Durga Puja in Abroad

 Durga Puja in India and Abroad

I have noticed that a lot of Indian festivals fall in the months of October to December. And I don’t mean only Hindu festivals. People from different communities celebrate their festivals at this time. To start with Hindu festivals first — Navratri/Durga Puja/Dussehra, Kali Puja/Diwali and Chhatt Puja are the most common. Of course, people have now started taking interest in celebrating Lakshmi Puja and Jagaddhatri Puja as well with a lot of fanfare. Celebrities from the film industry, specially Bollywood, come to Kolkata and even the suburbs to inaugurate these pujas. See more

Jagaddhatri Puja used to be a speciality of the erstwhile French colony of Chandannagar in Bengal, where idols would go up to 20 or 25 feet. But now we see idols of Durga, Kali or Jagad-dhatri going up to such great heights in Kolkata itself. In this context, I remember a huge idol of Durga about two years ago that was much publicised and caused a lot of problems to the police, and finally people were allowed a glimpse only from outside the gate.

Coming back to the celebrations, one finds Sikhs celebrating their biggest festival, Guru Nanak Jayanti, observing Guru Nanak’s birthday on Kartik Purnima, which they call Gurupurab. They take out big processions where they display their proficiency in sword-fighting or stick-fighting. The Jains too celebrate this day as Kartik Purnima. In Kolkata, the Jains take out a procession of Lord Parasnath. His idol is placed on a rath and taken to another temple. On this day Jains go on a journey to worship Lord Adinath at his temple on Shatrunjay Hills at Palitana in Gujarat.

This Shatrunjay Teerth Yatra is very important to a Jain devotee, who covers 216 km of rough mountainous terrain on foot to worship at the Lord Adinath temple atop the hill. I recently came across a magazine article that talked about the Wangala Festival. This is a festival of Meghalaya’s Garo tribe, also known as the Festival of 100 Drums, which is actually a harvest festival, observed to mark the onset of winter. The tribals dress up in traditional vibrant outfits to pay obeisance to the Sun God and give their thanks at the end of the sowing season. The festivities are marked by blowing horns, traditional dance performances and the beating of drums.

In America, of course, Durga Puja is celebrated in many places, which is hardly surprising as it is such a vast country. In fact, several pujas are held in places as far apart as Texas and Washington, and in New York too pujas are hosted by several organisations. There are many Bengali Associ-ations and Bengali cultural organisations which hold Durga Pujas, besides places like the Ramak-rishna Mission centres.

 

According to senior members of these outfits who were instrumental in starting the Durga Puja in their areas, Durga Puja as a community puja began in the 1970s in the US. Unlike in their motherland, here deities are not brought every year as they are not immersed after the Pujas. They are packed neatly into boxes once the puja is over, to be taken out again the following year. The pujas here, unlike those back home, are celebrated in a traditional manner.

There is no extravagance in décor or pandals, nor are there any of the modern trappings one finds in puja pandals in West Bengal these days. The priest or purohit is usually flown in from India to conduct the pujas, that are organised in schools, churches or community centres. For cultural entertainment, we find the local Bengali community taking part and small children raised on foreign soil dancing to Bengali songs is a real visual treat. Of course, with more money pumped in and a large number of young professionals settled here, renowned singers and performers from Bengal are also invited to perform at this time.

The speciality of the Durga Puja outside India is that it is celebrated on a weekend during the Puja dates or one that is closest to the Pujas. Unlike other festivals like Holi or Diwali, which are celebrated over a period according to convenience and are flexible, Durga Puja is celebrated adhering to the actual dates. One sees Holi Milans and Diwali parties hosted by different outfits on different dates, both in India as well as abroad.

To get an idea of the number of Durga Pujas celebrated in the UK, I found on one website that there were over 15 pujas in London alone, and another 20 in the rest of the UK, which is quite impressive. One of the most popular pujas, the Camden Durga Puja, was started in 1963. The chief patron of this puja is industrialist Laxmi Niwas Mittal, who hails from Kolkata, and is held at Camden Centre in central London. This year a jatra, a folk theatre form of Bengal, was performed based on Draupadi’s Bastraharan. Popular modern singers like Lopamudra Mitra and Joy Sarkar have also performed there.

The best part of these Durga Pujas held outside India is that it is not confined to the participation of Bengali’s alone. Other people from different communities also take part. The festive Puja days become fun-filled with cultural activities and desi cuisine. The bhog is cooked by the ladies, who also prepare sweets, sold in stalls set up by them. One thing that all are unanimously agreed on is they prefer to spend their Durga Puja in London rather than in Kolkata. The reason being the crowds, which make it impossible for them to even have a proper glimpse of the idol in Kolkata, with so much nudging and jostling. Here they can enjoy the Pujas in a peaceful and relaxed manner. FESTIVALS