Category: Durga Puja

Durga Puja of Roychowdhury Bari, Baruipur

Durga Puja, being the greatest festival of the Bengalees is celebrated in many households of Bengal for more than a century. One such household is the Roychowdhury family of Baruipur in South 24 Parganas district. About a mile from Baruipur railway station, this puja will definitely take you back to three centuries. An old structure which has got a fresh coat of paint due to the festival will welcome you inside the courtyard where you will witness the old durga dalan.

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Durga Puja of Buri Maar Aatchala, Chaitalpara, Bally

There are a number of old Durga pujas in Howrah district and, mainly they are celebrated in bonedi households. Of the few such pujas I visited a couple of years back I have come across one at Chaitalpara in Bally, popularly known as Buri Maar Aatchala. It is not known for sure when it actually started but according to sources it began about three hundred years back as a household puja.

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Durga Puja of Jorasanka Dawn Bari

Durga Puja is the greatest festival of the Bengalees. It is celebrated not only in barowari puja pandals but also in many bonedi households of Bengal. In Calcutta, (now Kolkata) it is held in many houses with much pomp and splendour maintaining all the age-old rituals and customs. One such house is Jorasanko Dawn Bari of 12A, Shibkrishna Dawn Lane where the puja is being held since 1840. Continue reading Durga Puja of Jorasanka Dawn Bari

Durga Puja of Baral family

I have come across a number of houses in Howrah who are celebrating Durga Puja in a grand way and some of them are pretty old. Last year, I was invited to a family Durga Puja organised by the Barals at 75, Raj Ballav Saha Lane, Howrah – 711101. Though comparatively new as far as the age of the puja is concerned, but the striking thing here is the idol of Maa Durga which drew my attention.

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Durga Puja of ‘bonedi’ families of Chinsurah

In my previous blog the day before yesterday, I tried to cover the bonedi families of Chandannagar where Durga Puja is still being celebrated with great pomp and splendour. Chinsurah, the next station after Chandannagar is my today’s subject. Chinsurah was formerly a Dutch colony. Now Chinsurah or Chuchura is the headquarters of Hooghly district of West Bengal. There are a number of bonedi families in this town who are still worshipping Maa Durga maintaining the age-old tradition. In this blog I shall include five such families all of which were being covered by me on Nabami this year.

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Durga Puja of ‘bonedi’ families of Chandannagar

Durga Puja is the greatest festival of the Bengalees. It is not only celebrated in the barowari puja pandals; but it is equally celebrated in many households of West Bengal. In my previous blogs I tried to cover the bonedi families of Kolkata and Howrah; though still a number of families left, which I hope to cover in the coming years. Chandannagar, a former French colony, just 35 kilometres from Kolkata, is famous for barowari Jagaddhatri Puja and lighting. But there are a number of bonedi families in this town who are celebrating Durga Puja with great pomp and splendour for many years. In this blog I tried to cover eight such families.

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