Durga Puja – the greatest festival of Bengalees is celebrated not only in the bonedi households of Kolkata but there are quite a number of temples/houses where Devi Durga is worshipped on a daily basis round the year. In this post I shall include five such pujas and the rest in the subsequent post.
A temple dedicated to Dhakeswari Mata at Durgacharan Street, Kumartuli in North Kolkata is old. It was said that this idol was discovered by Raja Ballal Sen in the 12th century. The idol is unique. I have heard about the idol but saw it for the first time in this month. I looked at the idol and found that out of the ten hands of the goddess the two frontal hands are a little bigger in size compared to the other hands. The goddess is present here with his sons – Kartick and Ganesh and daughters – Lakshmi and Saraswati. The lion and mahisasura are also present. Daily worship is performed here and when I visited this temple on a Sunday morning, I found the priest is performing the puja. The goddess is offered annabhog during the days of Durga Puja. Any one can visit the temple either in the morning or in the evening.
The Durga Puja of Jagatram Mukhopadhyay’s house at 56 Brahmo Samaj Road, Behala is quite old. The puja was first started way back in 1770 and in that year only it was held on the Nabami tithi and that too in ghat. From the next year the idol of Devi Durga was worshipped. The dalan that we are presently seeing was built in 1910. Before that there was an aatchala and during the days of the puja the idol was brought here and worshipped. The idol was built by Jadunath Mukhopadhyay, grandson of Jagatram Mukhopadhyay in 1858. Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartick and Ganesh are carved in the chalchitra. There were two idols of Jaya and Vijaya standing on two sides of the goddess.
The puja is held according to the practice laid down in Raghunandan Durgastav Prayogtatto bidhi. Sandhi Puja is not performed here. Bali or animal sacrifice takes place in Nabami. Daily puja is performed here and fish is offered to the goddess. Jagadhatri Puja and Annapurna Puja are held here in the same idol except Kali Puja where a separate idol is worshipped. Kumari Puja and hom are held here on Nabami. Chandipath starts from the day of Pratipad and is read nine times in nine days.
Bijoygarh Thakurbari was founded in the auspicious Maghi Purnima tithi on 2nd Magh, 1357 Bangabda (January 1950). Durga Puja started way back since the foundation of this thakurbari but I was told that the present idol of Maa Durga was made out of astodhatu in 2012. But before that the puja was performed in a clay idol. The thakurbari houses the idols of other gods and goddesses and, I think that all pujas are held here. The idol of Devi Durga together with the chalchitra looks extraordinary. A flight of stairs lead you to the main Durga temple.
Avaya Mandir at 63/3A, Harish Chatterjee Street houses an idol of Devi Durga. It is situated by the side of Balaram Basu Ghat. Adi Ganga is flowing at a distance. The current priest Sri Shanti Ram Majumder informed me that the temple is more than seventy years old. His uncle founded this temple. Earlier the idol was made of clay but the present protima is made of concrete. When I first saw this idol I thought that it might be made of stone. Daily worship is performed here but special puja is held during the days of Durga Puja, Jagadhatri Puja and Annapurna Puja. Kumari Puja is held in Nabami. The temple remains open daily in the morning and in the evening.
Dayamyee Durga Temple at Sitaram Ghosh Street was founded in 1257 Bangabda (ie, 1850 as per Gregorian calendar).
There was a stone plaque and from there I saw this date and I also noticed one name – Shri Nilkamal Mitra Das. When I went there in the morning, I found that though the temple is open but a collapsable gate from inside is closed. I somehow managed to click a couple of pictures of the goddess. It appeared to me that the idol is made of kasthipathar. Like the other temples, this mandir remains open both in morning and evening. If you want to visit during that time you may get a darshan of the goddess from inside the collapsable gate. One thing which attracted my attention is the lion and its posture looking like a horse and is white in colour.
I hope to publish the second part of this article very soon.
Special thanks to Shri Shilajit Ray.
Date of posting: 19th October, 2023.
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