Balbir Singh ( Sr )—The Exceptional Hero

Children every year on Dussehra we visit two marquees ( pandals ). In one of the pandals we see  Ramlila  going on  showing the victory of good over evil and in the other we see the pratima  (statue) of Durga Maa. Both the places buzz with  cultural activities. We all know the story of Sri Ram and Ravan, but do you know the significance of Durga Puja?

Creation of Goddess Durga

It is said that Lord Shiva, Lord Vishnu and Lord Brahma decided to create a powerful force to destroy the invincible Mahishasura, as they were unable to vanquish him themselves. The unified powers of all the Gods resulted in the creation of a fiery mass from which, a magnificent Goddess was born. With the light of Lord Shiva, her face was created, Lord Vishnu gave her his arms, and Lord Brahma provided her legs. She was blessed with all the powers given to her by the gods. She also acquired her weaponry from the Devas.  Maa Durga was also given a lion by Lord Himalaya, the God of the Mountains. This Goddess came to be known as 'Mahadevi' (Goddess Durga),  who destroyed the invincible Mahishasura.
Celebrated every year in the Hindu month of October, Durga Puja—the ceremonial worship of the Mother Goddess, is one of the most important festivals of Bharat. Apart from being a religious festival , it is also an occasion for reunion, rejuvenation, and a celebration of traditional culture and customs. While the rituals entails ten days of fast, feast and worship, the last four days that is Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami are celebrated with lot of vigour and enthusiasm. It is on the day of Dashami the pratima (Tableau) of Durga Maa is immersed in the water.

Durga Puja in British Raj
High level British officials regularly attended Durga Pujas organised by influential Bengalis and British soldiers actually participated in the pujas, had prasad, and even saluted the deity, but the most amazing act of worship was performed by the East India Company itself in 1765 when it offered a thanks giving Puja,  on obtaining the Diwani of Bengal. And it is reported that even the Company’s Auditor-General John Chips organised Durga Puja at his Birbhum office. In fact, the full official participation of the British in the Durga Puja continued till 1840, when a law was promulgated by the government banning such participation. In 1911, with the shifting of the capital of British India to Delhi, many Bengalis migrated to the city to work in government offices. The first Durga Puja in Delhi was held in  1910, where it was performed by ritually consecrating the 'mangal kalash,' symbolising the deity. After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with Bharat, she became an icon for the Bharat’s Independence Movement.

Brief History of Puja

The first grand worship of Goddess Durga in recorded history is said to have been celebrated in the late 1500s. Folklores say the landlords or zamindar of Dinajpur and Malda initiated the first Durga Puja in Bengal. According to another source, Raja Kangshanarayan of Taherpur and Bhabananda Mazumdar of Nadiya organised the first Sharadiya or Autumn Durga Puja in Bengal in  1606.The origin of the community puja can be credited to the twelve friends of Guptipara in Hoogly, West Bengal, who collaborated and collected contributions from local residents to conduct the first community puja called the 'baro-yaari' puja or the 'twelve-pal' puja. The baro-yaari puja was brought to Kolkata in 1832 by Raja Harinath of Cossimbazar, who performed the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Murshidabad from 1824 to 1831.The baro-yaari puja gave way to the sarbajanin or community puja in 1910, when the Sanatan Dharmotsahini Sabha organised the first community puja in Baghbazar in Kolkata with full public participation.

Making of the Tableau
The entire process of creation of the pratima  (tableau) from the collection of clay to the ornamentation is a holy process. On the Hindu date of Akshaya Tritiya when the Rath Yatra is held, clay for the sculptures is collected from the banks of a river, preferably the Ganges. There is an age-old custom of collecting a handful of soil (punya mati) from the nishiddho pallis of Calcutta, literally 'forbidden territories',  and adding it to the clay mixture which goes into the making of Durga’s sculpture. The eyes of the sculptures are painted on Mahalaya Amavasya. Before painting  the eyes, the artisans fast for a day and eat only vegetarian food.The tableau of Durga  features the beautiful Goddess with ten arms, each carrying her most lethal weapons and her four children – Kartikeya, Ganesha, Saraswati and Lakshmi.
­­­­­Children this year visit the pandals and participate in the festivities. It will be great learning experience of our rich culture and tradition for you. Maa Durga blesses all her devotees. So to take the blessing, be there!
—Aniket Raja