2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
+6 2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
Army Of The Goddess
This is so enchanting. Just like the boys and girls in Bengali homes go and buy new clothes and get ready for the puja, here is how the Divine Mother’s children are being readied for the four days when they will be witnessing their Mother being worshipped. But did you know that the puja starts with worshipping of Ganesha and his spouse, the Kola Bou, the sari-clad banana plant, the symbolism of the fertility cult?
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
Heads Of Clay
A day will come during the Pujas, when the priests will invoke Chandi (the Primordial Force) and infuse life into a clay idol for four days, but before that, the way the artisans make the clay idols is part by part. Heads, hands, even fingers are made separately and then joined together, again by clay!
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
Workshop Of Humans
During the months preceding Herpuja, I am astounded by the way in which several idols of the same… Durga and Her four children… are made in a factory-like situation in two special enclosures in Chittaranjan Park. Unbelievable when you see them fully ready for prayers during the pujas…
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
Manush, Mrittyika, Mata
The months long journey of the artisans from Kolkata begin in Chittaranjan Park, South Delhi. They come to make the idols of the Goddess, and I follow them from point to point in their artistic endeavour to create the idol I, and millions others, worship in the marquees around Delhi. Humans (manush), out of clay (Mrittyika), start creating the Mata (Goddess)…
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
Ten Hands Of Victory Dashabhuja…
The Goddess with ten hands, that essentially represents the Ten Directions from which evil can besiege us, so the artist crafts the ten hands of the Goddess as the Chandi describes it, so that no evil can fall upon us from any direction. She is the Mother of the Universe!
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
Making Of The Goddess
Thus it is that I witness how the Goddess who created us, and then protected us, the Mother, is crafted by us. But it is a surrealistic experience. She created us. Then we create Her idol. Only to worship Her to… well create us again and again… and protect us, again and again. Yaa… Chandi!
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
Clay Becomes Goddess!
The entire array of idols, ready in the workshops of the artisans… hair dressed, sari and dhoti draped on, the clay that first came into the hands of the craftsmen has turned into Gods and Goddesses. I shoot the pictures, but inside me trembles the sinews, the longing to stand in a queue with other devotees to offer pushpanjali…Shashthi, Saptami, Ashtami, Sandhi Puja, Navami and then VijayaDashami…
2020: The Durgas Were Not Made!
Jago, Tumi Jago…
Awaken, Oh Mother, Awaken… “Devi Chandika, with Her blessings, let there be eternal bliss on Earth. “Sarvamanglamangalye, Shivesarvarthasadhikey Smaranye Trayamvakey Gauri, Narayani Namastutey, Shrishti stheeti vinashanang, shaktibutey Sanatani Gunashraye Gunamaye, Narayani Namastutey… Beholding the final form of the Goddess, it just struck me, that She is the benefactor of all, Narayani, the Sanatani that alone completes the entire Creation, the progenitor, the preservator and destroyer of all universes, the ultimate Shakti, the possessor of all physical and ethereal attributes,with everything arising out of Her and everything getting absolved in Her… Narayani Namastutey!
It used to be an annual gathering for the poor artisans to come from Calcutta to make Durga idols in Chittaranjan Park, but COVID-19 has stopped them this year
By Ranjan Basu
They would come every year and stay for months to make the idols of Devi Durga for the large number of pujas of the Bengali majority, South Delhi neighbourhood of Chittaranjan Park (and for some other areas as well).
They stayed where they worked, in the temporary sheds in two places: in the premises of the CR Park Kali Bari, and the F-Block compound, where there used to be a cinema hall earlier.
That was a huge financial bonanza for these poor artisans from Calcutta who came every year. They worked all day, cooked there, ate there and slept there. It was the time of the year they had great fun, almost like a daily picnic.
And they shaped the idols with their fine hands and finer artistic sensibilities.
This year, the F-Block compound is totally empty. And just about three or four very small idols are being made in the Kali Bari compound. These too are being made not by the Calcutta artisans, but their local apprentices.
I am sad.
The COVID-19 pandemic has robbed me of my annual pleasure of photographing the making of Mother Durga, which I have been doing for years.
I would go there from day one and shoot everything, every process, from the making of the bamboo and straw structure to the fleshing out of the bodies, to elaborately decorating the idols.
I would go morning and evening, with a deep desire of doing a book, “Making of the Goddess”. But this year, that is not to be. The government, no doubt
So here, I share with East India Story some of the pictures from my years of work.
Ranjan Basu
Ranjan is a photojournalist with a keen eye for news. His lens has been focusing on different subjects – from politics to wildlife; calamities to conflict; dignitaries to the common man, In a career spanning close to four decades, he has travelled from ocean to mountain to forest to click the latest. He has worked with some top media houses and has been associated with some top names during this period. He is a recipient of the prestigious National Photo Award. Currently he is an educator and is closely associated with theatre as a technical consultant.