| Description |
Durga Puja marks the ten-day worship of the Hindu mother-goddess Durga. Durga appears in her divine incarnation as ‘Mahishahuramardini’ – a goddess created by the gods to kill the demon, Mahishasura. This image of the demon-slaying goddess is coupled in Bengal with her image as divine mother and daughter, who descends annually from her husband Shiva’s home in the Himalayas to her parents’ home on earth, accompanied by her four children, Ganesh, Kartick, Lakshmi and Saraswati. The worship of the goddess begins with the inaugural day of Mahalaya, when the clay images have life invoked in them through the painting of the eyes, and ends on the tenth day of Bijoya Dashami, when the images are immersed in the river. Durga Puja is the best instance of the public performance of religion and art in the city. It witnesses a celebration of craftsmanship, cross-cultural transactions and cross-community revelry. The manner in which the festival is enmeshed in a web of competition and consumption, accelerated by the winning of accolades, secures its secular identity, embedding it in the contemporary global cultures of touring, spectacle, and entertainment. The exemplary character of Durga Puja lies in its ability to not temporally bound itself to the ritual occasion. Its dynamism lies in it being a constantly mutating event – in its fusion of tradition with changing tastes and popular cultures, and in the adaptation of the iconographies of Durga and the styles of her temporary abodes to cater to new regimes of art production. |
| Social and cultural significance |
The multiple connotations of Durga Puja ranges from it being the most extravagant public art carnival in the country to it's status as the most important marker of time in the city’s calendar. As an art festival, it is a thriving ground for collaborative artists and designers who tirelessly commit to the unique exhibitionary transformation of the city through large-scale installations and pavilions that amalgamate modern artistry, historical and folk influences, and sophisticated thematic concepts, cutting across genres of craft. The nature of mass participation in the touring and viewing of during the Pujas is exceptional to the city and the festival; the divides of class, caste, religion and ethnicities collapse in this crowd of spectators. It has also emerged as a major exercise and successful template in community and governmental management of a grand public event.
Simultaneously, the festival signifies ‘home-coming’ or a seasonal return to one’s roots. There is a constant production of cultural memory and nostalgia for the festival’s past implied in the rampant promotion of ‘heritage Pujas’ and a commitment to the diligent performance of all rituals associated with the worship of Durga. This is also apparent in the efforts made by non-resident Bengalis who endeavour to recreate the Pujas in their places of residence to keep the tradition alive. Therefore, if the Durga Puja productions physically transport Kolkata’s touring crowds into a hyper-real world of travels across the nation and the globe, the festival also figuratively transports all the Bengalis to a sense of ‘home’.
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| Transmission method |
The production and reception of Durga Puja operates on a variety of registers, making the process of transmission of knowledge and skills among different groups of practitioners manifold. The following are the main routes –
1. Through hereditary practices of image making and pavilion construction, where knowledges and skills are passed on within the family and occupational trade.
2. Through the hereditary vocations of 'purohits' (priests) and 'dhakis' (drummers) who have traditionally been associated with the liturgical aspects of the festival – some of these traditional vocations are now being brought under new platforms of training and patronage, through novel forums for the training of ‘purohits’, and new forms of corporate-sponsored 'dhaki' competitions and awards.
3. Through continuing family traditions of conducting the Durga Pujas over several generations and centuries.
4. Through continuing traditions of neighbourhood community Pujas, many of which began during the early and mid-twentieth century, with the charge handed over through different generations of Puja committees.
5. Through the training of art school students and young artists in the work of Puja pavilion designing.
6. Through new opportunities of sustenance and innovation that the changing style of Puja pavilion designing are bringing to folk and tribal artists and craftsperson from all over India.
7. Through the contemporary pervasive role of street hoardings, and the print, television, advertising and social media – which is now taking a lead role in disseminating knowledge about the festival across the city of Kolkata, the state of West Bengal, and beyond.
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| Community |
Durga Puja is a result of the cumulative effort of several groups of people. Its main bearers are traditional families who organise Durga Puja in their mansions.
While the roles of men and women are clearly delineated within these groups of practitioners of the festival, current times have been witness to striking shifts in gender roles and conscious moves towards the inclusion of the marginalised social groups in different aspects of the festival. Women are also now taking on important roles as Puja organisers, fund raisers, publicity managers, people’s representatives, and heads of governmental departments in charge of administering the festival. Social organisations have also begun a new initiative of involving a larger group of unmarried women, widows, sex-workers and transgenders in different rituals of worship – a move that was preceded a few years ago by a venture that enables sex workers to organise their own Durga Puja. |
| Type of UNESCO List |
Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity |
| Incribed year in UNESCO List |
2021 |
