DURGA PUJO CHRONICLES


While urban Bengal witnesses exquisite art forms in the clay idols of Devi Durga, the unique and lesser known traditional patachitra is almost at the verge of extinction. Probably the last generation of artisans remains at Hasterandi and few adjoining areas where the village folks perform Durga pujo as thanksgiving festival for autumnal harvest. Durga pujo in Bengal can be traced back to the Gupta Period when Raja Kangshonarayan worshipped the clay idol in 1580 during okal bodhodhon. The community form of celebration started in Guptipara (Hugli) in 1798 by 12 friends, commonly called as baroari pujo. The relevance of medium dimished with the emergence of bhakti cult and probably some families retained the pat form of worship due to economic reasons. The seven rituals traditional to Bengal and their respective timing in the Bengali calendar are: Dharmaraj (Baisakh), Adi pujo (Ashar), Jhulan (Srabon), Bhadu (Bhadra), Manasha (Bhadra), Nabanna (Aghran), Gajan (Chaitra) concluding in Charak.

Patachitra form of worship was prevalent in the geo-cultural territories of Odisha Rarh Bengal- Birbhum and Bankura, though clay idol worship is fast replacing this tradition. Three types of traditional paintings are associated with rural Bengal namely, alpona, patachitra (mythological narratives) and wooden dolls (kather putul). Terracota sara pat (round) and chouko pat (square) are used for daily worship or as decor items in traditional households.  Patachitra is also referred to as Kalighat painting art form which normally depicts Gods and Goddesses or satirical babu cultures and is a part of Bengal’s religious and ritualistic needs.

Traversing the religious trail of Bengal, one reaches Hasterandi, a quaint village in Birbhum (50 Km from Shantiniketan) where human settlement is said to date back to times of Mohejodaro civilisation. Aproximately a 4 hour drive from Kolkata the place has several terracotta temples. About 50 families in Bengal are still worshipping with patachitra of which 7 families are in Hasterandi itself namely Chattopadhyay bari, Mukhopadhyay bari, Ray bari, Ghosh bari, Pal bari, two Mondol bari. Durga pot or Durga sara is recognised as the worshiped patachitra. It worshiped in the Hatsarandi Sutradhar society of Birbhum district on Durga puja time. This type of patachitra is also worshiped is Katwa. Durga Pot has a hemispherical Patachitra where Patachitra of Durga is in the middle position. Ram, Sita, Shib, Nandi-Vringi, Brahma, Vishnu, Shumbha-Nishumbha are painted on this kind of Chalchitra. Krishnanager Rajrajeshwari Durga is seen to be uniquely noticed. In the middle of the Chalchitra, there is Panchanan Shib and Parvati is beside him, on one side there is Dasha-mahabidya and the other side, there is Dashabatar.


A fortnight ahead of Durga Pujo, pat (cloth canvas) is prepared with mud coating and Duraga image is painted with natural dyes.  In general, blue, yellow, green, red, brown, black and white are used in the Patachitra of West Bengal. Chalk dust is used for white color, pauri for yellow color, cultivated indigo for blue, bhushakali for black and mete sindur for red color. Bengal Patua artists carry the occupational surname of 'Chitrakar'. Some families immerse the Durga pat on Dashami while others retain them in their family sanctorum.

Information courtesy Immersive Trails Virtual Tour 2020




 Pictures from different publications of the Raj era (collected from internet)










Comments

  1. kapilgSeptember 15, 2021 at 10:18 AM

    Thank you Smita, a very well researched piece. Please keep them coming.

    ReplyDelete
  2. ManjooriOctober 6, 2021 at 11:02 PM

    I love your cultural pieces..informative and engaging

    ReplyDelete
  3. ArunimaOctober 7, 2021 at 7:43 AM

    Excellent piece of information... Awesome

    ReplyDelete

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