Heralding the Durga Puja

With the onset of Autumn, or what we Bengalis know as the beloved sarat kaal in Bengal, the fragrance of the shewli flowers all around herald the homecoming of Bengal’s favourite daughter – Maa Durga. During the 5 days of Durga Puja, the City of Joy decks up in the brightest of lights, prettiest of colours and mafinicient pandals and celebrates with all the joy and gaiety the city can hold.

One of the oldest heritages of Durga Puja traces back to Kumortuli, or the potter’s quarters, near North Kolkata. It is in these narrow, dingy lanes of Kumortuli, that some of the finest idols for Durga Puja are created and supplied to barowari and community pujas in Kolkata and nearby areas. At this time of the year, the puja preparations are in full swing. The potters who have come into prominence from obscurity, simply by the virtue of their artistry, are terribly busy, fashioning clay from the riverside into magnanimous idols of Maa Durga.

The first potters are said to have hailed from the Krishnanagar and initially visited the homes of the famous patrons to make the idols, a few months before Durga Puja. However, with time as business grew, the kumors wanted a land to settle in and moved to a zamindar’s land which later came to be known as Kumortuli. Amidst the maze of cramped decrepit structures, some made of bamboo, polythene sheets and wooden plans you find artisans, young and old, busy modelling the clay structures. With puja a little more than a month away, there is a flurry of activity - the most advanced figures still have only the first coat of yellow on them. As you move through the winding lanes, you embark on a journey through time and tradition. Everywhere, you will come across headless figurines of Maa Durga, atop her bahan the lion, with Mahisasur lying at her feet, kept in the open so that the scorching sun of Bhadra can dry them. Alongside,are the figurines of her sons and daughters accompanying her on her homeward journey. Look around and you will see, moulded heads of Maa Durga, lying upside down waiting to be coloured. From time to time you come across, a kumor handpainting the eyes or the lips of the idol, or moulding the canines of the still toothless lion with practised diligence. Sitting there and watching them, you will be drawn into a timeless trance with history and tradition weighing down upon you...