I was going through an article by one of my favourite
contemporary authors. While discussing anger and aggression, he raised a
question, why we are so attracted by the deities of ‘power’, not by others bestowing
knowledge and prosperity.
The focus of the article I was reading was different
but being a Bengali, that too during the season of the year when the Goddess of
power is worshipped, I was inclined to search for an answer behind Bengali’s
love for the power Goddess – neither for Ganesha, the benevolent one, nor for Shiva, the ascetic
or Vishnu, the protector.
In India, the
Durga temple of Aihole (550 AD) is believed to be the oldest Durga Temple on
earth. We certainly cannot consider this Hindu Goddess to be very young in that
case. But quite surprisingly, worshipping the Goddess turned into the biggest
annual festival in another part of India - in the Eastern side – especially
in the state of West Bengal; that too, presumably not before 16th century. The
earliest Durgapuja recorded in Bengal history is only in 1583, probably
arranged by one Rajsahi Jamindar (in current Bangladesh). The credit of
organising the first Durgapuja in Kolkata goes to Barisha Sabarna Ray Chaudhuri
family, who started the puja in 1610.
How
worshiping the mother Goddess became most popular religious festival in
this region in sixteenth\ seventeenth century, is a matter of dispute. Some
say, that the Durga-worshiping culture was bloomed as an expression of Hindu
identity in Bengal under Islamic rule during the oppressive regime of
Murshidkuli Khan or Alivardi Khan. But we come to know of a Durgapuja arranged
by Raja Baidyanath in Dinajpur by 1760s under patronage of Nawab Alivardi Khan.
This supports a different opinion: worshiping the Goddess was in fact,
patronised by the Mogul emperors through their local representatives to enhance
brotherhood with the Hindu subjects in this region. The history of Sabarna Ray
Chaudhuri family also says that they first received recognition for bravery in
battlefield from the Mogul emperor Humayun and later in 1608, awarded a Jaigir
(ownership of a large tract of land) by Raja Maan Singh, a trusted general of Mogul
emperor Akbar. And the first religious festival the new Jaigirdar, i.e. local
sovereigns organised to celebrate their access to administrative power was
“Durgapuja” in Kolkata.
Some others
are of the opinion that, the festival had taken its current shape after the
Battle of Plassey (1757), with the shifting of power from the hands of Islamic
Nawabs to British rulers. The new rulers were keen to patronise the festival in
order to win the heart of the local Hindu subjects. This way, Post 18th century
history of Durgapuja became the history of reconstruction of the relationships
between Hindu Zamindars, Nawabs, and the British. One good example of this is
Maharaja Krishnachandra’s Durgapuja in Nadia district. Krishnachandra, being a
powerful patron of Hinduism, was not really favoured by Murshidabad Nawabs; was
even jailed once in Murshidabad that prevented his participation in own Durgapuja
in Krishnanagar, his Capital. Obviously during the power struggle between
British and Islamic rulers, he supported British and in return he was awarded
the title “Maharaja” by Lord Clive, the winning architect of Battle of Plassey.
Afterwards, the Durgapuja with Krishnanagar royals also became a gorgeous festival
to mark the re-establishment of Hindu cultural traditions in the region.
Similarly, Raja Nabakrishna Dev, the founder of Shobhabazar Rajbari, who was
awarded royal title by British, suggested Lord Clive to participate in
Durgapuja in his palatial home in 1787. Clive did not only participate, but
also sponsored this puja, making the English acceptable to the Bengali subjects
as patron of endangered Hinduism.
If we analyse
the socio-political changes in post-Plassey Bengal, we see that the power
structure of the feudal system started changing in the late 18th century with
the advent of the British. Old Zamindars were perishing and the newly opened business
opportunities for middlemen, financiers and merchants brought wealth to many
who did not have a high social status in pre-British era Bengal - which was
essentially agricultural economy. To impress larger society, the new wealthy
class started purchasing Zamindari (title of Landlord). Lord Cornwallis’
Permanent Settlement Act 1793 helped this class a lot to achieve aristocracy. At
the same time, to confirm as well as to boost their social and economic status,
they did not spare the scope of using the religious festival as a medium to
establish own brand. Inviting Europeans following the trend set by Shobhabazar
royals became wide practice for the same reason. Entertaining Europeans on the
one hand helped them to prove own aristocracy in the eyes of the Europeans; on
the other, showing fellow Indians a gathering of Europeans in own mansion helped
them to prove their close relationship with the ruling power. There are plenty
of newspaper reports of that time showing the growing number of Europeans attending
the festival. 19 century Bengali literature, especially satires written by
Kaliprasanna Simha, Trailokyanath Mukhopadhyay can be considered as literary
evidence for this scenario.
Whatever be
the political implication of the celebration, celebrating puja in grand style
spending a big sum became the best option for affluent Bengali of 18th - 19th
century to show off their wealth and social stature in this part of the
country. Many old family-Durgapujas are good example of this trend. We may name
Behala Amarendra Bhavan (started by Roy family in 1756), Baishnabdas Mallick's
puja at Darpanarayan Tagore Street (1788), Chatubabu-Latubabu's family puja at
Ramdulal Nivas (1770) as a few examples among many. The competition of showing
extravaganza among these rich Bengalis reached such a height that people
started creating myths like – the goddess Durga dresses up with jewellery at
Shivkrishna Dawn’s mansion in Jorasankro, does her lunch with Abhaycharan
Mitra’s place in Kumartuli and enjoys musical evening at Shobhabazar.
To trace the
history of current carnival-like Durgapuja, we have to go back till 1790, the
year when the first Barowari puja was organised with sponsorship from 12
friends together in Guptipada of Hooghly district near Calcutta. Raja Harinath
of Kashimbazar royals (then resident of Kolkata) adopted this collective form
of puja in 1832. Though we do not know the exact number of this kind of puja
during British era, “Hutom Panchar Naksha” (1862) by Kaliprasanna Singha gives
a vivid description of Calcutta Barowari (public) Durgapujas: how these were
organised, celebrated and how the celebrations used to be dragged for weeks. We
may call this the beginning of democratising the puja. British rule brought the
scope to a business person to attain aristocracy, but business-economy brought
insecurity within decade it seems. Hence cost-sharing for the grand festival
became inevitable – leading to the start of Barowari puja.
This way, the history
of modern Durgapuja grows to be a large canvas woven by the thread of power
shift in Bengal history. In the late 18th\ beginning of 19th century, the once
illustrious puja venues started shifting from decaying village-Zamindar's homes
or old royal palaces in Bardwan or Krishnanagar towards the urban mansions of
the neo-feudal. And after a couple of decades, these neo-wealthy people decided
to initiate Barowari puja in order to share the cost of puja among own group.
The modern Sarbajanin or public Durgapuja is a descendant of this kind of
Barowari Durgapuja. Durgapuja in rural landlord's home were not completely
stopped, but lost its previous glory as many of the old landlords became
economically weaker in comparison to these neo-wealthy.
Public
Durgapuja started gaining popularity late nineteenth century onwards. At that
time, cost was started being collected from the people of the locality or community
members near the puja venue. Some of these old public Durgapuja are still being
organised in Kolkata. One of them is Bagbazar Sarbajanin Durgotsav, started in
1919. The term, “Sarbajanin” started being used instead of Barowari puja for
the community Durgapuja by early 20th century and this created an opportunity
for everyone to participate in the festival, irrespective of caste, creed and
even religion. The neighbourhood puja-committee members started going door to
door requesting contribution. Developing a common festival for all
gradually helped in creating a feeling of unity among neighbourhood residents.
Durgapuja became people’s festival!
This, in turn,
contributed in Bengal's freedom fight movement as well. In the imagination of
the freedom fighter, India as a country was transformed to mother-goddess and
image of this “Bharatmata” intermingled with the goddess Durga based on
Bankimchandra’s poem “Bande Mataram”. During this time, Durga became the symbol
of power against colonialism. The history of Durgapujas organised by Simla Byayam
Samity of Anushilan Samity proves this. Even British rulers became aware of the
trend of power shift evolving around the Goddess by that time and probably that
was their reason behind banning Simla Byayam Samity’s puja between 1932-34.
Anyway these pujas, openly patronised by eminent freedom fighters became trend
setters again. Rural Bengal started following them, sometimes by making the
idol of Asura look like British administrator. Idol makers found more freedom
of expression during this time. Durga, the mother, was the source of power also
for Hindu missionary movement during British era. Swami Vivekananda started Durgapuja
in 1910 in his newly established Balur math (1908). Bharat Sevashram Samgha and
some others followed suit. Durga became the Goddess for Bengali community free
from caste or religious bias. The time was ready for another power shift to the
people of Bengal.
In post
independence Bengal, number of community pujas increased manifold with the
inflow of Hindu population from eastern part of the country, which was separated
from India as a condition for Independence. These community pujas were mostly
driven by “Sarbajanin” concept, be in Calcutta or the suburban or rural areas. During
this time, economic hardship in Bengal caused Durgapuja celebration loss much
of its extravaganza. But Durgapuja helped more than 2 millions of displaced
people to establish their identity.
With the
improvement of general economic situation and increasing excitement about
globalisation, a new touch of glory was added to this annual festival in post
1980's. But the dramatic twist in this came with the introduction of themes in
1990's and the emergence of corporatism in the whole event. The makeshift
pandal was no more a beautifully decorated shelter for the idol, but representation
of Bengal's cultural life, people's understanding of global history, politics,
economy and current affairs. Painstaking craftsmanship deeply engaged for months
seemed absolute necessity for themes like ancient Egyptian temple or Harry
Potter's world. With all these concepts, light design begins to be an artist’s
job. Naturally, individual donations were no more adequate to meet the huge
cost. At the same time, number of footfalls in the Durgapuja venues turned the
occasion into an advertiser's canvas. A Business standard report in 2007 says
that corporate sponsorship could amount anything between 20,000 to 3,00,00,000
depending the size of the puja. By 2012, we found presence of almost all
business sectors covering FMCG, CDIT, electronics, apparel, mobile networks and
apps, automotive, banking etc in the puja sponsor's list. Durgapuja, became a
corporate event showcasing power of market force.
Not surprising
that, Durgapuja provided even the post independence political parties of Bengal
good opportunity for public relations. Following the footsteps of
pre-independence political motivators, political leaders kept on using the occasion
of Durgapuja as their best scope for public communication – the way to achieve
political power in a democracy. Many influential political leaders became Puja
organisers in own locality, naturally were successful in attracting people’s
attention easily with the associated grandeur. Even Communist Party of India,
which believes in Marxist ideology, could not avoid opening kiosks near the
famous Puja venues in Kolkata, especially after they attained administrative power
- be the books and leaflets they sell
are based on Karl Marx’s or Che Guevara’s ideology.
But why is the
Goddess of power became the most favoured divine entity among Bengalis, which
is believed to be a weak community otherwise? The answer lies probably in the challenges
people of this part of country faced for survival. History of Bengal of last
few hundred of year’s shows, this region was not only surrounded by river, canals,
and forests inhabited by wild animals, but were also dominated by burglars,
pirates and dacoits. In addition, constant political turmoil in post Islamic
invasion made people’s life miserable. No ruler took the responsibility of the subject’s
welfare or security, but there were many parties to demand their obedience in
form of tax. Colonial rule was supported only because there was no other option
for better governance. Post colonial Bengal’s socio-economic history is history
of struggle against all odds for around twenty five years due to partition,
naxalite movement etc. Common people kept on seeking support from some powerful
divinity – probably in form of a powerful but caring Mother.
There came the
Goddess of Power – an affectionate mother who would on the one hand protect and provide the strength
to fight against threats, survive and achieve on the other. She is grown to be the refuge from
the harsh world - to the Bengali, irrespective of caste, creed and even
religion.
Reference:
Hutom
Panchar Naksha by Kaliprasanna Singha
Unanswered
Questions on the Relationship between Politics, Economics, and Religion:
The Case of Durga puja in Late Eighteenth-Century Bengal – Rachel Fell McDermott
The Case of Durga puja in Late Eighteenth-Century Bengal – Rachel Fell McDermott
Durga
Puja by Sudeshna Banerjee, Rupa Publications, 2006
Purano
Kolkatar Kathachitra by Purnendu Patree, 1995, Dey’s Publishing
Calcutta
in the 17th century by P. Thankappan Nair, 1986, Firma KLM
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