Durga Puja - Redefined

Though the durga puja is widely celebrated all over West Bengal, all over India and all over the world where Bengali reside, it is Kolkata where one can enjoy the excellence of Bengali in conducting this Puja.

This single sentence will raise a lot of eyebrows towards this post, the writer of this post as well. Non-Bengali indians celebrate the Durga Puja according to the real mythological calander, as they start this puja from the first day of "Devi-Paksha", "Mahalaya", the first day of these 15 days of goddess Durga at her home place. The non-bengali Duga Puja is according to the rituals started by "Sri-Ram" while he was in war with "Ravana", the king of Lanka who stole "Sita". The non-bengali Durga idol has 8 hands in contrast to the idol with 10 hands worshiped by Bengali. Gujrati people stats "Garwa", a dance form around fire, each night from "Mahalaya" to "Maha-Nabami", the nine days festival, named as "Nava-Ratri", followed by the symbolic killing of "Ravana", on the 10th day, the "Duserra", "Bijoya-Dashami" for Bengali. Thus, the Durga puja, started by "Sri-Ram", turns into a Puja of "Sri Ram" or "Lord Krishna" for non-bengali people.

Many of the readers will agree that Bengali are considered to be the most emotional of all the inhabitants of India. The emotion during the time of Durga Puja remains so high that, be it outside of West Bengal (Delhi, Mumbai, etc.), outside of India (as in Bangladesh, USA, UK, everywhere), they worship goddess Durga like they do at Kolkata, West Bengal. The memories of Durga Puja in West Bengal the minds of the older generations are still very alive in most of the Bengalis around the world. The changes from "normal" puja to "theme" puja, which orginated from Kolkata, is now being widely followed all over the world whereever possible. Let me explain the "theme" concept in a few words. The theme can be any concept that will be depicted in the external and internal decoration of the "Pandal", the place where the Durga Idol will stay, along with the Durga Idol itself. The theme can be a very rural picture of a almost unknown culture of West-Bengal, say, the "Swantal" village (a renowned tribe of West Bengal). So, entering into the "Puja", you suddenly will feel that you are at a Swantal village. The goddess idol may be created with blakish wood as the other idols of gods and godesses worshiped by the tribes. The theme may be "Tom & Jerry", where, other than the actual idols of the Goddess and her family members, everything is to be with a touch of "Tom & Jerry". In the attached photo, you can visualize, the idols are even designed as the idols of "Radha - Krishna" as depicted in paintings found at "Rajasthan". Nowadays the "Theme Puja" is almost everywhere, even at Delhi, Mumbai, Nagpur, etc. The Durga-Puja, has been being changed into "Theme-Puja" in most of the cases.

Only except the Puja conducted by "Ram-Krishna-Mission"s all over the world, much emphasis towards the correctness of the "Durga-Puja" according to the perfect schedule and perfection of the recitations of the "Mantra"s are avoided in most of the "Puja"s. Signifying, Puja is more for relaxation, rejuvenation, recharging of energy for the Bengali people, more than a ritual. My point is, be it Bengali Puja or not, we are moving away from the concept of "Puja" in general as a ritual of Bengali hindus and enjoying that very much. It's the enjoyment, the reunions, the freedom, the relaxation, the rejuvenation of vitality, that matters.