combined their divine energy and summoned up a feminine form so brilliantly glaring that She illuminated the heavens. From the glow emerged Devi Durga, a beautiful woman with ten arms riding a lion. Despite Her grace, She bore a menacing expression.
For, Durga was born to kill the demon king.
Each of the gods present there armed Her with one of their strongest weapons in each of Her ten hands. In the ensuing fierce battle with Mahishasura, She beheaded the charging buffalo in one stroke and pierced the trident into the asura hiding inside the animal to mark his death, and thus rid the world of the evil. That is why She is known as `Durgatinashini Durga' in Bengal.
Though She is worshipped as the epitome of `Shakti', the Bengali culture uniquely places Her in their heart as a member of their family. They welcome the Goddess as their daughter who comes on an annual visit to Her parents' place for four days: Durga Sashti; Durga Saptami; Durga Ashtami and Durga Navami with Her children Ganesha, Laxmi, Kartik and Saraswati and sets for Her consort's abode on Vijaya Dasami.
The Durga worship owes its origin to the Ramayana lore when Rama invoked Her blessings before setting out for Lanka. It is believed that Durga Puja is actually to be celebrated during spring but Rama in haste performed it in autumn and that is why it is known as `Akal Bodhon' or untimely worship. But over the years this Akal Bodhon has become the tradition among Bengalis. Historically the origin of Durga Puja in Bengal dates back to the Mughal period in the 16th century, when the worshipping and celebration was limited to the then rulers of Bengal. But from the early 17th century the puja took a new social turn. Affluent Bengali families started performing the puja with full devotion and fervour and soon it became an annual festival, bringing families, friends and neighbours together. It became a religious extravaganza among the Bengali babus. Still some of the affluent households are carrying on the tradition for the past 300 years, It was only towards the fag-end of 18th century the concept of `Sarbojanin Puja' or community puja started taking shape. The response was spontaneous and common people joined in large numbers, and today we can find numerous community pujas with towering pandals, lavish décors and the evenings are studded with cultural programmes.
Swami Vivekananda who did not believe in rituals also started the Durga puja after he had the vision of the Goddess crossing the Ganga towards his Belur Math. And he started the community puja at Belur Math in 1901 that is still practised in all their centres in India and abroad.
People celebrating Durga Pooja at Railway Kalibari.
"The first puja at Belur Math was attended by Sharada Devi herself and she was the person who rejected the idea of sacrifice after it was directed by Raghunath Shiromani and agreed by Swamiji himself," says Swami Amrutananda of Ramakrishna Mission at Vizag. Community puja has expanded in such a way that anywhere around the world where four Bengalis assemble, the first thing that comes to their mind is to organise a Durga puja. Taking a cue from this a small Bengali community of four families that moved into this port city in search of greener pastures started a puja way back in 1927 in a modest way. The humble beginning enhanced its festivity with the addition of a few more families and for the first time a protima (idol) was imported from Bengal in 1941. Most of the families present those days were from the shipping and stevedoring fraternity.
"The initiative taken by Surendranath Banerjee, H.K. Banerjee, Saileshwar Sen, Dinesh Sarkar, Krishna Kamal Banerjee and few others have resulted in recording the oldest Durga puja and the foremost Bengali Association in Visakhapatnam," says K.K. Banerjee, the past president of the club.
Till 1956, the puja was being held in the club's rented premises and since that year it is being held at the local Town Hall till date. The old Bengali community is so attached to this hall that they still persist to continue to celebrate in that place in spite of its isolated location.
"Our puja is the oldest and it has spanned three generations but of late we are finding it difficult to cope with the funds as the crowd seems to be waning with every passing day," says S.K. Roy, the current president of the association.
But that is not the scene with the Railway Kalibari puja. Started by a few railway employees of Bengali origin and a couple of others in 1961 as Sarbojanin Durga Puja, this committee later merged with the SER Puja Committee in 1967 to make it really big. After shifting their venues to a couple of places they finally settled down at the present Railway Kalibari premises in 1975. And since then they have been celebrating the puja at the same place.
"Here people, irrespective of caste, creed and religion, come together to make the puja a success. This has given us a tremendous boost and we are thankful not only to the Bengali community but the local people also. Today it is ranked as one of the best Durga pujas in the city," says Saha, one of the founder-members of the committee.
Another successful Durga Puja is the one that is celebrated at the Ukkunagaram Kalibari. The puja was first started by a group of young professionals mostly Bengalis who had come to construct the country's first integrated steel plant in 1984.
"Though the Utsav was started by a few Bengalis, today everybody is part of it. The preparation and excitement for the puja starts three months earlier with rehearsals of various cultural programmes that are staged during the puja days," says Moloy Bandhopadhya, the president of the puja committee.
No matter in which part of the world a Bengali might be, a strong tug at his or her heart strings around Durga puja time is inevitable. The longing to stand before the `Mother' with folded hands along with one's family, relatives and friends, amidst the smell of jasmine and incense sticks, the best of cuisine, the beat of the `Dhak' (ceremonial drum) and, above all, the long `adda' (chat) sessions will certainly enliven the spirits of any Bengali.
SUMIT BHATTACHARJEE
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