Durga Puja Festival in Kolkata, India

 

2022 Durga Puja Festival in Kolkata, India of the

Mother Goddess Saving the Humankind by Killing the Destroyer

By

Sachi G. Dastidar

            After many decades we headed for Kolkata (Calcutta), India for vacation. Being in academia it was not possible to attend the fall festivities of Mother Durga, or Durga Puja, as it falls from late September to early November. This year the auspicious date fell from October 1 through 5, 2022. The celebration evolved from the soil hundreds, perhaps thousands of years ago, with deep symbolism. It is said that when the demon, Ashur, was in his top strength as he was destroying the earth, no male power was able to kill the destroyer.To hide himself, the demon changed his look frequently. Finally, when Ma Durga caught him, he hid himself as a water buffalo. As the men got together to come up with a solution, there emerged the image of a female deity, more strong than any male power, married and with four children. Thus, as a Mother with kids, she went to war with her entire family, not abandoning them. All the male deities who couldn’t kill the demon but gave their power to Ma Durga, thus she had to have ten hands to carry those weapons. It reminded me of my mother who ran our refugee household with ten hands, i.e. carried ten tasks at the same time, as it is true with most mothers today. Keeping with Indian or Hindu or indigenous tradition the mother and her children, daughters Saraswati and Lakshmi, and sons Ganesh and Kartik, all carried their pets, thus the tradition of saving all lives, including animals, snakes, and birds, including pests. Of course, there are plants into the celebration, as in any indigenous tradition. Thus, it not only recognizes the empowerment of women, but also saving of plants and animals. Besides, fall or sarat is a nice season after monsoon when Mother Earth looks green, with moderate temperature, and nice sky. It is a good time for enjoyment.

            This tradition continues today not only in Bengal, but also in rest of India, and now migrated to the United States, African and European territories. This year, 2022, UNESCO declared Durga Puja in Kolkata to be a World Heritage Event. Thus West Bengal’s Chief Minister, Ms. Banerjee, headed to Europe to attend the declaration. Ironically, the Chief Minister is also known locally as anti-majority, and anti-India activist. On the other hand, the other Bengal, East Bengal or Bangladesh, has been seeing destruction of deities, shrines, devotees and priests on a regular basis since Partition of India in 1947, then anti-Hindu genocide by the Army of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan in 1971, as the nation Islamizes itself where their pre-Islam heritage becomes irrelevant or un-pious. In 2021 there was large scale destruction of hundreds of temples, deities, homes, businesses, and killing of devotees. Recently in 2022, newspaper report from Dhaka, the capital, tells that all criminals were released without any punishment.

            Kolkata was an extreme example of celebration and festivity. Most of the roads were blocked of road traffics, Most of the roads were used to build puja tents or pandals, and one could only visit neighborhood celebrations on foot walking for miles. Often cars had to be parked a kilometer away, if one is able to find parking. On Saptami or 2^nd day of celebration, at Gariahat Bazar crossing in South Kolkata between Gariahat Road and Rashbehari Avenue, when police stopped all traffic for pedestrian crossing, I wouldn’t be surprised if a crowd of over 10,000 or 15,000 pedestrians crossed the road, blocking all vehicular traffic for some time. This was the norm how police managed road traffic and pedestrians. Every sidewalk and street corners get full of clothing and gift shops, as well as street-side eateries.

            Thus puja celebration is a time for presenting gifts, much like Christmas in the West. However, Durga Puja festivities is more than a combination of Christmas and 4^th of July celebration in America.

Here are some pictures of deities most of which are from South Kolkata. There are tens of thousands of local festivities throughout India and neighboring states, at times with different names.

By sheer accident during this trip I visited a Durga Shrine in Chittagong Hill, Bangladesh, that people believe was the site of first Durga Puja a millennium or two ago.

Neighborhood Durga Puja Celebration of Ma Durga

 

Mother Riding her Pet Lion to Track the Demon Taking Different Looks

 

A Typical Street Closure for Erecting Puja Pandals (Ceremonial Sites) Blocking Traffic

 

Dhaak Drum Playing at Durga Puja

 

Sample Nighttime Decorations in Neighborhood Celebrations

 

Various Neighborhood Celebrations

 

A Sample Crowd

 

Sri Sri Chandi Tirtha, Medhas Ashram, Chittagong

The First Durga Puja (Worship of Mother Goddess) Was Held Here