In The New Normal, Kolkata’s Durga Puja Is Very Special As UNESCO Said

With only a fortnight to go, this edition of Durga Puja in Kolkata has a special significance. Hailed as a public art exhibition on par with Venice Biennale and Rio Carnival, Durga Puja, this year, begins on October 1 in Kolkata and all over India. During the event, class, religion, and ethnicity will unite as crowds of spectators walk around to admire the installations. Last year, UNESCO declared that Durga Puja is the best instance of the public performance of religion and art, a thriving ground for collaboration of artists and designers.

Venice or Rio never had the devotional aspect of Durga Puja, which celebrates the homecoming of the ten-armed warrior goddess and worships her. In Bengal, it is also known as the autumn festival or Sharod Utsav. It is the first Asian festival to receive prestigious recognition from UNESCO. The honour will show the spotlight internationally and bring international tourists who want to witness the grandeur of the Puja in Kolkata and possibly all of West Bengal.

Tapati Guha Thakurta, a renowned art historian, and her team helped prepare the dossier sent to UNESCO by the Union Cultural Ministry of the Government of India. Submitted to UNESCO in March 2019, Durga Puja has been declared an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by 2021.

While speaking to the media, Tapati Guha Thakurta recently said, “Durga Puja is a religious festival that has become a cultural and secular event. It has also become a space for social and artistic activities. This prestigious tag will open up this thriving festival to the world,”.

With the inclusion of Durga Puja in the international heritage list, the economy that flourishes around the festival will get a considerable boost. According to the report – Mapping the Creative Economy around Durga Puja 2019 – research commissioned by the British Council and supported by the Department of Tourism, Government of West Bengal, the total estimated economic worth of creative industries around Durga Puja is INR 32,377Cr (GBP 3.29 B) (excluding corporate sponsorships). The report also stated that the actual financial value of Durga Puja was 2.58% of the GDP of the state of West Bengal in fiscal 2019-2020, just before the onset of Covid19.

The centre of attraction of Durga Puja, like any other socio-religious festival of India, is the majestic and beautiful idols, Protima or Murti, with innovative and startling designs. The pandals or marquees those houses the idols and their lighting and decoration are also marvels to watch.

While traditionally, potters would start making the idols in June-July on the day of the RathYatra or the Chariot Festival, many began even earlier to cope with demand. The process of idol making starts with a customary obeisance paid to lord Ganesha, who is believed to ensure commercial success.

Idols are built with bamboo, straw, jute husk, wood, and alluvial soil. The attires are of cotton or silk, embroidered with zari and brocade, while the jewellery pieces are made of papier-mâché, thermocol, and foils. Colours are created by mixing Khori Mati, a special clay prepared from sea foam, with colouring chemicals and glue prepared from tamarind seeds, which help the paint to last.

Finally, an organic varnish known as Gham Tel- literally meaning sweat oil – is applied to create the glaze. Thin iron foils or aluminium are primarily used over weapons. All materials, including paint, are biodegradable and organic to avoid polluting the water after immersion.

This contrasts with the Ganapati idols worshiped in Mumbai, which are made mainly of Plaster of Paris. The armaments that adorn Durga idols are never immersed; hence, the metal foils do not pollute the water.

Individual bamboo frames are made first for all the seven figurines – Durga, her lion and Mahisasura, Saraswathi with her swan, Lakshmi, and her owl, Ganesha with his mouse, and Kartik with a peacock.

Potters then use straws and sticks to shape the limbs and the torso. The sticky, smooth, alluvial clay mixed with jute husk and fibre is then put on the skeletons. They are then left to dry in the sun, following which they are hand polished to give them the required anatomical shape and hand-painted.

Heads are then attached to the idols before the painting begins. The heads are sculpted separately because the head needs detailed measurements of the physiognomy to ensure the right proportion. They also require expert handling to create the correct expression.

The eyes are painted last, usually on the morning of Mahalaya, which marks the end of Pitri Paksha or Shraddh, the 16-day mourning period for ancestors. Devotees believe that Ma Durga, with her children, starts her journey to her father’s home on earth on this day from Mount Kailash. Only the senior-most potter is given the privilege of drawing the eyes of the Devi, which finally makes the idol come alive.

Four elements—deemed to be pure—are considered essential in the making of idols. They are the mud from the banks of the Hooghly River- a tributary of the Ganga – called Ganga Mati, urine of a cow – Gomutra, cow dung or Gobar and soil from a prostitute’s doorstep referred to as the sacred earth.

Historically, Kumartuli potters have been fetching the sacred soil from adjacent Sonagachi, the largest red-light neighbourhood in Asia. Earlier, a senior potter or priest would formally beg a sex worker for her consent to carry the soil from her doorstep.

The tradition stems from the belief that when a man enters a brothel, he leaves all his virtues behind. Hence, the soil of a courtesan’s doorstep is the purest as she absorbs all the evil of society to keep society pure and safe. (IPA Service)