Durga Puja of Biswas Bari of Dasghara

Durga Puja is not only celebrated as a barowari puja but is equally famous as a household puja. Household Durga puja is well known in rural Bengal apart from Kolkata. There are some families who celebrate the puja with great pomp and splendour and during the days of the festival the thakurdalan along with the adjoining areas bear a different look. One such family where Durga is not only famous but unique is Biswas Bari of Dasghara in Hooghly district.

The Durga puja in Biswas Bari is a grand affair. One will witness a number of unique things associated with this puja starting from the idol down to collecting the necessary things for the worship.

When we speak about Goddess Durga, the first thing that comes to our mind is the Goddess with ten hands holding a diiferent weapon in each hand. But in Dasghara, the goddess has four hands. I have encountered a similar idol at a household Durga Puja of Chowdhuris at Baksa in Hooghly. Initially the goddess used to hold conchshell, chakra (wheel), shul (spike) and snake. But there appears to be a change. Instead of conch shell and wheel Devi Durga is holding a sword and a shield. We can also find uniqueness in the idol of Lord Ganesh. We are familiar with seeing Ganesh in four hands but here he not only has two hands but is not holding any weapon. Another thing to note here is that Ganesh and Kartick stands in the upper row while Lakshmi and Saraswati in the lower row. Isn’t it an unique thing to watch? Like other bonedi households, the protima is prepared in the thakurdalan. The dalan is beautiful and during the days of the puja it has a festive look crowded with devotees of all age groups. Not only the family members but also people from outside the area and even from Kolkata visit the puja.

Biswas Bari has a number of temples including the famous pancharatna Gopinath Temple rich in terracotta decorations built by Sadananda Biswas in 1729. The temple courtyard has an octagonal rasmancha and a charchala dolmancha. Here Rathyatra, Rashyatra and Dolyatra are famous.

The puja is performed following Shakta rituals. Bali or animal sacrifice is performed on all the three days of the puja. But the members of Biswas family neither touch nor taste it. It is said that during the time of sacrifice, the family deity of Gopinath Jiu and Radharani are made to sleep and cotton balls are put inside their ears. The door of the temple is closed so that they do not hear the sound of animal sacrifice. Maa Durga is offered different types of naibidya during the days of puja.

I was pretty lucky to witness this puja last year. I along with one of my relation went there by car. On reaching there the first thing I heard was the melodious note coming from nahabat. It filled my heart after more than an hour-and-a-half journey from Kolkata.

On the day of Dasami after the sindur khela (one type of ritual) is over, the idol is immersed in the nearby Gopisagar Lake. Before the immersion, the crown of the goddess is removed and then the same is taken to a Kali Temple at Terole and is installed on Goddess Kali.

Getting there:

Take any Howrah-Tarakeswar local train and get down at Tarakeswar. Come to the bus stand and board any bus going to Dasghara and get down at Bazaarpara stoppage. Alternately, take any train of Howrah-Barddhaman chord line and get down at Dhaniakhali Halt station. From there take a bus to reach Dasghara.

References:

1. Hooghly Jelar Purakirti – Narendranath Bhattacharjee

2. Banger Sarodostav o Byatikrami Durgapuja – Shivsankar Ghosh

Date of posting: 8th September, 2023.