Durga puja
AN ACCOUNT FROM THE PAST
The earliest “Baroyari” Durga puja or community Durga puja can be traced back to Guptipara in Hooghly where it originated during the later parts of 18th century. It was organized with a subscription of 7000 rupees raised under the supervision of a group of 12 (“baaro” in Bengali) principal Brahmins. In the initial days the entry of the Europeans was not allowed in the pujas. Raja Nobokrishna was the first to invite and entertain the “Sahibs” or the British to his Durga puja and he did it with a purpose. He wanted to gain the favour of the British. It was quickly adopted by the other rich people and became a regular feature. Account of one such puja can be seen in the travelogue by Fanny Parks.
The practice the “sahib”-s gracing the pujas came to an end with the introduction of the “Law No. 10” in 1840. According to this law the “natives” were the subjects, so the employees of the “Company” (East India Company), being representatives of the King, shall not be able to take part in the puja celebrations. It is said the performance of the “Baiji”-s at the Durga pujas was introduced by Maharaja Krishna Chandra Roy. A detailed social scenario during the Durga puja in the olden days can be derived from “The Sketches by Hutom” (Hutomer Naksha). Hutom (pen name of Kaliprasanna Singha, one of the rich men and a reformer) says – “Durga puja is a festival of the land of Bangla, there is not even a hint of it in the north-western provinces; it appears, that the epidemic started from the days of Raja Krishnachunder. Earlier Durga pujas were held only in the residences of the royalties and aristocrats; but now even ‘Punte Teli’ (‘Punte’ probably is a shortening of the name Puntiram and ‘teli’ is a person engaged in oil extraction) can be seen to be bringing in idols.” “With time the number of days of celebration of Durga puja got shortened; the artisans of Krishnanagar settled all over Kumartuli and Siddheswaritola; coloured jute-hair, necklaces of wood shavings, swords and shields of Asura made of tin or brass, and dyed cloth of the idols hung around.” Description of Sashthi (the sixth day from the new moon) – “the evening of the Sashthi in the city saw the invocation of the idols; the sounds of ‘dhak’ and ‘dhol’ (drums) stopped for the moment; gradually the Sashthi evening faded out with the sounds of ‘bring it’ and ‘do it’ and ‘what’s this’ …” Saptami (seventh day from new moon) – detailed description of the bathing of “kola bou” (a stump of banana tree dressed like a woman in red bordered sari) can be found in Sketches by Hutom. – “The music players with various types of drums and sehnai (a type of pipe) lead the procession followed by the guards in new clothes, the priest with the ‘kola bou’, the assistants of the priests with the scriptures, the babu under an umbrella with relatives and coteries beside him and the gardeners and florists with the ingredients and paraphernalia of the puja make up the rear.” The city on the evenings of Saptami and Ashtami (the eighth day) – “Various types of amusements have started in almost all the residences. People are streaming from residences to residences seeing the idols. The roads are full. The Marwaris and non-Bengalis, women and young men have filled the roads. Somewhere amateur performers are performing; sleep has left in hurry with the banging of the drums and loud singing; the sleeping babies are startling with beats of the music. Somewhere recitation of doggerels have started; the wayward youth, intoxicated to the brim, are speaking in rhymes and cheering themselves; ‘Jatra’-s are taking place somewhere, Mani Gosain’s Pantomime has started; the men are rejoicing in delight, the women are peeking from the privacy of the blinds, colourful torches are illuminating up the assembly …. all the streets of this part of the city are full, all the houses illuminated.” About immersion of the idols Hutom has said, “...the Prasanna Kumar Babu’s Ghat filled up with audience consisting of gentle looking men, little children in clothes and school boys. Some of the organizers started racing around in their boats with the idols – the fun-loving men and youth started dancing on the boats with the beats of the drums. The fashionable and fanciful ‘babu’-s settled on the open decks of the barges and pinnace with dancing girls, the coteries and expert servants sang a couple of fancy verses. … the organizers, immersing the idols and releasing ‘nilkantha’ (Indian roller) and bhramini kites, left for their homes with the ‘ghaut’ (the pot of holy water) with the beating of the drums. |