Lantern festival at Bholanath Dham

November 18, 2023

Bholanath Dham on Beadon Street is a well-known landmark in North Calcutta acclaimed for its Durga Puja and the Fanoush (handmade hot air ballon or lantern) associated with Kali Pujo.
Probably started by the Dey family of Darjipara of North Calcutta (Kolkata) in 1912 fanoush flying was a regular activity on the late afternoon of Kali Pujo in the Darjipara and Beadon Street areas.
Back then it was a competition among aristocrats to show their wealth and draw attention of the masses. Apart from the conventional balloon shape the fanoush assumes different shapes such as pitchers, stars, footballs, ducks, kettles and even the planet of Saturn. Probably due to the lack of expertise in craftsmanship, precision and aesthetics, this art form had lost much of its patrons. Today the ritual is maintained by a few traditional families and is a great experience to witness this nearly lost heritage of Kolkata.
Next to the Hedua Park, is what was once known as Beadon Street. The stretch is now named Abhedananda Road, after a direct disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa. A narrow lane that shoots off Abhedananda Road is Beadon Row, the only one still with its colonial-era name. Beadon street has been divided and renamed as Abhedananda Road upto Bidhan Sarani and till Rabindra Sarani it has been renamed as Dani Ghosh Lane.
Bholanath Dham stands some distance from the place where Abhedananda Road meets Maniktala crossing.
The road was named after Sir Cecil Beadon (1813-1880), the third lieutenant Governor General of Bengal between 1862 and 1867. He established the present Calcutta High Court after the amalgamation of the Supreme Court, the Sudder Diwani and Nizamat Adalat. Beadon had shown horrific negligence towards Indians during the 1866 Odisha famine, when British India exported over 200 million pounds of rice to Great Britain.
Bholanath Dutta was an influential personality who built this mansion.

The mansion

Traditional architechture

View from the courtyard

Emblem of the Queen

A part of the building

View from Beadon Street

At this Kulin Gandhabanik Dutt household the Durga idol is of Hara – Parbati where Durga is sitting on Shiva’s Lap with no weapons, Vahana or Mahishashur. This is a legendary idol visualized by one of the Merchants of history Dhanapati Saudagar, also belonging to the Kulin Gandhabanik clan. Bholanath Dutt started this Shiva Durga Puja in 1905 at Bholanath Ashram of Varanasi. His sons continued the Puja till 1913 after Bholanath’s death and then eventually shifted it to Sovabazar at Calcutta and finally to the residence at Beadon Street.
The Dutts of Bholanath Dham have been flying fanoush since 1924. On the afternoon of Kali Puja every year several of these are let of from the Dutt’s house of Bholanath Dham. Octogenarian Ajoy Dutt supervises every step from building to propelling of every fanoush. The fanoushes in Bholanath Dham are traditionally launched from the courtyard and a few are also launched from the large terrace.
The fanoush is inflated using a small table fan. The air inside the fanoush is heated by a rag ball (locally called luti) soaked in spirit. The luti is attached to the base of the fanoush. The lantern then rises up high in the sky till the luti burns.