Durga Puja, when Kolkata transforms itself into a huge art gallery, is an occasion for pageantry and festivity.
EVERY autumn she is believed to leave her Himalayan abode to spend a few days at her parents' home in the plains of Bengal. So, when the rest of India celebrates Dasara, the return of the victorious Rama to Ayodhya, West Bengal and the States in its neighbourhood celebrate the arrival of the Mother Goddess or Ma Durga. The ten-handed goddess arrives, riding a lion, with her children alongside her.
Durga Puja involves a strange juxtaposition of faith and festivity. On the one hand, Durga is worshipped as the all-powerful goddess, an incarnation of Shakti, and on the other, she is the loving, caring mother who takes a few days' holidays with her children. It is believed that the autumnal festival was a consequence of Rama's prayer to the goddess, out of season (in autumn instead of spring), seeking her blessings before venturing out to kill the Rakshasa king Ravana.
Interestingly, in ancient times, Durga Puja was celebrated in Bengal during the spring season. Even when it began to be celebrated in the autumn, the celebrations were confined to the family and the circle of close friends. When General Robert Clive won the Battle of Plassey in 1757, his language teacher Baboo Nabakrishna Dev of Kolkata decided to honour him by inviting him to the autumnal Durga Puja celebration in his ancestral home. That established a trend, which would give rise to a veritable industry in the years to come. The ostentatious display of festive arrangements, including elaborate feasts and musical programmes by nautch girls from Lucknow, organised in honour of the East India Company's officers, helped the babu not only to reveal his wealth but also to curry favour with the rulers. Interesting write-ups on the show of wealth and degenerative practices can be found in newspapers of yesteryear and also in accounts in Bengali literature. When the situation went out of hand, the Board of Governors of the East India Company forbade its officers from visiting the houses of the babus, but in vain.
Sometimes the organisers of pujas got into conflict with the lawmakers on the issue of revelry. A number of complaints lodged with the police for bursting rows of `tubris' (a special kind of fireworks) along the tram tracks made the police restrict the practice to one `tubri' per person. One babu retaliated by making a `tubri' that burned for five long hours.
There were occasions during pre-Independence days when Durga Puja was used to express anti-British feelings. One traditional family puja still includes the sacrifice of a `white' goat at the altar of the goddess. It originally began as a symbolic ritual of sacrificing the British. In the early days, Durga was cast on a single platform along with her family. In the background was a `chalchitra' or a semicircular board decorated with depictions of scenes from Hindu mythology. Later the idols were created on separate platforms. Perhaps, it was master-craftsman Gopeshwar Pal who conducted the first experimentation, in 1932, when he created the idols on separate platforms with their own chalchitras. This is how the images are displayed today at Durga Puja festivals.
The further conversion of what was an exclusive family affair to a community celebration came about sometime in the early 20th century. Today Durga Puja is not merely a religious affair either. Post-Independence, the community puja has become an occasion for revelry, irrespective of caste and creed. It is not strange to find a non-Hindu member on an organising committee or to see families of other communities go pandal-hopping to enjoy the pageant. This has been made possible because the biggest festival of Bengal is now a combination of cultural and art extravaganzas. Puja is also a money-spinner for some. This is the time when Bengalis go on a shopping binge, especially for new clothes and furnishings. The shopping malls and the markets are chock-a-block with buyers and sellers. Gastronomic delights are another diversion, with restaurants coming up with elaborate menus during puja days. Dark thoughts are left behind as the city gears for five days of unadulterated joy.
The preparations for Durga Puja begin months ahead, with the puja organisers trying to come up with new themes and securing the services of modellers and artists for the purpose. Some people have even set up idea resource centres and are not unhappy with the response. Kumartuli, in north Kolkata, the hub of clay modellers, where 80 per cent of the idols are made, wakes up to a frenzy of activities. Occasionally, they make collapsible idols to be flown abroad. Even though they start working on the idols as early as mid-April, the momentum picks up about a couple of months ahead of Durga Puja. The clay applied on frames of bamboo and straw can take a long time to dry, and if the monsoon persists, the modellers have a trying time indeed.
For the three days during the Durga Puja festival, Kolkata turns into a walk-in art gallery. From the elaborate pandals to the exploration of themes, every year there is something new to look forward to. In the 1970s, there was a trend of creating the images from mundane things like coins, matchsticks, fish scales, and so on. A new trend visible since the turn of the century is to revive traditional art forms and to explore contemporary social themes.
Puja decor in Kolkata is seeing a resurgence of interest in rural craftsmanship. Apart from introducing the younger generation to the dying arts of Bengal, the organisers might be helping these folk artists to survive too. Some organisers even try out ludicrous ideas such as making pandals and images from old gramophone records or sugarcane pulp, but that is a rare phenomenon. With spectators, sponsors and awards to egg them on, the puja organisers have a lot of responsibility on their shoulders. Sometimes innovation is not restricted to one aspect - such as making idols or the interiors. They are integrated to give a homogenous look.
For example, last year, Shrishti, a puja organiser in downtown Behala, chose the Madhubani painting as its theme. The pandal was designed in the form of the rural homesteads of Bihar. In 2001, colourful wooden dolls, the making of which is an almost dying art of Burdwan district of West Bengal, were used as props. The idol of the goddess was also crafted similarly. Another puja organiser, Sahajatri, made idols and decorated the pandal with old and broken wooden blocks used for hand-printing saris.
Durga Puja has been variously portrayed in Indian cinema, especially in Bengali cinema. This year, Sahajatri has chosen to showcase as its theme the treatment of Durga Puja in films. Netaji Sporting Club of eastern Kolkata is using `patachitra' (a style of folk painting) of Orissa and sand sculpture to decorate its pandal. Another east Kolkata organiser, Yuvabrinda, has chosen the top, a popular toy, to decorate its pandal. Added to it, there will be a display of rhymes on tops. Another popular puja organiser, from Jodhpur Park in the south of the city, has chosen puppets and puppetry as its theme. It brought in local artists as well as artists from Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Orissa months ahead of the festival to craft the puppets for decoration. It will also hold regular puppet shows as part of the entertainment.
Tribal handicrafts are a popular theme these days. Members of the Kheria Shabar tribe of Purulia, introduced to Kolkata's puja organisers a few years ago by the litterateur Mahasweta Devi, are now often engaged for making interior decorations in the pandals. This year, pandal-hoppers will get to see them at work at Diamond Park in south Kolkata. A north Kolkata puja organiser is employing artists from the Mech, Rava and Rajbangshi tribes of north Bengal for interior decorations.
Contemporary themes like rural life and national and religious integration have been done to death. This year, the main themes are `empowering women' and `old-age homes'. The puja organisers are helping the cause of the lost arts, says Ashis Chakraborty, a veteran researcher of folk arts and crafts who works with a Kolkata museum. According to him, traditional craftspeople all over the country are going through trying times, and so if the puja organisers can rekindle people's interest in them, they will be doing a yeoman service both to the art and to the artists.
Not only the interior decorations and the idols, but the pandals and the illumination can be mind-boggling. With yards of cloth, bamboo frames and occasionally other raw materials, the builders can recreate any monument, real or imagined - from the elaborately sculpted temples of South India to Britain's Windsor Palace, or from the Trevy Fountain of Rome to the space shuttle Challenger. Similarly, there is hardly any incident on earth that is not captured in the illuminations. Elaborate ideas, from nursery rhymes to the toppling of the twin towers of the World Trade Centre in New York to man's quest in space, are represented by hundreds of tiny bulbs stuck on wire meshes.
During the festivities, Kolkata turns into a mini India. At the puja celebrations organised by the clay-modellers of Kumartuli, a huge replica of a Rajasthani temple is being made this year. The sprawling temple will occupy almost the whole of Kumartuli Park.
This year, Kerala seems to be a hot favourite with the organisers, especially the Suruchi Sangha of south Kolkata. It will not only trace the history of the traditional dance forms of Kerala but also recreate the charming houseboats and scenery of the State. Another south Kolkata pandal, Udayan Palli, will showcase the theyyam dance of Kerala.
In south Kolkata, the Jatra Shuru Sangha will capture vignettes of Orissa's patachitra using areca nuts. Selimpur Palli of south Kolkata has chosen the Kutch region of Gujarat as its theme. It has brought in 10 traditional artists from the region, who are working hand in hand with local artists to recreate a Kutch village in the middle of Kolkata. The pandal, constructed like a Kutch village homestead with mud walls and thatched roof, will have Kutch mirror work on the walls and Pithora painting, a tribal form of wall painting.
Another organiser, 74 Palli of Khidderpore in west Kolkata, has chosen the temple art of Nepal as its theme. The main pandal will be a recreation of the Annapurna temple of Kathmandu. The pandal of Baisakhi Sangha will display a curious mixture of the Shekhavati paintings of Rajasthan and the Kangra paintings of Himachal Pradesh. Artist Parimal Pal toured Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan to source ideas from the folk arts of these States before designing the pandal of Shyampukur Sarbajanin of north Kolkata. The lacquer dolls of Bengal, the creation of which is a vanishing art, will find a revival in a pandal in the southern suburbs of Kolkata.
WHILE some people are laughing all their way to the bank, not everyone associated with the puja is happy. The clay modellers feel threatened that their traditional employment is at stake. With hardly any work round the year, these artists look up to the business boom of the Durga Puja season as their main means of sustenance. "A big-budget puja may not necessarily mean that the idol-makers are highly paid," said Mintu Pal of Kumartuli. Organisers can spend huge sums on the pandal and the illumination, but when it comes to paying the idol-makers, they bargain or cut on the payments. In some cases, the idol-makers may charge Rs.10,000 for an image. But as the festive days draw near and several idols remain unsold, the craftsmen are forced to sell them at ridiculously low prices. The priests and the traditional musicians, who are hired during puja, also complain of being underpaid.
Pandal-hopping puja enthusiasts, however, would rather not dwell on these more serious problems at the moment and are getting ready for the time when the city transforms into one big art gallery.
Uttara Gangopadhyay is a freelance writer based in Kolkata.
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