Durga in Calcutta is an expression of Bengali creativity

Durga, the mother Goddess is was known in India since not later than 5^th/6^thcentury AD. The Khajuraho Durga sculpture (900-1100 AD) or Javanese Mahisasuramardini in Chandi Prambaran ( 9^th century) are important evidence of historical existence of Durga in Indian peninsula. The history of Durgapuja in Bengal is, in fact, very new in comparison to that. The terracotta Durga in the Bishnupur Shyamarai temple was created only in 1643. The evidence of Durgapuja being held as grand festival is also found only from 16^th-17^th century. But the most amazing phenomenon in Bengal is, Durgapuja has been grown as a guiding factor for all kinds of artistic activities here in last centuries. In fact, the relationship between Durgapuja and all artistic expressions in Bengal have been developed to the level of eternal bondage in such a fascinating way that it is difficult to determine in this 21^st century, whether it is Durgapuja, that facilitates the development of Bengali art and culture or the other way round.

The Durga idol is not an evidence of historic form of sculpture here, but the steering force of every art form relevant to everyday life. Durgadalan (the brick structure where the idol is worshiped) in Bengal became an architectural wonder of British Bengal in which Islamic arch, Gothic pillars, European parapets, Mogul floral and geometric designs and Bengal terracotta were all integrated to create the best possible home for the Goddess. 

Community Durgapuja, i.e. Barwari Puja gave the makeshift home (pandal) creation a new dimension. This kind of Durgapuja involves an entire locality or community effort which began in 19th century Bengal - first one was held in Hooghly Guptipada and then in different Calcutta localities. However the golden era of community Puja started post partition when migrants\refugees from Eastern Bengal participated in large numbers. Locality people started applying new ideas in pandal making to make these attractive. By 1980s, when corporate sponsorship came pouring for community Puja, Theme creation for every Puja pandal became a reality. Today's Kolkata pandal can be made of earthen pots, plastic bottles or bamboo sticks. Even the idol can be made of anything from wood, mud, metal, paper pulp or broken glass. The pandal, its ambience along with the idol in some place represents Amritsar Golden temple, in some other place, beggar mother begging in a railway station. This way Durgapuja in West Bengal, especially in Kolkata became more a platform  for artistic expression than a religious festival. How else Kolkata could accommodate its favourite mother Goddess inside a pandal resembling Burj Khalifa, or equate her with four children with a flood victim family in Sundarban?

 

The much popular 2021 Kolkata pandal which was closed for attracting too much crowd.

 

 

Bengali potters and Shola-artists created special designs while making even small pots and vessels for her as well as to decorate her. The Ekchala (structure on single pedestal) style for the whole Durga family in pre independence period or the separated pedestal with intricate background in later period of times can be designated as Bengal’s own invention of makeshift architecture. Same regarding the Patachitra’s used in Chalchitra. As the dress of the idol, satin came into use in late 50s replacing mud-cloths and in 60s; evolution was introduced even in that. At some point of time, the Goddess started appearing dressed in some designer sarees similar to those carried by some popular heroins in some contemporary movies.   

We are not able to determine the exact period when Agamani songs inviting the Goddess for homecoming started being composed. But poets like Ramprasad Sen, Kamalaksha Bhattacharya or Dasharathi Ray established this as special genre of Bengal folk song during late 18 century to 19 century – again in British Bengal. In post-independence era, “Pujo songs” sung by all famous and newcomer singers acquired a very special place in the world of “Modern Bengali songs”. Durga was no longer the subject of these songs, but she started functioning as the driving force of Bengali music industry by then. “Pujo songs” lost its glory even before the birth of Bengali pop and rock music; the legacy is being preserved by Bengali pop being a likely source of entertainment in Puja pandals.

Dance as a form of art was never acceptable in Bengali mainstream society. Gaining the right to watch a dance session, which was very much considered to be adult entertainment, was a dream of adolescent boys in Bengali wealthy families. This led to the tradition of organising dance programs during Durgapuja by the Feudal rulers and wealthy business class. Famous danseuses, predominantly from northern part of the India were invited to perform in their homes, sometimes in front of the Durga idol. Remarkable is, these cultural programs were often attended by foreign patrons during British rule. 

The tradition of Dhunuchi dance practiced on the last night of Puja or the dance practiced during bidding farewell to the Goddess are presumably no more than 100 years old; but essential performances, absence of which makes the present day Durgapuja loss much of its charm.

Tradition of performing Jatra during Durgapuja nights helped the own theatrical art of Bengal to survive through many decades. The political turmoil in 1970s and the fast socio-economic changes in last few decades almost buried the traditional association of folk theatre and Durgapuja; anyway Bengali cinema continued presenting Durga taking the most important position in the storyline. 1954 movie “Dhuli” used Durgapuja as background to outline a protest against social politics with prevalent caste system. Similarly in the 1981 movie “Anusandhan”, Durga idol becomes the witness of a fight between honesty and corruption. Durga does not appear as idol in Pather Panchali (1955) by Satyajit Ray, but the festive season, which exposes the homecoming Harihar to the news of his daughter’s death, defines the time for the family of Harihar and Sarbajaya to migrate from the ancestral village home to the unknown. It is really difficult to establish which one of the human characters or the Durga exists at the focal point of the stories of Devi and Jaybaba Felunath. Same turns out with Aparna Sen’s ‘Parama’ or Rituparna Ghosh’s Anarmahal and Utsav. Was there a movie called “Devipaksha” (2004 by Raja Sen) possible without the existence of the almighty Goddess Durga?

Durga in Bengal does not symbolize any religion, but represents the existence of Bengal. She is the divine force directing the course of human life irrespective of their cast, creed, religion, society or community. That is the reason why the monetary transaction in the single event called Durgapuja in West Bengal is expected to cross Rs. 40 Million in 2013, in which both the Brahmin priest from Bardwan and the Muslim light-designer from Chandannagar will play their inevitable roles as ever.