Oct. 3 - Last Round of Pandal Hopping

Our day of Puja experiences ended by visiting "brother" Pujas, held in palaces two streets apart from each other, originally built as homes for wealthy brothers. One is still held privately by the family, who lease out most of the rooms as small flats. The idols were simple, held within this massive space, with cut glass chandeliers ten feet across hanging in the open air.


The second "home" has been renovated by the West Bengali government. It was very crowded, with people buying small swipes of scented oil before entering the space, descriptions of the puja & future phases + a wide seating area where people could picnic & chat. It was the perfect way to end a truly special day.






The crystal top bottles nestled in his case, with tucked satin protecting them, look like they are hundreds of years old. It smelt beautiful standing near him to take the picture.







This was the only puja which had a sacrifice area where the public could see it. Long ago they actually sacrificed humans every morning of the puja, & then small animals....now each morning, under this tent, they lay a large vegetable on the sand & slice it in half with a special blade. The portions are carried to the idols & presented, then cleared away each evening.



Hopefully you can save this on your desktop & read it...it's full of information about this particular site...most prominently, it explains that there have been full public pujas in this exact building since 1757!

Location:Old Calcutta, West Bengal, India