The history of Durga Puja in Bengal

Here are three things you need to know about Durga Puja in Bengal:

1: It functions as a community carnival and a platform for public art

Durga Puja in Bengal serves primarily as a community festival rather than a strictly religious one. It is characterised by a carnival-like spirit involving a lot of food, music, dance and merriment. It is often highlighted to be one of the only religious festivals in the world that incorporates a strong element of public art. The creativity expressed in the pandals is often used for making social and political commentary.

It is important to know that the emphasis on the non-religious or the artistic aspect of Durga Puja is not new. Its roots can be found in the Puja celebrations of the zamindari households in the 18^th and 19^th centuries. The zamindars often competed with each other over the scale of extravaganza being put on show. One can suggest that it laid the groundwork for the competition over pandal art and creativity we see happening among contemporary Puja clubs.

2. Durga’s iconography and worship evolved from tribal roots

The worship of goddess Durga in Bengal was preceded by the popularity of several local and tribal goddesses. A few examples still exist in smaller capacities, such as Sheetala, the goddess of smallpox, or Manasa Devi, the goddess of snakes. Durga became a popular Hindu goddess only with the emergence of Brahmanism in Bengal in the 13^th and 14^th centuries. It is worth noting that Brahmanism entered Bengal much later than the Indo-Gangetic valley. To succeed, it had to incorporate local traditions such as that of goddess worship. It was during this period that Durga emerged as a fierce Hindu goddess.

Around the 15^th and 16^th centuries, the characterisation of goddess Durga underwent yet another transition when it was influenced by the emergence of Vaishnavism in Bengal. She acquired softer, more domestic characteristics. She came to be understood as the wife of Shiva and the mother of Kartik, Ganesha, Saraswati and Lakshmi.

In the Bengali tradition, the goddess is seen as the daughter of the house, who visits every autumn, and is therefore celebrated with much spirited fanfare. The domestic feature of the Puja celebrations is evident from several rituals associated with it, including the farewell, which mimics the typical way in which a daughter is sent back to her in-laws’ house after visiting her parental home.

3. Durga Puja has historically been used as a tool for political assertion

The celebration of Durga Puja has, for long, been deeply political in Bengal. In the 18^th century, when Bengal was transitioning from the rule of the nawabs to that of the British, the ostentatious Durga Puja celebrations became a status symbol for the zamindars. It was a way for them to assert their social capital and financial power.

Later in the 19^th and 20^th centuries, the Durga Puja celebrations were incorporated into the Indian freedom struggle. Durga was viewed either as the national saviour who could save India from the British, or as the nation itself in the form of ‘Bharat Mata’. This image was famously employed by the writer and freedom fighter Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in his novel Anandamath. Moreover, the concept of Sharbojonin or public Durga Puja emerged in response to Mahatma Gandhi’s call against untouchability, promoting celebration across caste and class lines.

The political dimension continues in contemporary celebrations of Durga Puja. The Trinamool Congress government has focused on promoting Durga Puja as a ‘secular’ festival, for all communities and not just for Hindus. Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee is heavily invested in the celebrations, often inaugurating pandals and providing handsome donations to puja clubs.

Over the last decade or so, the puja pandals have served as a platform for social and political commentary. An example is the iconography of Durga as a migrant worker with a child on her hip to depict the crisis faced by migrant workers during the Covid-19 lockdown of 2020 and 2021.