A Goddess Comes Home

Come October and the entire city of Kolkata becomes a magical celebration, an exuberance of spirit. From humble homesteads to plushcondominiums to working class neighbourhoods, everyone gears up to welcome Maa Durga in their own way.

- Sugato Mukherjee

Durga Puja in Kolkata is a religious festival, and much more. The metropolis transforms itself into an open-air art gallery dotted with impossibly artistic pandals (temporary structures that house Maa Durga and her children during the five days of Puja) cast with canvas, clothes and bamboo. The interiors are often decked up in art deco style and pandal-hopping is the favourite way to soak in the artistic spirit during these five days.

On the other end of the spectrum, far removed from the sheen and vibrance of the neighbourhood festivals, the aristocratic households (or Bonedi Bari as they are called in Bengali) still preserve the orthodox ways of worship, starting from iconography to offerings in the expansive thakur dalan or Durga dalan (corridor of worship). Once upon a time, they were either rich zamindars of an undivided Bengal or affluent trading merchants and business associates of the British rulers. The owners of these grand residences led an opulent and often decadent lifestyle and the pomp and grandeur with which these families celebrated Durga Puja, became a part of city folklore.

The Beginnings