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Durga Puja – Worshipping the Wife
of Shiva, Daughter of Bengal
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Durga Puja – Worshipping the Wife of Shiva,
Daughter of Bengal
Article of the Month - May 2019
An Untimely Invocation
Durga Puja is more than the periodically observed navratra in the
subcontinent, or a joyous autumn harvest festival. Spiritually, it runs so much
deeper than that: it marks the battle of Devi Durga with the king of asuras,
Lord Mahishasura. The great austerities of the latter had earned him from
Brahma Himself the boon that he could be overpowered by no male, and it
had filled the buffalo-king ('mahish' in Sanskrit means 'buffalo') with the kind
of arrogance that is possible only at the realm of the asuras. So when the
devaloka army succumbed to him in battle, they gathered in great solemnity
to put together a nari-roopa (female form) that would be the death of him.
While the very idea of it was laughable to Mahishasura, he ended up
vanquished and bleeding at Her feet - a powerful image, the
Mahishasuramardini (in Sanskrit 'mardini' means 'female annihilator'), that is
traditionally reproduced in abundance across Bengal, Odisha, and Assam
during the Durga Puja festival.
The iconography is unmistakable. The Devi is usually atleast a storey tall,
with some of the most famous pandal-pujas commissioning idols that are the
size of complete buildings. She is dashabhujadhari (ten-armed), the weapons
She holds in each gifted to Her by the devas responsible for Her srishti
(projection).
Her stance is decidedly ferocious, as She is mounted on an equally ferocious
lion. She has brought the arrogant Mahishasura to his knees: the spear-end of
Her trishool (trident) pierces the demon's body and draws blood, resulting in
His vadh (killing). His defeated black mahish lies at Her feet. While Her
beauteous countenance is famously wrathful, Mahishasura's face is
contorted with pain. This central figure is flanked by Ganesha-Lakshmi to Her
right and Sarasvati-Kartik to Her left, which are around half the stature. All
five figures may be given a solid aureole (ekchala) or one to each figure.
Above the crown of Ma Durga, at the crest of the aureole, is placed an image
of Her Lord Shiva.
In this light, Durga Puja is a celebration of the quintessential victory of
devotion over arrogance, of divine love over worldly ego, of dharm over
adharm. Purushottam Rama was the first to invoke the Katyayani-roopa of
Devi Durga for His endeavour to slay Lankesh Ravana. The latter being the
shishya (student) of none other than Lord Brahma, Rama would never have
been able to destroy him and rescue His wife Seeta from his demonic
clutches without calling upon Her. This is considered an untimely invocation
because Durga Puja was originally observed in the spring navaratri. Called
Basanti Puja (in Sanskrit 'basanta' means 'spring'), it is celebrated to this day
on a similar scale but in limited pockets of the delta. The more iconic festival
of the fall, when Bhagavan Rama is said to have evoked her upon Tretayuga,
is called 'akaal bodhon', which literally means 'an untimely invocation'.
The akaal bodhon Durga Puja has evolved into great socio-cultural
significance in the Eastern Delta region, and is the lifeblood of Bengalis
everywhere. It is said that Devi Durga is the daughter of Bengal; having been
married to Lord Shiva, She pays this annual visit to Her maiden home with
Her four children, Ganesha, Lakshmi, Sarasvati, and Kartika.
Her stay is commemorated with an abundance of ritual and art and feasting,
which comes to an end in five days' time. Then She in Her image of
Mahishasuramardini is immersed into the sacred Ganga, whose currents bear
Her back to Her home in Kailash Parvat, which She shares with Her husband.
The Making Of Mahishasuramardini
Durga Puja is a socio-cultural phenomenon, of which traditional spirituality is
an integral part. The first sign that the Devi Durga is making preparations to
travel to her girlhood home is when the scent of shiuli (Asian jasmines) seeps
into the air one morning.
Together with the petrichor of the retreating Bengal monsoon, the redolence
is strong and heady; almost intoxicating. Durgotsav committees, called
sarbojonin (public) committees, gather with great enthusiasm, and over the
course of a few quick meetings begin to collect chanda (locally pooled
resources) to put together the lavish arrangements to welcome Her home.
The members of these committees, usually a bunch of young men who have
grown up together in the neighbourhood, come together by consensus - and
just like that dissolve days after the last rites of the puja. They oversee the
baroari, which literally means 'twelve friends' and refers to the public
organisation of the puja: setting up the pandal (makeshift temple) in the
respective territory of each committee, the ritual worship, and the
accompanying cultural celebrations. The name owes itself to the first public
Durga Puja in the late 1700s in Bengal conducted by twelve Brahmin friends till then Durga Puja was a strictly family affair. Amidst the profusion of
pristine orange-stemmed shiuli, schools and offices progressively declare
vacation, and people dive into a shopping spree. Bamboo frameworks
mushroom up at cross-walkable points across cities and villages, each
marking the territory of the sarbojonin committee that is organising the puja.
Girls and boys gather to rehearse folk song and dance routines for the big
days of the festival, which include shashti (sixth day of the navratri),
shaptami (seventh), ashtami (eighth), navami (ninth), and dashami (tenth).
In truth, Durga Puja starts shortly after it ends. As the sharat (fall) of
celebrations makes way for the region's winters and the soothing chant of
'ashchhe botshor abar hobe' (roughly translates to 'here's to next year's')
creeps into the Bengali parlance, artisans in the Calcutta neighbourhood of
Kumartuli quietly begin work on the pratima (idol) to be used in the puja of
the ensuing year. In Bengali, 'kumar' means 'potter' and 'tuli' means 'colony'.
Located in the heart of the sorrowfully fading, northern recesses of the city, it
is in the studios of the traditional artisans residing here that the best of the
pratima are made for sarbojonin committees the world over. Fashioned from
compressed clay and painted with endemic pigments, the simplest pratima a set of five idols comprising of Devi Durga and Her children, GaneshaLakshmi-Sarasvati-Kartik - takes months to be finished.
The size and complexity of the finished pratima depend on the commission
of the sarbojonin committee in question (a single family of potters may be
working on multiple commissions). For example, Ekdalia Evergreen Club and
Rajdanga Naba Uday Sangha, sarbojonin committees from South Calcutta,
are famous for their unconventional themed pandals and idols. Over the
years they have made honeycomb pandals with clay honeybee installations
in addition to the pratima inside, a Kailash Mansarovar pandal, and a burning
white-saree pandal with a pratima inside that changed Her roopa from a
sadhva to a vidhva depending on the light projections built into the walls.
No matter how early the work begins on these magnificent devotional pieces,
artisans leave the painting of the pratima's eyes for the last. It is done at
sunrise on the day of the mahalaya, and is said to infuse the idol with life
(prana prathista).
The mahalaya is a relatively recent phenomenon in Bengal. It translates from
the Sanskrit to 'great lyric', and refers to the wildly popular radio programme
that is annually broadcast at dawn on an amavasya (no-moon hour). It
comprises of the late Birendra Krishna Bhadra's iconic Chandipath (chanting
of scriptural verses from Durga Saptashati), followed by devotional folk
music celebrating the beauty and strength of Devi Durga. It is said that the
day of the mahalaya is when She had taken birth amongst the greatest Devas
of the Hindu pantheon. The date is calibrated from the local panchang
(almanac) and usually falls around ten days prior to panchami (fifth day of
the navratri). It is the day of much feasting and celebration, and is the point
when the preparations begin in full measure. Schools and offices declare
vacation; businesses flourish; and groups of residents of a single
neighbourhood visit Kumartuli en masse in order to take a look at the
finished pratima prior to delivery to their pandal. On Panchami, the pratima
are installed in their respective pandals and the puja begins. At dawn the
next day, the pandals are thrown open to the public for darshan and anjali
(guided offering).
Devipaksha, The Hour Of The Devi - From The Agaman
(Arrival) To The Baran (Ritual Farewell)
Between Mahalaya and the first day of the puja, which could be either
panchamikalpa (puja starts on the fifth day of the navratri) or saptamikalpa
(on the seventh day), the tarpan ritual is of utmost importance. It is done to
cleanse oneself of one's attachments, satiate the ego and reign it in to make
space for devotion to the Devi who is on Her way. It involves complex
offerings and chants to reminisce one's ancestors, in order to draw from
them the requisite strength for vanquishing the ego. A ghatpuja precedes the
main puja, which in itself is a complete ceremony. The object of worship in
this puja is a highly specific arrangement, at the centre of which is a ritual pot
of baked clay painted over with brightly-pigmented mercury.
Besides that it comprises of a mound of the local moist earth of the delta,
dhaan (wisps of paddy) that are said to become prasfutita (infused) with life
upon mantrochcharan (chanting), and handpicked durva (locally gowing
sacred grasses) whose three-pronged tips resemble the trishool (trident) of
Lord Shiva. A sprig of the mango plant, which needs to be either five- or
seven-tipped, completes the ghat arrangement, which is then placed within a
network of red- or white-coloured bamboo sticks and yarn. The all-important
ghatpuja is followed by the ahavaan, which is a heartfelt summon and ritual
welcome of Devi Durga done at the dawn of panchami or saptami, depending
on the kalpa chosen.
The puja starts with Ganesha, for He is the lord of all beginnings, followed by
worship of the guru of the presiding Brahmin. Then there is worship of the
panchadevta (five lords of devaloka inclusive of Shiva, Vishnu, Brahma,
Durga Herself, and Ganesha), to which a sixth entity, usually the ishtadevta, is
often added. This is followed by worship of the panchabhoota (five
elements), which are vyom (ether), vayu (air), tej (heat, agni or fire), jal
(water), and prithvi (earth). It is worth noting that the typical Hindu puja
comprises of each of these elements, to which Durga Puja is no exception. In
fact, it is impossible to solemnise this puja without prithvi from multiple
sources. Often, prithvi from all the prescribed sources are replaced by that
from a single source, the tulsitala (the roots of the sacred basil plant), which
is said to be replete with every imaginable divine quality. By the time it is
mid-morning, the Devi Puja finally begins. It is then that Bengalis dressed to
the height of folk fashion, the women clad head to toe in gold, step out of
their homes for anjali and bhog at their local pandal puja. The anjali ritual is
one of great charm and serves as a bonding exercise. Residents congregate
before the pratima (in batches), and a basket of freshly plucked flowers is
passed around amongst them. With a fistful of these flowers pressed in the
namaskaram mudra, they repeat mantras after the priest and offer them at
the the feet of the pratima. The ashtami anjali is considered the most
auspicious, the ensuing bhog being sattvik in nature. While that is quite an
exception to the Bengali diet, the navami bhog is more rooted in regional
delicacies - sacrificial meats, rice, and puddings.
The streets are thronged with pandal-hoppers no matter the time of day or
night, with darshanarthis queueing up at the most popular pandal-pujas.
Cultural programmes - folk dances and drama and music, you name it - are
hosted at the pandal each evening. Ashtami, called mahashtami ('maha' in
Sanskrit means 'great'), is the most important day of the festival, with the
choicest sarees and dhotis reserved for the day's anjali and pandal-hopping.
For a few hours at dawn and at dusk every day of the puja, the earthy sound
of dhaak (folk drums the size of a full-grown man) and kashor (folk gong of
the handheld variety) fill the air.
Each sarbojonin committee appoints a group of dhaakees, amongst which is
a kashor-guy, to come and play at their pandal for all days of the puja. Their
arrival at the pandal, marked by a symbolic round of music, is looked forward
to as much as the arrival of the pratima Herself. The aaratis are accompanied
by ample dhaak and kashor, the sound of women's ulu (a trilling done from
the base of the throat), and the mystical dance of the dhunuchi. The
dhunuchi is a goblet of baked earth, within which is a slow-burning mass of
coconut husk and camphor. When men and women carry out complex dance
routines before the pratima with these goblets in both hands, the translucent
silver smoke that emanates from them form around their figures an ethereal
enclosure.
These days of heightened spiritual fervour, family gathering, and festive
celebration and feasting sustain a lull at shondhikkhon. Shondhikkhon is the
transition between ashtami and navami, marked by the quietly conducted
Shondhipujo. It is a puja of that fateful moment, which kind of reminds
devotees and revellers that the time for Devi Durga to return to Her husband
is drawing closer. In this light, navami doesn't have the life and bustle of
shaptami and ashtami; it bears the beginnings of a heaviness creeping into
the air, a seriousness that is often distracted from by traditional games in the
evenings. Residents of a neighbourhood, ie those who have done all the
pandal-hopping they meant to do that season, gather for conch-playing,
trilling, and diya-lighting competitions. The women compete to see who
could play the longest note on the trill/conch or light the maximum diyas on
a multi-tiered traditional lamp with a single match, while the men cheer
them on with music and witty commentary.
On dashami the next day, one could sense the pall that descends upon the
delta. The crowds of pandal-hoppers on the streets have thinned out, and the
puja-anjali-bhog of the day are not half as lively as on the days past. A nap
post the afternoon bhog, shortly afore twilight, the women of the
neighbourhood could be found at the altar with the fully-laden dala (winnow)
in their hands. This is for the baran (acceptance) ritual, which is of great
importance in the Indian patriarchal tradition: shortly before her daughter's
departure to her husband's home, be it prior to the bridal vidai or upon an
annual visit, the mother does her shringar as an indication of the painful
acceptance that she now belongs elsewhere. These women, with tears in
their eyes, caress the pratima's face and touch homemade shondesh (sweets
made from condensed milk) to Her lips, knowing full well that She will soon
be gone from amidst them for a whole year.
It is during baran that the countenance of Ma Durga's pratima seems to take
on a sombre composure, an inexplicable phenomenon that every Bengali
knows in their heart to be true... Students gather at the feet of Devi Sarasvati
with their books or at Devi Lakshmi's with their instruments, to touch them
to the feet of the respective Devis and collect the anjali flowers from the
pratima. Later in the evening, sadhvas (married women) of all ages and
kanyas (girls yet to be married) get together for the famous shindoor-khyala,
which is just smearing each other with ample proportions of herbal-made
vermillion in good cheer. It is a sight to watch because the sadhvas are in
their wedding sarees, the kanyas in red-bordered white ones, as they frolic in
and around the pandal with platefuls of shindoor in their hands. All this goes
on in the presence of the shindoor- and shondesh-smeared pratima, the
music of dhaak and kashor and women's laughter filling the air. The redbordered white saree is of especial significance to the Bengali woman,
because it is said that these two colours define the life of a woman. This
shindoor-khyala is the last of the one-of-a-kind festive cheer that defines the
season.
Visarjan Blues - The Transience Of It All
Ma Durga's time in Her girlhood home draws to a close. Now is the final
throes of festive exuberance. Spirits are at the zenith of good cheer as the
concluding puja is done, and the pratima painstakingly loaded onto trucks
summoned for the purpose. It is at this point that an army of dhaakees start
playing their drums and gong, not to cease making music till the night is out.
Slowly and steadily the truck carrying the pratima heads to the nearest
tributary of the holy Ganga in the form of a procession, at the forefront of
which is the band of dhaakees followed by revelling devotees determined to
give their beloved Devi a joyous farewell. It is mere moments before the
signature visarjan (to give up the pratima), before the colours and the music
and the fervour of the eve of dashami plunge into unspeakable sorrow.
There is usually a queue of processions of other pujas at the ghaat
(riverbank). Each one awaits their turn while continuing with the revelry,
which begin to lose momentum as the waters come into view. The pratima,
Devi Durga being the last, are taken turns to be borne off the truck. With Her
on their shoulders, the men take three pradakshina (rotations) called teenpaak at the mouth of the current, while the women are trilling in unison with
tears in their eyes. There is no denying that this is the most poignant moment
of Durga Puja. Within seconds, the heart-rending sound of the back of the
Durgapratima hitting the waters (niranjan, which means immersion) brings
the trilling to an end.
The music of the dhaak-and-kashor gradually fade into the inky tropical
night. The sorrowing women stare out into the current as long as She is
within view, but are drawn away by their menfolk and helped onto the truck.
The children are weeping for Her to not go, only to be shushed by their
mothers who strike fear into their innocent hearts of a Shiva angered by His
wife's prolonged absence, breaking into tandava. The journey back to the
neighbourhood, to the now-empty pandal, is forlorn and painfully swifter.
Dawn is yet to come. The pratima does not greet you any longer as you walk
into the pandal. You look around, perhaps tearfully, to realise that it is going
to be dismantled the following morning. In Her place stands a painted dia
(clay lamp), whose flame is a poor imitation of the glamour of Ma Durga's
mukhmandal (countenance). It makes you wonder, was it ever at all like this?
Was it ever devoid of Her divine presence? Alas, it is Vijaya dashami, the
victorious tenth day. Having been overcome by the transience of it all, it is
time to return to a world which despite everything is pervaded by all that She
stands for - the infinite strength of the self, the goodness of dharma. It is the
only thing that lasts; neither this life that is entwined with such debilitating
pleasures and pains, nor the akaal (untimely) stay of Bengal's daughter
Herself. Within the lonely precincts sit a grieving party, helping themselves to
rasgullas from a pot, seeking comfort in those seductive sweetmeats and the
fact that 'ashchhe botshor abar hobe' ('here's to next year's)!
This article is by Latika Lahiri. She was born and brought up in Calcutta, and considers
Durga Puja as one of the most formative influences in her life.