Protima- A Photo Essay

We, finally, landed in Kolkata for the Durga Puja after fourteen long years. We were well aware of the frenzy the city gets into during the actual Puja days from Shashti onwards till Vijaya Dashami, so we planned our arrival three days in advance. In the first four days, we criss-crossed the city from North to South, East to West and visited about sixty-five major pandals and were completely bedazzled by the artistry, the imagination and the wide variety of idols and pandals created by the artists and artisans. Not one of the idols or pandals were similar, each one was unique and some of the creations like St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican and the Meenakshi Temple at Madurai were made keeping the smallest of details in mind by people who had possibly never seen the real iconic places and relied on pictures and other visual materials shared with them. We travelled extensively during the day for we knew how Calcuttans love crowding the roads at night and we wanted to avoid being trampled beneath the feet of the believers. At night the city gets resplendent with colourful illumination, not only in the pandals, but on every nook and corner including streets, by-lanes, buildings and flyovers lending a brilliance to this magnificent festival which has found a place on the UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

UNESCO in its citation wrote, “Durga Puja is seen as the best instance of the public performance of religion and art, and is a thriving ground for collaborative artists and designers. During the event, the divides of class, religion and ethnicities collapse as crowds of spectators walk around to admire the installations.” It is the first Asian festival to receive the prestigious recognition.

In Bengal, it is believed that Goddess Durga comes to her parental home on earth from Kailash every year with her four children- Ganesha, Kartik, Lakshmi and Saraswati. She comes for four days and returns on the fifth and that is the day of Visarjan when the idols are immersed in the holy rivers. Since this festival celebrates the Goddess’ homecoming, there is a religious part to it and the Mother Goddess is worshipped following all the rituals at homes and in community pujas. It is also a festival which is associated with homecoming and seen as a joyous occasion which involves family reunions, sharing, giving and celebrating life.

In this first part of blog on Kolkata’s Durga Puja, we shall share some photographs of the best protimas of Goddess Durga. It was difficult for us not to share all the beautiful idols but due to paucity of space we first thought we would put in just 10 but finally came down to many more. In the next blogs we will try to capture the magic of the theme pandals, the play of light and sound, the pet pujo and much more. Through these idols or protimas of the Goddess, the artists are able to bring to the devotees the various forms the Mother Goddess is worshipped- as the mother, a symbol of womanhood, the harbinger of peace, as the ferocious Mahishasur Mardini who vanquishes the demon king. She rides a lion and is mostly seen as a ten-armed goddess with Trishul, Sword, Conch Shell, Sudarshan Chakra, Lotus, Bow and Arrow, Mace, Axe, Thunderbolt and Snake- each one of them given by the various Gods who created her to get the world rid of the menace of the demon king, Mahishasur, who had a boon that no man or animal would ever kill him.

Tridhara Sammilani

Chetla Agrani

Kashi Bose Street

Ekdalia Evergreen

Beleghata 33 Pally

Golaghat

Ahiritola

Kumartuli

Dum Dum Park Jubakbrinda

Dum Dum Bharat Chakra

AE Block, Salt Lake

Mitali, Kankurgachi

95 Pally, Jodhpur Park

66 Pally, Chetla

Maddox Square

Behala Nutan Dal

College Square

Last Words

If there is any place you should be during Durga Puja, it is here in Kolkata. At least once in your lifetime you must experience it. The otherwise old, lethargic and, in parts, even dilapidated city turns into the biggest canvas on earth painted by great masters in all colours, styles and vibrance. The microphones churning out the most beautiful of old melodies, the sound of the dhaak beats , the aroma and smoke emanating from the incense burning in the dhunuchi, the jam-packed roads with people dressed in their finest attire, yummy street food all around and rows and rows of colourful and hi-tech illumination …surely along with Ma Durga, paradise moves into this city for five unending days.  

DS & SS

*NB: Pictures by DS & SS