An Indian Infusion: Oct. 1-5, 2011 - DURJA PUJA! (Entry #1)

It's been thrilling to experience Puja in Kolkata! Just going on the streets one day would've been enough to be satisfied & the festivities go on for over two weeks! The following three entries encompass everything I know about Durja Puga, in three versions - one sentence, Cliff notes version, & a website with more info than you can read in a day! (To all my Hindu friends reading this...hope I get the details correct!)

1. One sentence -
Durja Puja is a four day Hindu celebration of good triumphing over evil, commemorated by building large structures, pandals, which house representations of Durja (Goddess of Good) slaying Evil, surrounded by her two daughters & their husbands.

2. Cliff notes -
It seemed like Puja was a spring type celebration, so I asked my friends about the mythology behind the festival. A queen was kidnapped by a neighboring ruler & her husband knew he had to set off to save her, but it was in the fall, when supplies were low & he hadn't planned on going to battle, so he secluded himself & prayed to the Goddess of Good, Durja, to give him strength & weapons. She tested him, but finally gave him what he needed & his wife was saved! Puja translates, therefore, into "untimely celebration" because it wasn't meant to be a time to celebrate in the fall!

Neighborhoods collect yearly funds to prepare for Durja Puja...imagine Mardi Gras, the State Fair & touring holiday lights all rolled into one week! The pandals are huge, some over 50 feet tall, and house the idols, which can range from about life size to well over 20 feet high! (I visited an idol workshop the last time I visited Kolkata...they are made by twisting straw into the basic shape, covering the straw with clay & painting features & affixing decorations....a process than can take over three months for the very large pieces, which are then shipped in to the pandal.) The first placement of the idols, and their removal a week later to be submerged into the river, is announced with bands & much fanfare. People follow the trucks through the street singing, blowing horns, all the way from the workshop to their neighborhood, which could be several kilometers away!

There's music from sunrise to sunset pouring out of each pandal & food is served to whomever wants to join the meal for one day in each neighborhood. Families open their homes for huge dinners, followed by pandal hopping, walking between pandals, along very crowded streets filled with vendors like we'd have at the state fair, selling Puja special food, little gadgets & lots of different kinds of drinks (non-alcoholic) Many people pandal hop until 3 or 4 in the morning all the nights of Puja - it's very raucous & fun to watch!

Here's some overall pictures of the preparation & celebration...

They erect kilometer after kilometer of bamboo fencing all over the main roads to keep the crowds from cutting through the streets or pouring out into the streets.

There's often decorations leading celebrants to the next pandal. Some are quite simple, like these umbrella stands or quite elaborate like these electric archways