Durga Puja in Bangladesh

Since Durga Puja started, different people have different theories about it but there is no doubt about the ancience of Durga Puja.

Maybe the nature and form of Durga Puja which was observed in the ancient times were different but Durga Puja which is observed in Bangladesh (divided Bengal) is a part of Bengali culture.

Researchers and scholars have roughly agreed on when Durga Puja was introduced in Bengal. During the reign of Mughal Emperor Akbar (sixteenth century) the feudal king Kangsa Narayan of Tahirpur in Rajshahi district became the Diwan of Bengal. In the joy of getting such a big post, the king wanted to perform a great yajna like that of the mythical era. In Hinduism, yajna refers to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.

Ramesh Shastri of the Bhattacharya clan of Basudevpur, the king's priest, said that there are four types of Yajna-Vishwajit, Rajasurya, Ashwamedha, and Gomedha. But the king can't perform any of these four Yajnas. The king was so distraught after hearing that. The priest said to the king, perform Durga Puja instead of Yajna. The king happily organised Durga Puja. At that time eight to nine lakh rupees were spent on this puja. That is the beginning of Durga Puja.

Europeans being entertained in Calcutta during Durga puja (1830s–1840s) by William Prinsep

There are three types of Durga Puja. "Sattvik" (worship with chanting, yajna, and non-vegetarian food), "Tamasik" (prescribed for Kirats. No chanting, yajna, and mantras. This worship is done with alcohol, meat, etc.), and "Rajasik" (animal sacrifice and with non-vegetarian food). In the past, during Durga Puja, sheep, goats, buffaloes, deer, pigs, rhinos, tigers, goats, turtles, or birds were sacrificed. And in some cases, there are also rules of decency. But now it is said that sacrifice is not practiced naturally.

When the Mughals came to Dhaka to set up the capital of Bengal, they still saw Durga Puja here. Story or history? There is no way to verify this today. The story is connected again with an interesting place they Mughals went to determine the perimeter of Dhaka.

In the year 1610 Subadar Islam Khan of Mughal Bengal arrived in Dhaka. He went down to the bank of the Buriganga river and saw Durga Puja being performed. The dhakis (traditional drummers) were playing the dhak (traditional drums). Traditional drums, dhaks are a key element of the festival. During this time, dhaks are played to appease the goddess, as people dance to its rhythmic beats.

Hearing the sound of this dhak, an idea came to Subadar's head - let's decide the size of Dhaka, the new capital of Suba-Bangla, with the sound of this dhak. He asked the dhakis to play the dhak on three sides of the city. As far as the sound of dhaks can be heard, the distance will be the perimeter of Dhaka city. I have already said that history does not say anything about the truth of the incident. But it is true that once Durga Puja was held in Dhaka, it was held all over Bengal.

However, Durga Puja did not become very popular at that time. One of the reasons may be that a lot of money was spent on this puja. Except for the rich, everyone could not afford to organise this puja. Durga Puja had to wait until the 19th century to become popular and universal. Especially until the middle of that century.

Photograph of Durga Puja in Calcutta in the late 19th century.

Calcutta, the capital of the British rulers of India at that time, was quite magnificent. Hindus were appointed as assistants of the English government. Upper-class Hindus had wealth. 

As a result, splendor was also added to Durga Puja like other festivals. Also, this puja stands as a great opportunity to display one's standards and nobility. The Hindus used to invite the ruling group English to this festival. As a result, the magnitude and splendor of the festival increased manifold.

Almost three hundred years before the beginning of this festival, the British who were shunned by the Hindus became popular due to the change of governance and rulers in India. Zamindars (Local Landlords) also joined upper and middle-class Hindus in performing Durga Puja. All in all, it can be said that the magnitude of the Durga Puja festival started increasing day by day and as a result, its rays also spread in Bengal.

All the landlords of Bangladesh who lived in Kolkata also wanted to start such a festival in their respective zamindari areas. It can be said here too, the issue of showing one's influence and prestige accompanied religious feelings. The local middle class and wealthy individuals were also associated with those landlords. As a result, Durga Puja got somewhat established in East Bengal as a festival with their joint efforts.

Durga Puja in Calcutta in 1859 by Alexis Soltykoff

It has already been said that the rich did not hesitate to pour money into these pujas. Many times it would go to waste. Even though it was a waste of money for the upper classes, in the monotonous life of the rural society, this annual puja brought endless joy to the hearts of the people.

During the few days of the festival, the people were full of joy. Bhog (bhog is a blessed food that doubles up as a complete meal as opposed to prasad), Jatra (Jatra is a popular folk drama genre in the Indian states of West Bengal and Bangladesh), theater, Sankirtan (narrate, recite, tell, or describe an idea or story), Kabigan (special genre of Bengali folk music. In this genre, folk poets participate in competitive singing events.), Dhapkirtan, etc. were organized on this occasion. Many times elephant processions were also taken out on the day of Vijaya Dashami (the 10th and the last day of the Durga Puja).

The rays of happiness spread everywhere. Even newspapers were closed for long periods. In 1902, Dhaka Prakash, the influential Bengali newspaper of Dhaka, said, "Dhaka Prakash will be closed for four weeks from next week on the occasion of Autumn Puja. We are taking a break by giving due greetings and salutations to customers, fans, and patrons. Ma Sarvammangali blesses everyone." Howver, in the early 20th century public holiday on Durga Puja was reduced to only three to four days.

At this point, we can talk about the idol of Durga Puja. An important part of Durga Puja is the idol of Maa (Mother) Durga, her children, and Asuras. The idols of these gods and goddesses must be present in the worship. If not, what worship? And the style of these idols remains almost same from the beginning till now.\

Nineteenth-century Durga Puja lithograph.

The fine work on the idol usually depends on the duration of its nimarna. And Durga Puja's idol-carrying work slowly starts after the Rath Yatra. And potters have been doing this for generations. They use clay, straw, bamboo, wood, etc. to make idols. First, the mold of the statue is made from straw, bamboo, and wood and coated with soil. Etel soil, sand, and loam soil are usually used for the construction of idols. As the soil of Buriganga is now unsuitable for use, the potters of Dhaka usually collect their required soil from areas like Savar, Bikrampur, and Nayanganj. When the clay dries, a potter brings the idol to life with his munsiana. In earlier days idol makers depended on natural sources for paint. The original color was made by mixing water with the powdered color obtained by squeezing the clay. And cotton and cloth were used to decorate the idol. But in modern times potters use plastic paints, brushes, and even spray machines instead.

Now let's come to the construction cost of the statue. Around 1816, the cost of making an idol was from 10 to 20 rupees. And now that cost has increased from Tk30,000 to an average of Tk1.5 lakh.

Let's come back to the spread of Durga Puja in Bengal. It is the beginning of the Durga Puja in Bengal, but it has not become a major puja among the Hindus. In the middle of the 19th century, in the autobiographies of various people, there is not even a description of this worship. As such, it has not yet become the main festival of Hindus. This is even truer for East Bengal. Durga Puja is not heard in the main city of East Bengal or the capital Dhaka. Dhaka civil surgeon James Taylor in his book 'Topography of Dhaka' written in 1839 mentioned 'Maharram", "Bera", and "Vaishna" as the main religious festivals of Dhaka, but was silent about Durga Puja. Hudaynath Majumdar, a resident of Dhaka, in harmony with him, did not say anything about Durga Puja even in the seventies. Rather, he said about religious festivals like "Holi", "Jhulan", and "Muharram". And the reason why Durga Puja did not become the main religious festival of Dhaka, he said is that "Dhaka is a Vaishnav city." And this trend was maintained even in the early 20th century.

Reminiscing about that time, renowned economist Bhavatosh Dutta wrote in his book "Eight Dashak", "Durga Puja is not the biggest festival in Vaishnava-dominated cities like Dhaka. The original festival was Jhulan and Jasthami. There were many temples in the city, they were decorated during the festival. But that does not mean that Durga Puja did not take place in Dhaka at all. Bhavatosh Babu also wrote, "Barwari Durga Puja was not yet practiced - at least in Dhaka. I used to go to the house of Babu Nandalal of Dhaka in Sutrapur to see the puja where there was a big idol of Dotala proof. Most of all I used to go to Puja at Ramakrishna Mission beyond Tikatuli. We all worked together. From managing the crowd to attending to visitors' shoes. The monks used to chant: we used to join in."

After the massive communal riots in Noakhali in 1946 and the partition of the country in 1947, wealthy Hindu families left the country. Since then it has become very difficult to perform Durga Puja here individually and as a family. Specifically, once the zamindari system was abolished, sole patronage of the zamindars in Durga Puja ceased. As a result, Sarvajani or Barwari Pujas were organised by collecting subscriptions.

After the independence of Bangladesh, the Bangladesh Durga Puja Celebration Parishad and Metropolitan Universal Puja Committee was formed around the "Dhakeshwari Mandir" in Dhaka. In this oldest temple of Dhaka, autumn Durga Puja is organized every year. During the puja, the President, Prime Minister, Leader of the Opposition, MPs, and famous people visit this temple. On the other hand, Durga Puja is performed in more than a hundred temples across the country. Food and clothes are distributed among the poor on the occasion of Puja. At the Ramakrishna Mission Temple in Dhaka, an eight/nine-year-old girl is dressed as Durga and performed Kumari Puja on the Ashtami day. Dasami day is a public holiday in Bangladesh. From the morning of this day, arrangements are made to worship the goddess. Devotees take a procession and bathe the idol in a nearby water body in the afternoon. Most of Dhaka's idols are immersed in the Buriganga river. And with this sacrifice, the autumn Durga Puja ends.

The writer is assistant feature editor of The Daily Kaler Kantho