Traditional Durga Puja Exploration @ Kolkata
Hello friends, hope you are all well. Today is Mahalaya and the festive season in India has already started. I had given you many type of stories earlier, but today I will share a different story for you. If you are from Kolkata or any part of Eastern India, you will really love this as Durga puja is just a few days away. So, by saying 'Durga Durga', (a very common phrase in West Bengal) lets start our journey. Hope you will enjoy it.
Today I will share a journey to enjoy Kolkata Durga Puja in a different way. Its obvious that when it comes to theme and decorations, Puja pandals across the city are far ahead. But if you want to explore the root of Durga puja in Kolkata, it is must to visit the Traditional houses who started Durga puja in Kolkata. So, today I will start my journey from a place which is very much associated with the history of Kolkata. Lets start today's journey.
Puja exploration in Kolkata can be divided circuit-wise. The South Kolkata circuit is mostly dominated by puja pandals, which do not have any traditional connections with the evolution of Durga Puja in the city. For this traditional connections one has to go to the Northern and the Western part of the city. And I will start my journey from Barisha, at the Western part of Kolkata. First I will take you to the house of Sabarna Roy Choudhary. To reach here, you have to Board a bus for Behala Sakherbazar and then take a small galli to reach Sabarna Roy Choudhary Aatchala temple. This is the oldest Durga puja of Kolkata. In 1605CE Raja Mann Singh of Jaipur conquered a large piece of land from Raja Pratapaditya of Khulna and appointed the zaminderi of this land to Laxmikant Sen, a noble from Benaras. Later emperor Akbar offered him the title of Sabarna Roy Choudhary. Laxmikant first started the Durga Puja here in 1610CE. Though there are no proper historical proof about the story of Sabarna Roy Choudhary, but it is of no doubt that this is the oldest Durga puja of Kolkata. While visiting the puja one must also visit the Dwadas Shiva Temple nearby, which too was commissioned by the Sabarna Roy Choudhary family.
It takes about 10-15 mins in any bus to reach Behala Tram Depot from Sakherbajar. A few minutes walk from Behala Tram Depot is the Sonar Durga Bari of Behala. This puja was started in 1773CE by Shri Jagatram Mukherjee. There is a story behind the starting of this puja. Actually the Mukherjees of Behala were originally settled at Barrackpore since the time of Sena rule in Bengal. Their ancestors were higher officials at the Sena court and by some circumstances they shifted to Behala in mid 1700s. Once Jagatram Mukherjee and his only daughter Jagattarini was invited to some other family during Durga puja, there Jagattarini felt that they were not treated well. This incident urged her to perform the same ritual at her own home and the very next year they started the puja. The main deity here is made up of Ashta Dhatu, which is very much similar in colour to that of gold, so it is called Sonar Durga locally. Devi Chandi is worshipped here year long. And one more information about this place is, this is the maternal home of Indian cricketer Sourav Ganguly.
A few mins walk from Sonar Durga bari is Roy Bari. The Roy family were originally worshiper of Vishnu. They were rooted from Halisahar and they fled from Halisahar to save their Narayan Shila from the hands of the Maratha. To keep Narayan Shila in safe custody Roy family started worshipping Devi Durga at Behala from 1765CE. As they were originally Vaishnavite, the lion head here resembles like a horse. The traditional feature in this puja is the family members collect dew overnight and every day the dew is circulated as Charanamrita.
Now we had to left Behala and board a bus from 14no bus stand nearby for Khidderpore. At Khidderpore, we will visit the Bhukailash Rajbari. Bhukailash Rajbari is famous for twin shiva temple. So, it is must to visit those temples also, though the former glory of those temples were totally ruined by renovation works done by KMC which damaged the terracotta works from the temple. The Durga puja here was started by Jai Narayan Ghosal in 1781CE. The main deity is made up of Ashta Dhatu.
Now, after visiting this place our exploration at Western Kolkata is ended and now we will move towards the Northern part of the city. But while our journey towards North, we will halt at Esplanade, the central business centre of Kolkata. A few mins walk from Esplanade Dorina Crossing is Jaanbazar, famous for the house of Rani Rasmani. Here puja is celebrated at two household. Actually, the puja here was started in a single household but Rani Rasmani had 4 daughters, who after the death of Rani Rasmani divided the puja and the puja still now is performed by those families. One puja is known as Biswas Bari Puja, one is known as Hazra Bari Puja, and another known as Chaudhury Bari puja. The colour of the face of the idol at the Hazra Bari puja is orange. The Hazra Bari puja was actually started by Rani Rasmani.
Now we will head towards baghbazar of North Kolkata. Baghbazar Sarbajanin is a renowned puja organiser. Formerly, in Old Kolkata Durga puja was organised by few renowned households. For the first time in early 1800s a group of 12 families and friends started Baroyaari Durga Puja at Barisha. But still it was restricted to a few group of people. In early 1900, the Sarkar family of Nebubagan Lane started a community puja for the mass at the junction of Baghbazar Street. Later in 1919 this committee got registration from the Mayor of Calcutta Corporation as Baghbazar Sarbojanin Durgotsav Committee. Thus the first puja for common people of Kolkata started. As this puja has immense importance in the history of community durga puja, this is a must visit.
After visiting Baghabazar, we will head towards Shovabazar Rajbari. Puja was started here in 1757. Actually Shovabazar Raj Family had a hostile relation with Shiraj-ud-daulah. So, in the battle of Plassey, the Raja of Shovabazar, Naba Krishna Dev joined Clive and the Krishnanagar Raj family. As a result of the victory against the Nawab, Raja Naba Krishna Dev celebrated with worshiping Devi Chandi in the form of Uma, who visited her fathers house years after. British officers were the common visitors in the puja of this family. At first Sacrifice of Goat was done here, which was later called off by Raja Radhakanta Dev.
There are two Durga pujas at Shovabazar Rajbari. Just opposite the main Rajbari, there is the Gopinath Bari or the Chhota taraf puja started by Gopimohan Dev.
After visiting Shovabazar take a bus to Pathuriaghata and visit Khelat Ghosh's House. Durga puja is here being performed since 1830s. The main attraction here is the Thakur dalan, where the puja is performed.
From Khelat Ghosh House, a 10-15 mins walk will lead to Jorasanko area. Here we will visit Jorasanko Daw Bari. Durga Puja here started from 1859 by Narasingha Chandra Daw. The most striking feature of this house is the Thakurdalan with overhanging balconies. One must visit the Shiv Krishna Chandra Daw bari puja nearby while visiting here
A few mins walk from this house is Chorbagan Shil Thakurbari on Muktarambabu Street. The puja here was started by Ramchand Shil on 1855. The main attraction here is Sandhi puja. Kumari Puja and Sadhaba puja is also performed here.
And lastly, our exploration will end at Lahabari near Thanthania Kalibari. Just a 15 mins walk from Muktarambabu Street is Lahabari. Lahabari Puja is one of the most gorgeous among the traditional house pujas of Kolkata. The puja was started by Bhagwati Charan Laha on late 1700s. There is a local folklore about this puja. It is said that Lahas were originally Vaishnavs rooted from Saptagram in Hooghly Districts. Bhagwati Charan Laha was very much dedicated to Lord Vishnu and did not visit any Shakta temples. Once he faced some tough times in his business. Devi Parvati came on his dreams and adviced him to perform Durga puja to get rid of this situation. From the next year Durga puja started here. It is said that after starting Durga puja the wealth of the family increased very fast. The main notable feature here is the idol. As Lahas are Vaishnavs they does not worship Durga in Mahismardini form. Here puja is performed in Hara-Parvati idol.
These are the important traditional houses which perform Durga Puja from the ancient times and still maintain the same traditional rituals just they carried on a 100 years ago. If pandal hoping is not on your comfort zone you can explore such places and enjoy a different type of puja outing. Hope you have enjoyed the story. For any querries or information about this regard you can comment me here and in my facebook page Traveller Raja or Raja Abhishek.
So, today its all over. Thank you and coming very shortly with some new travel stories. Good Bye.
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