40-ft-high Saraswati idol sees record number of devotees throng pandal in Agartala

“When everyone was stuck at home during the lockdown and people were just returning to normal life, we thought of helping them return to normalcy with a rather uncommon idea of having big idols. We have enquired across the state and even the Northeast and are confident that ours is the tallest Goddess Saraswati idol in Tripura as well as Northeast India,” he said.

While a 25-ft-high Saraswati idol was installed in 2021, 40-ft-high idols have been hosted at the venue since 2022, he added.

Much like the 111-ft-high Saraswati idol at Batanagar in West Bengal’s Maheshtala municipality, Tripura’s 40-ft idol has become a major tourist attraction of the season. Nearly 80,000 people visited the pandal last year, the organisers say, adding that the response is even bigger this year.

Idol artist Tarak Paul from Kumortuli, West Bengal, made the idol as a replica of a 16-ft Saraswati idol installed in Washington DC after Indonesia gifted it to the US government.

The puja, organised at the Bardowali Higher Secondary School ground in Bardowali, the home turf of Chief Minister Manik Saha, is being held as part of an eight-day fair and cultural evenings.

Sunita Deb, who visited the Puja along with her relatives, said, “I, along with my family, went to the Saraswati Puja last time at Bardowali. This year, though board exams are near, we will go there once.”

The fair festivities started on January 26 with a melange of different events, including puppetry, mime art, go-as-you-like contests for children, uludhwani (ululating competition), conch shell blowing contests for women and two jatrapala (theatre act) performances on Noti Binodini and Baba Taroknath. Cultural troupes from Assam and West Bengal are also expected to perform.

The organisers are also arranging a small fair with over 50 stalls, with a budget of Rs. 15 lakh. “We don’t collect any subscriptions from local people. Businessmen from the locality help us, and we manage the rest from a token stall fee charged from local traders who set up shops at the mela,” one of the organizing committee executives said.

Tapas Karmakar of Jogendranagar, on the outskirts of Agartala city, said, “I have seen the idol on Facebook. I have come for the first time. I haven’t seen such tall idols before. It’s a big record. I have brought my family to see it.”

Pronoy Debnath, a local resident and first-year computer science student at ICFAI University, Agartala, said it was interesting to see such an idol every year. “It has become sort of a tradition. It is big and unique. It is a rather big attraction. Saraswati Puja comes once a year. So I would urge everyone to come and see this heritage,” he said.

Aparajita Sarkar, Dip Das and a few of their friends—all Class 10 students at a local school—were seen taking selfies and group photos in front of the puja pandal. “The idol is nice. To come and visit this idol is a lovely experience. The decoration is beautiful. We have plans to come again with our families,” one of them said and others concurred.