The 9 day Navratri festivities are to Goddesses Durga, Maha Lakshmi and Saraswathi. It is customary in Southern States to keep a display known as ‘bommai Golu” (display of dolls) in most houses. Understand that in some States, this spills to streets as people celebrate the festival vividly and so grandly. It is famous in Kolkatta and adjacent places as ‘Ma Durga Pooja’. Ever seen a 3D idol ?
A street art in the form of 'Rangoli' has covered an entire 1.25-km stretch in South Kolkata, as part of Durga Puja decoration. Quint (source for photo) reports that an estimated 350 students from Art College drew various color designs along a 1.25 km stretch from Sarat Bose Road to Vivekananda Park near the Samaj Sebi Sangha puja pandal. The initiative for the Rangoli was taken with support from a corporate house, it is stated.
Autumn (Sharat) is regarded as one of the best seasons in India. The sun is on his southward journey and, as his blazing rays begin to slant, the subcontinent feels freedom from the oppressive heat of summer months. The monsoon has infused new life into trees, shrubs, creepers, herbs, grass, moss and lichen; and Gaia, the Earth Goddess, shows herself off in her richly embroidered green apparel of lush vegetation everywhere. Here is something on the grand festival read in : /www.belurmath.org/
In the villages there is a look of plentitude and peace. The granaries are aplenty with freshly garnered grain, the fields offer large open spaces with cattle grazing here and there, and along the borders of fields one can see rows of white and light pink kashphool(flowers of a kind of tall grass) tassels waving triumphantly in the breeze. Overhead, the sky is deep blue with an occasional white cloud sailing across lazily to an unknown destination. A kind of mystic silence pervades the air, broken only by the laughter of children playing here and there. It is as if Nature has prepared herself for the advent of the Divine Mother. Indeed, which other season can be a better one to welcome the Divine Mother than autumn? And Durga Puja is about the advent of the Divine Mother. Worship of the Divine Mother is one of the oldest forms of worship known to humanity. In prehistoric times, God was worshipped as the Divine Mother all over the world. Though evidences exist of the Mother Worship in different places in Europe, the Americas, Africa and Asia; in our Maha Barath, Mother worship is beyond the framework of a cult and became a full-fledged living religion supported by an advanced theology, scriptures, rites, customs and festivals which are followed by millions of people even in modern times. And in Bengal, worship of God as Mother attained the highest form of a cultural refinement and ritual sophistication, and became the dominant faith and practice of the people. The nine days from the first day after the new moon (known as Mahalaya) in the Indian month of Ashwin to the 9th day constitute the festival of Navaratri which is observed all over India. During this period, the Divine Mother is worshipped in some form or other. The majority of Hindus who cannot conduct such worship at home visit Mother's temple in their locality after taking bath and putting on new clothes. The tenth day is known as Dassera.It is during this period of Navaratri that Durga Puja is celebrated in Bengal. The celebration of Durga Puja is a unique feature of the socio-religious culture of Bengal. In no other part of India does the worship of Durga affect the lives of the people so deeply as it does in Bengal. Festivities begin from Mahalaya and go on for nearly a month. During this period, people put on new clothes, worship the Divine Mother at any of the beautiful Durga pandals put up in different parts of the city or town, and enjoy feasts.
The most striking aspect of Durga Puja is the image of the Divine Mother as Mahishasura-mardini. Here the Divine Mother is seen as having ten arms, each wielding a weapon. Once the image is consecrated, and the Deity is invoked in it, it undergoes a transfiguration. It is no longer a clay image but the living Goddess, radiating power, knowledge, love and joy, the benign Mother of the Universe who has come to bless Her children and to assure them of Her love, help and protection.Another prominent feature of Durga Puja celebration is the gorgeous Pandal or Durga dalan in which the worship is conducted. Durga Puja is meant for public worship, in which a large number of people participate. Its rituals and paraphernalia are quite expensive. Formerly only kings and aristocratic families could afford to celebrate such public worship. But in modern times Durga Puja is done through organized community effort. People of a locality or street form a celebration committee, take collections and put up the imposing pandal.
With regards – S. Sampathkumar
20th Sept. 2017.