THE JOURNEY

Mrinmoyee to Chinmoyee
(From Clay Idol to Supreme Consciousness)

The first day we tried entering Kumartuli, we were stopped by the barricade put up by Kolkata Police stating that only vehicles picking up idols were to be allowed.  It was Chaturthi and only two days were left for the auspicious day of Sashthi which marked the first of the five-day long festivities. We returned disheartened. On the next day, we reached early in the morning to find a parking for our car on Rabindra Sarani in Baghbazar in North Kolkata, and then slowly inched our way on foot into one of the many narrow lanes and by-lanes of Kumartuli . Kumar-tuli or Kumor-tully or the potters’ colony is where the famed artisans or idol makers of Kolkata reside and work.  Months of hard work go into creating the magnificent clay idols sculpted to perfection by the artists and sculptors of Kumartuli who take the orders not only from the innumerable Durga Puja committees in Bengal but even from various cities around the globe. They even travel to distant lands to make these images on site.

      

As we walked down this narrow, crowded lane, we saw the master craftsmen giving their final touches with their paint brushes to the last few idols of Ma Durga and her children, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Karthika and Ganesha. These were the smaller ones meant for homes and residential complexes since the bigger idols had already taken their positions in the sanctum -sanctorum of the various pandals of Kolkata and the neighbouring suburbs. For other distant places, they would have been shipped long ago. Most of the idol makers were busy working in their workshops on massive idols or pratimas of Ma Kali, who is worshipped on Deepawali night in Bengal, and also on the much smaller murtis of Ma Lakshmi , who is worshipped on the Kojagori Purnima ( full moon ) night that comes soon after the visarjan or immersion of Ma Durga. All around us we saw people carrying or carting away the idols of the goddesses in hand-pulled carts to small tempos or pick- up trucks waiting on the main road. If the distance was short then four or five labourers simply carried them on their heads. Utmost care had to be taken during transit since the idols were all hand-crafted from clay and had to be protected from damage and even, untimely, rain. Shops glittering with chandmalas, chalchitras and other items of decoration adorned both sides of the narrow gully. The idol makers went about their work unaffected and unconcerned with the likes of us who were busy trying to capture the sounds and sights of these streets in their cameras and mobile phones. As we carefully maneuvered our way further into the lane we found a bust of the poet Nazrul Islam lying in a corner or had the towering figure of Swami Vivekananda looking down on us from a pedestal. The statues, busts and figures of man and god, angels and demons , animals and apsaras are scattered in every nook and corner of Kumartuli- all created by the deft fingers of these unknown and unsung master sculptors.

   

The Kumartuli Sorbojonin Durgotsav this year paid its greatest tribute to the shilpis or master craftsmen and artists of this place belonging to the Pal community, who have for generations created the idols of Durga and her family, by having their names engraved, printed, painted, sculpted on every inch of the pandal ,the makeshift home of the goddess for those few days. As we entered the puja pandal and admired the massive pratimas or idols we could not but read the names of Soumen Pal, Nitai Pal, Paresh Chandra Pal, Jitendranath Pal, Kanu Pal, Shyma Prasad Pal, Mintu Pal , Moni Pal, Ramkanta Pal, Kartik Chandra Pal and so many others as we bowed our heads in obeisance.

Kumartuli Sarbojanin Durgotsav

To make the idol of Ma Durga, clay from the river Hoogly, a tributary of the Ganga, is obtained by the potters or idol makers of Kumartuli from river bank. It is not just the clay or mrittika (mati) from the holy river that goes into it but also cow dung, cow urine and, most importantly, soil from outside the brothels or nishidhdho palli (forbidden locality). This soil, called punya mati or pure soil, cannot be just collected from outside the brothel but the idol-maker has to ask for it and receive it from the hands of the sex-worker. This has been the tradition and is followed till date. The rationale or reasoning behind it could be one of inclusivity -all are included and no one is an outcast- and that the festival is all about equality and respect, brotherhood and compassion. The second explanation which I read about is that the soil outside the brothel is blessed as it is believed that people who visit the place leave all their virtues and piety behind before entering through its door. So the soil outside absorbs all virtues and is blessed or is ‘punya mati’.  The third explanation is in the tradition of Shaktism- worship of Shakti - in which Navakanyas  or the nine forms of women, depicting the various manifestations of the Divine Feminine, are worshipped during the ritual of  Durga Puja, namely Nati (dancer), Vaishya (sex worker),   Rajiki (washerwoman), Gopala (milkmaid), Napita (barber),Malakara (gardener), Shudra (backward class woman), Brahmani (upper class woman) and Kapalini ( skull bearing worshipper of Lord Shiva). Whatever be it, the ritual is still followed by the idol makers.

The job of these idol makers is a long and tedious one, stretching into months, which they have been doing for hundreds of years through several generations. The art and skill are passed on from one generation to the other. It also involves a lot of responsibility since they can make no mistake in creating the gods and they do so with full devotion. First, the kathamo or wooden frame , is made from bamboo and wood. This begins on the day of Ratha-yatra in the month of July. The body or the torso is made from specially cut straw or hay, after the harvest of rice, and limbs take shape as the straw is bound by ropes keeping the proportion of the human body in mind. Then the clay is mixed with water, strained and kneaded to the right consistency, and mixed with rice husk and jute fluff, before being plastered over the straw. When the first layer dries, the cracks are smoothened and further layers of clay are applied before sculpting the figures to perfection. Every muscle, sinew, curve is contoured by the hands of these magicians from clay. Faces of the gods and goddesses, made of plaster of paris, are separately cast in moulds or individually handcrafted with clay and attached to the figures. This is followed by spray painting, colouring every feature, crease and arch with the deft strokes of the paintbrush.Then comes the varnishing, polishing and powder colouring to give the deities the human forms with divine aura. Finally, the hair, generally made of jute fibre, is fixed, once the clothes, embellishments and ornaments have been arranged. I gathered from one of the organizers of a community puja that they actually select and buy the saris and dhotis for Ma Durga and her family and hand them over to the idol makers for draping and, in some instances, gold jewellery is used. These days artistic innovations and sustainability are driving many artists to make idols of from other materials ranging from ashthadhatu to waste products, environment friendly organic fibres, even chalk and wooden ice-cream sticks  have been used, but for the actual puja small clay idols on a ek-chala frame are still made by these idol makers from Kumartuli , which are placed at the feet of those massive artistic creations, for the priest and devotees to carry out all the rituals.

It is on Mahalaya, which falls a week before Durga Puja, that the ritual of chakshu daan or painting of the eyes on the trinayani devi is done by the senior idol makers who specialize in this. Mahalaya also marks the end of Pitri-paksha (when prayers are offered to our ancestors) and the beginning of Devi-paksha. We wake up on this day to chants of Chandipath, agomani  songs welcoming the goddess and the beat of dhaak .It is believed that on this day Ma Durga leaves her abode in Mount Kailasha, her husband Shiva’s home, and comes down to her maternal home on earth with her four children. She chooses any one of the four vahans– palanquin, boat, horse or elephant – to transport her.

It is through the various rituals of the next few days that the clay idol or mrinmoyee becomes the chinmoyee or the Divine Goddess who is omnipotent, omniscient and omnipresent. Sashthi, the sixth day of Navaratri , begins with the invocation or bodhon and other rituals to welcome the deity. Since the ritual of Durga puja also has its origins in the worship of dharitri or Mother Earth, the source of all creation, the worship of nature or the agrarian touch is still continued in the ritual of navapatrika snan (worship of nine leaves) on Saptami, the  seventh day . This is also the day when the ritual of pran pratishtha or giving life to the idol is performed. On Ashtami , the Kumari  Puja takes place in which the goddess is worshipped in the form of a young girl child. The Sandhi  puja  performed in the evening marks the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and first 24 minutes of Navami. During this time the deity is worshipped in her Chamunda form, the slayer of demons or the evil in us. 108 lotuses are offered and 108 lamps are lit. Dashami, or the tenth day, brings an end to all the festivities as it marks the day of visarjan or immersion which begins with Devi baran or bidding adieu to the Mother. Every woman worships the goddess in the form of a woman and mother and applies sindoor or vermillion on her forehead and feet while praying for the wellbeing of her family.  All devotees can, if they wish, offer puja in the form of pushpanjali or offering of flowers while chanting the mantra with the priest on all the four days. On the tenth day the images are immersed in the river from where the clay came. Immersion of the idol in the water is symbolic of Ma Durga returning to her cosmic world. The lamp burning in the desolate podium of every puja mandap is the hope she leaves behind of her returning again. As the dhaaks or drums beat, the cymbals chime, the fumes and aroma from the incense and dhunuchis fill the air,  devotees standing before the goddess can see the changes in her facial expressions beginning with joy of homecoming on the first day to that of sadness and pain of leaving on the final day.  Perhaps the credit for this can only go those hands which create such masterpieces blending the divine in the human and the human in the divine.

From Female Cult to Mother Goddess: History and tradition

A visit to an exhibition at the Indian Museum, Kolkata on Durga: The Divine Power was very enlightening as it traced the evolution of the tradition of worship of the female principles, representing fertility, motherhood and creation as the embodiment of earth, into the worship of Devi Durga in the form of matrirupena (mother goddess) and shaktirupena (goddess of strength and justice)as a personification of womanhood and salvation for humanity. The exhibition also highlighted that the tradition of worshipping the feminine form is traceable to the Neolithic period which continued into the early agrarian communities. The Harappan Civilization, like the other great civilizations of Assyrians, Babylonians and Egyptians, have also yielded a large cache of terracotta figurines as evidence of the worship of Mother Cult. As time passed and history progressed, the tradition of worshipping fertility deities evolved into the form of divine mother goddesses. Since the beginning of the Christian era, Devi Durga was being worshipped as a demon slayer. One of the earliest sculptural representations of the Devi is from the sites of Bhita and Mathura in which she is seen in a typical Kushan era style dhoti, girdle and carrying a trishul or trident. She is also seen as Simhavahini devi in gold coins of the Gupta era.  The fifth century epic tale of triumph of wisdom over ignorance described in the Devimahatmyam of the Markandeya Purana narrates how Devi Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight the demon Mahishasura. After being granted a boon by Brahma that neither God nor man would be able to defeat him, Mahishasura invades the Gods and unleashes terror on heaven, earth and the netherworld. The Gods then create Durga who, after a fierce battle that rages for days, finally vanquishes the demon on the tenth day and becomes Mahishashuramardini (Slayer of Demon).

Mahishasuramardini at Indian Museum, Kolkata

Over the years, Bengal has become the cultural heart of the national and global celebration of Durga Puja. The earliest mention of such public celebration of Durga Puja is in the 14^th Century CE text, Durgabhaktitarangini by  the Maithili poet Vidyapati. Since medieval period Durga puja has been held within the private precincts of wealthy and influential families. The Sabarna Roy Choudhury family has been celebrating Durga Puja since 1610 in their ancestral home in Barisha.  Raja Nabakrishna Deb started Durga Puja in Sobhabazar Rajbari since 1757. Rani Rashmoni also celebrated Durga Puja at her residence in Kolkata. The descendants of these families still continue with the tradition. As time passed, the private celebrations of the elites were taken over by the masses as Baroyaari Puja or community celebrations and with broader participation came to be known as Sorbojanin Pujas (including all in the community). As early as 1790, twelve residents of Gooptipara, Hoogly, organized the first Baro-yaari puja by collaborating and collecting contributions from local residents. It is believed that Raja Harinath of Cossimbazar brought the Baroyaari puja to Kolkata in 1832.

Puja at Rani Rashmoni Bhawan

In December 2021 UNESCO listed the Durga Pujo of Kolkata as an Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. The inscription states, “Durga Puja is seen as the best instance of the public performance of religion and art, and as a thriving ground for collaborative artists and designers. The festival is characterized by large-scale installations and pavilions in urban areas, as well as traditional Bengali drumming and veneration of the goddess. During the event, the divides of class, religion and ethnicities collapse as crowds of spectators walk around to admire the installations.”

None of this could have been achieved without the painstaking efforts of the organizers of the community Pujas over the years, the people who maintain law and order, those who arrange and observe all the rituals, and above all the creative brilliance of hundreds of idol makers, artisans, craftsmen, decorators and illumination artists who create this artistic splendor which is not just a visual treat but a soul-awakening journey.

DS