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Photo taken on : 06.10.2011
Place : Raja Krishtodass Laha Bari, Bidhan Sarani, North Kolkata, Kolkata, West Bengal / Paschim Banga, India
Prasun Dutta Photgraphy | © www.prasundutta.com | All Rights Reserved.
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I was busy shooting at their grandpa's workshop when these two came dancing to me! Pujo is coming, everybody is happy. I remember my childhood days, I used to wait for father to bring Puja special magazines home. I used to make so many plans for the puja days, well in advance.. :)
Puja is coming; this feeling is far better than the days of puja.....
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An integral and important part of Durga Puja, Sandhi Puja is performed at the juncture of the 8th and 9th lunar day. Sandhi puja lasts from the last 24 minutes of Ashtami till the first 24 minutes of Nabami. During this juncture (the "Sandhikhan"), Durga is worshipped in her Chamunda form. Devi Durga killed, Chando and Mundo, the two asuras at "Sandhikhan" and thus acquired the name of "Chamunda".
Sandhi Puja requires 108 lotus flowers, a single fruit, dry rice grain for "noibiddo", 108 earthen lamps, clothes, jewelry, hibiscus garlands and wood apple (bel) leaves. The almost non existent rituals which underwent changes with the changes in the society can still be seen in some of the 200-250 year old Pujas.
Photo taken on : 06.10.2011
Place : Badan Chandra Roy Bari, Kolootola, North Kolkata, Kolkata, West Bengal / Paschim Banga, India
Prasun Dutta Photgraphy | © www.prasundutta.com | All Rights Reserved.
Unauthorized use or reproduction for any reason is prohibited.
Two mothers: The Mother with the folded hands is offering her respect to the Goddess Mother, who symbolizes love, power and strength.
The Goddess Mother is travelling back to her Husband's place after staying at her paternal house in Earth for 10 days.
Shot during the last day of the Bengali festival of Durga Pujo in Kolkata, India.
Durgotsava is a four-day celebration of the greatest Religious Festival of Bengal. During this time Kolkata turns into a vibrant city of art and culture reflecting the true spirit of Bengal. I hereby share a few glimpses of the fact with you. Hope you will appreciate.
[ Looking back - 2014: Last year I couldn’t share any of my photographs on this festival. I think you wouldn’t mind if I share them this year prior to my current photographs on this subject.]
The Meaning of ‘Durga’.
Durga, meaning "the inaccessible" or "the invincible", is a popular fierce form of the Hindu Goddess or Devi. She is depicted with multiple arms, carrying various weapons and riding a ferocious lion( in Bengal). She is pictured as battling or slaying demons, particularly Mahishasura, the buffalo demon.
Her triumph as Mahishasura Mardini, Slayer of the buffalo Demon is a central episode of the scripture Devi Mahatmya. Her victory is celebrated annually in the festivals of Durga Puja.
History
The word ‘Shakti’ means divine energy/force/power, and Durga is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother/Brahman(Supreme Absolute Godhead).
As a goddess, Durga's feminine power contains the combined energies of all the gods. Each of her weapons was given to her by various gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar, etc.
According to a narrative in the Devi Mahatmya story of the Markandeya Purana text, Durga was created as a warrior goddess to fight an asura (demon) named Mahishasura. Brahma had given Mahishasura the power not to be defeated by a male. Mahishasura had unleashed a reign of terror on earth, heaven and the nether worlds, and he could not be defeated by any man or god, anywhere. The gods were helpless. Shiva, realizing that no man or god (male) can defeat Mahishasura, made a request to his wife Parvati(Durga) to take the role of a female goddess warrior in order to slay the demon. Parvati took his request and went to the Ashram of priest disciple named Katyayan to assume the role of a warrior. Meanwhile, the gods went to Brahma for help and, with Brahma, then made their way to Vaikuntha—the place where Vishnu lay on Ananta Naag. They found both Vishnu and Shiva, and Brahma eloquently related the reign of terror Mahishasur had unleashed on the three worlds. To save the worlds, Vishnu, Shiva and all of the gods emitted beams of fierce light from their bodies. The blinding sea of light reached Parvati at the Ashram of the priest Katyayan and Durga emerged from this pool of light. The goddess Durga took the name Katyaayani from the priest. She introduced herself in the language of the Rig-Veda, saying she was the form of the supreme female aspect of Brahman (Prakriti) who had created all the gods. Now she had come to fight the demon to save the three Worlds. They did not create her; it was her lila that she emerged from their combined energy. The gods were blessed with her compassion.
To combat the evil Mahishasura, she had appeared in a great blinding light, to combat this demon and end it for all to be in peace. The terrible Mahishasura rampaged against her, changing forms many times. First he was a buffalo demon, and she defeated him with her sword. Then he changed forms and became an elephant that tied up the goddess's lion and began to pull it towards him. The goddess cut off his trunk with her sword. The demon Mahishasur continued his terrorizing, taking the form of a lion, and then the form of a man, but both of them were gracefully slain by Durga.
Then Mahishasur began attacking once more, starting to take the form of a buffalo again. When Mahishasur had half emerged into his buffalo form, he was paralyzed by the extreme light emitting from the goddess's body. The goddess then resounded with laughter before cutting Mahishasur's head down with her sword.
Thus Durga slew Mahishasur, thus is the power of the fierce compassion of Durga. Hence, Mata Durga is also known as Mahishasurmardhini—the slayer of Mahishasur.
The goddess, as Mahishasuramardini, appears quite early in Indian art. The Archaeological Museum in Matura has several statues on display including a 6-armed Kushana period Mahisasuramardhini that depicts her pressing down the buffalo with her lower hands. A Nagar plaque from the first century BC - first century AD depicts a 4-armed Mahisamardhini accompanied by a lion. But it is in the Gupta period that we see the finest representations of Mahisasuramardhini. The spear and trident are her most common weapons. A Mamallapuram relief shows the goddess with 8 arms riding her lion subduing a buffalo-faced demon; a variation also seen at Ellora. In later sculptures show the goddess having decapitated the buffalo demon.
Durga Puja (Worshiping Durga)
The four day long (Saptami to Dashami) Durga Puja is the biggest annual festival in Bengal, Assam, Orissa, Bihar, Jharkhand and Nepal, where it is known as Dashain. It is celebrated likewise with much fervour in various parts of India, especially the Himalayan region, but is celebrated in various forms throughout the Hindu universe.
The day of Durga's victory is celebrated as Vijayadashami (Bengali), Dashain (Nepali) or Dussehra (Hindi) - these words literally mean "the Victory Tenth" (day).
The actual period of the worship however may be on the preceding nine days (Navaratri) followed by the last day called Vijayadashami in North India or five days in Bengal (from the sixth to tenth day of the waxing-moon fortnight)..
In North India, the tenth day, signifying Rama's victory in his battle against the demon Ravana, is celebrated as Dussehra - gigantic straw effigies of Ravana are burnt in designated open spaces (e.g. Delhi's Ram Lila grounds), watched by thousands of families and little children. In Bangladesh also the four-days long Sharadiya Durga Puja (Bengali: শারদীয়া দুর্গা পুজো, ‘autumnal Durga worship’) is the biggest religious festivals for the Hindus and celebrated across the country with Vijayadashami being a national holiday. Source: Wikipedia.
‘Durgotsava’ - My Personal feelings :
To me worshiping goddess Durga encompasses so many deeply seated aspects of human lives and nature. The imagination of such a Goddess-form has its age old story depicted in the Hindu Puranas and that had been fabricated by the wisdom of ages as a symbolic one for Bio-Geo-Socio-Economic-Cultural and Aesthetical upliftment of humankind and its relationship with nature, through the practice of worshiping.
Once in a year She, The Mother Durga, is thought to come from her abode at mount Kailash in Himalaya to the land of Bengal at the time of Autumn, the finest of all six seasons when Bengal turns into a nature’s paradise. The snow white clouds against the deep azure of the sky, the gentle cool breeze carrying the sweet fragrance of flowers, the turning colors of the leaves, the golden sunlit lush green paddy fields and the waving clusters of dazzling white inflorescence of Kash dramatically prepare the minds of Bengal apt for celebration of life. Artists of versatile talents from Bengal and other states culminate their finest ever skill and efforts for making the idols of Durga using conventional natural resources like clay, wood, organic colors, that are all biodegradable. The pandals( the temporary abodes of Devi Durga) all over Bengal, especially in urban cities turn into the finest galleries of art and culture covering an unimaginably wide range of form and traditions, represented by Bengal and neighboring states of India. Durga puja becomes a wide open opportunity to discover and re-discover the art and artistry of Bengal, and not only that this is the biggest festival of Bengal that provides a great competitive platform for innumerable artists and workers to learn and earn.
The time of Puja is the time for togetherness, is the time for sharing and caring. The traditional concept of making the idols of Durga, her four children and her husband Lord Shiva against a single background structure( which is in Bengali: Ek chalchitra) seems to me a very symbolic one! It implicates to me a strong bondage between the family members, or in a greater sense the relationships between individuals. An example of unity in diversity.
To save the worlds, Brahmma(the god of creation), Vishnu( the god of sustenance), Moheshwara/ Shiva(the god of destruction) and all of the gods emitted beams of fierce light from their bodies. The blinding sea of light reached Parvati, and Durga emerged from this pool of light. This is very symbolic. I see durga as a domain where there have been convergence of all form of energies; she is the symbolic epitome of unified force, as it is the most cherished theory of modern-day physics- “the unified field theory”. And therefore, She is the Symbolic epitome of concentrated knowledge and wisdom. She can create(sristi), She can sustain( sthiti), and She can destroy(loy). She comes over here to create all good things and to sustain them on this earth, and to destroys all evil power, as depicted by triumph over Mahisasura.
Her four children are very symbolic to me for four aspects of socio-economic- cultural upliftment. These are the four aspects to create a balanced nation or a person as an individual.
“Lakhsmi”, her elder daughter, is a symbol of wealth. She carries with her a bunch of ripe paddy and a container of vermilion. Ripened paddy is the symbol of agricultural success. And vermilion is the symbol of peaceful marriage in Hindu custom.
“Swaraswati”, her younger daughter, is a symbol of art and culture. She carries with her a sitar, a classical Indian instrument depicting music, which is the highest form of the faculty of art.
“Kartika”, her elder son, is the commander-in-chief of the gods for war. He is the warrior and protector from enemies. He carries a bow and arrows. He knows how to target an enemy. And he is the symbol of leadership qualities.
“Ganesha”, her youngest son. He is the symbol of knowledge and wisdom.
And the Mother is the creator of all her four children, the four faculties associated with biological, social, cultural and intellectual evolution of man.
Therefore, She is the idealistic epitome of Gunas (qualities), that we all her children should acquire for. And there lies the true meaningfulness of worshiping our mother, Durga.
On the tenth day after the triumph, the day of Vijaya Dashami, mother along with her family sets her journey back to her final adobe in himalaya, leaving the earthly world behind. The clay idol is thus immersed in the holy water of Ganges to symbolize her journey. And thus the whole celebration comes to an end.
Durga Pujo, the biggest festival for the Bengali's all across the world is celebrated in Autumn and it ends with the idol of the Mother Goddess being taken for immersion in the holy Ganges on the final day of the festivities (aka Dashami). The street urchins try to recover things from the heavily adorned clay idol and let the remaining be washed away by the river. Here's one such boy with an unusual souvenir.
És terrible, últimament l'únic que pujo són selfs... jo!!!!
Prometo mirar de pujar altres coses, aquesta setmana, i sobretot intentar buscar una estona per visitar-vos a tots, que tinc l'intranquil.litzadora sensació d'estar-me perdent moltes coses xules!
It's terrible that I'm only uploading my weekly self, lately... me!!! (who 'looves' that self thing, you know?). I promise to search some time to upload other things this week, and to try to get some free time to visit you all, I'm afraid I'm missing so many nice things...
Es terrible, últimamente sólo aparezco por flickr para colgar el self semanal... yo!!!, que 'adoro' los selfs... Prometo que esta semana intentaré subir otras cosas para no aburrir, y que intetaré buscar un rato para visitaros a todos... tengo la intranquilizadora sensación de estarme perdiendo maravillosas fotos...
*tècnicament torna a ser el de la setmana passada...
Sandhi Pujo is a part of "Durga Puja" . The rituals of Sandhi Puja done in between "Asthami" (The 8th phase of moon) & "Nabami" (The 9th phase of moon) which consecutively the 3rd & 4th day the festival.
In this picture the priest doing a popular ritual of Hinduism namely "Arati". As per Hinhu mythology, this is a way to please the Goddess. Generally Sandhi Puja happens after midnight.