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vegas luckyTopic: Hindu God
Durga's story
Once upon a time, there lived a Prince in Ayodhya, Rama, who was banished to the forest by his father. He roamed the forest with his wife Sita and his brother.
Once upon a time, there lived in Lanka a king called Ravana.
Ravana abducts Sita and Rama is furious, but helpless. A war begins, but to no avail. Ravana is a devout follower of Shiva and nothing can vanquish him. So Rama does what any astute army general of olden days has done since time immemorial. He approaches Shiva's wife, the Goddess Durga, requesting her blessing and a good word to Shiva on Rama's behalf. The request takes the shape of a puja - Durga Puja, out of season. The fact is Durga Puja, also known as Basanti Puja, is held in spring. But Rama cannot wait, so he makes preparation for Durga's puja in the middle of autumn. This is the puja that has come down through the ages and is referred to as Akal Bodhan.
Anyway, to get back to the story, Goddess Durga, herself a power to reckon with, can hardly be appeased without much ado. Rama gets 108 blue lotuses to conduct the ceremony. Just as he is about to begin, he discovers one blue lotus is missing. He sets out to get the last flower, but strange are the ways of the gods. He searches heaven and earth, but there is not another blue lotus to be found. Frustrated, he returns, and starts to offer one of his eyes which have often been compared to a blue lotus. Needless to say, the missing flower was hardly missing. Goddess Durga had removed it to test Rama. Now that she has had proof of his devotion she returns the flower. Rama completes the ceremony and eventually succeeds in defeating Ravana.
Then there is, of course, the story behind the actual Durga Puja. The demon Mahishasur, another devotee of Shiva, is creating havoc, but he is blessed by the Supreme Lord and cannot be defeated by any man. So the gods, strategic geniuses as they were, form a conglomerate. Goddess Durga emerges armed with all the arsenal the gods can provide. Naturally, this is a bit too much for Mahishasur. He succumbs. Durga is triumphant.
This story merges with the story of Durga Puja popular among Bengalis, namely, the daughter Durga's return to her father's house. Mother Menoka eagerly awaits her daughter's visit. All this finds expression in the Aagamani songs of Bengal sung during this festive season.
So much for myths and legends.
Durga in Bengal
Durga, the emblem of female power or Shakti, appears to us since Vedic times. We find a female goddess astride a lion on seals from Mohenjodaro and Harappa. Today, Durga Puja has reached a zenith of popularity in Bengal, although it is celebrated with a great deal of fanfare in states like Madhya Pradesh, Orissa, Jharkhand and Bihar. Yet, the history of the Durga Puja is shrouded in obscurity. There is controversy about the advent of this puja in Bengal.
According to one school of thought, Raja Kangshanarayan Roy of Tahirpur started the worship of this deity towards the end of the sixteenth century. According to another, the first Durga Puja took place in 1606 and the gentleman responsible was Bhabananda Majumdar of Nadia.
Calcutta's oldest
It is held that the oldest puja in Calcutta took place in Baghbazar. It was started by Prankrishna Haldar almost 400 years ago. The image was carved in black stone known as kastipathar in Bengali. In this puja Durga is accompanied not by her children but by her two companions Jaya and Bijoya. Historical records show the first Durga Puja took place near Barisha in 1610 conducted by Lakhsmikanta Roy Majumdar of the family of Sabarna Roy Choudhuri. The Sabarna Roy Choudhuri family was the owner of three villages Sutanuti, Govindapur and Kolikata. Subsequently, these three villages merged to form the city of Calcutta. So, the 1610 Puja of Sabarna Roy Choudhuri is considered to be among the oldest Pujas of Calcutta.
As years went by prominent families of Calcutta began their own Durga Puja celebrations. For instance, the Bhattacharyas of Baisnavghata, the Ghosh family of Pathuriaghata and yet another family of Ghoshes of Thanthaniya have been celebrating Durga Puja for over 300 years. In 1757 Raja Nabakrishna Deb started the Pujas as a victory celebration. He had helped Robert Clive in the battle of Plassey. This puja is held even today and is the famous Sovabazar Rajbarir Pujo. Soon the Mitras of Darjeepara and the Duttas of Hatkhola and others nicknamed, ChatuBabu-LatuBabu, joined the bandwagon. In short, Durga Puja flourished among the aristocratic families of north and south Calcutta.
This trend continued till the end of the 19 th century. Durga Puja was essentially a family affair. Each family organising, conducting and financing the puja in which everybody from the locality and outside participated. The only exception was the puja of Gourimata Udyan. It was started by Gourimata, a disciple of Ramakrishna and a devoted companion of Sarada Devi. Gourimata established the Saradeswari Ashram in Baghbazar in 1895 and started the Durga Puja. This puja is performed even today. It does not have an idol, instead a Pata painting serves as the deity.
The Sovabazar Rajbarir pujo started in 1757 to celebrate Rober Clive's victory in the Battle of Plasey. This puja is held even today
Barawari Pujo
The turn of the century saw a break from the tradition of family puja or Barir Pujo. Bengal was now in the grip of a movement known as the Bengal Renaissance. The rigidity of orthodox religious and familial norms was weakening. Aristocracy was gradually ceasing to be a holy word. Soon the most popular Bengali festival succeeded in breaking the fetters of the elite and became a festival organised, conducted and financed by all and sundry. In short Barir Pujo gave way to Barawari Pujo. Although a Barawari puja was held for the first time 120 years ago, this was not a Durga puja, but Jagaddhatri Puja. (As the story goes, a barir pujo in Guptipara, Hooghly, could not continue due to a shortage of funds; that was when 12 friends got together, pooled their resources and thus began the first Baro Yaari pujo, or the pujo of twelve yaars or friends.) The earliest Barawari Durga Pujas to be held in Calcutta were in Bhowanipore in the south, Simla Byam Samiti and Baghbazar in the north. All these pujas are held till date.
The 1610 puja of Sabarna Roy Choudhuri is considered to be among the oldest in Calcutta
Today not all the pujas of Calcutta are Barawari nor are they all Barir Pujo. Today, we still have a few Barir Pujo and a large number of Barawari Pujo. The Barir Pujo are a close second to the Barawari in pomp and popularity.
The Barawari Pujos are irresistible with their gorgeous idols, huge pandals glittering with a million chandeliers and scintillating display of lights.
The Barir Pujo may seem like a poor cousin next to the Barawari, but its riches are immense even though they may not be as glaringly obvious. On one hand, there is the chness of history and on the other the charm of the old world. Both these combine to make the Barir Pujo equally if not more attractive than the Barawari