Durga Puja in Bengal — A Mirror to an Evolving Society

Durga Puja is very close, and I will be parked in Bengaluru this year. I am not traveling to Bengal, specifically to Kolkata — the cradle of Durga Puja.

But I was there a few years back, though I did not immerse much in the festivities. But got a ringside view of how it is celebrated. I also caught up on social media on what was on and was rather bemused by the constant rant about how the Puja in Bengal is impure. While some even connected it to how Bengal has gone to dogs (not a bad thing, having two at home and knowing how great they are), the majority of the comments were civil — but with anxiety on how things have gone astray and how things need to be fixed.

I think the Durga Puja in Bengal, where even so-called impure activities are social norms — like offering nonveg to the Goddes and her family or blaring Aazan in the pandal, can never be understood unless we look at the evolution of the society, and especially women in this geography.

When I was very young, in the early seventies, my parents were one of the few married couples in our locality in Durgapur. I vividly recollect many occasions, when friends of my father, will come home in the evenings when my father was away. Always, I mean, my mother would invite the gentleman inside the home, serve him a cup of tea, and have a chat — till my father came back. And it happened even when the gentleman who came knocking was not known to my mother.

20 years later, when I went to Mumbai for work, I found myself in somewhat similar positions as my father’s friends I had spoken about. I was unmarried, but many of my friends had a young family. Whenever I went to their homes when the male member was absent, I would be greeted at the door and told discreetly to come back later. No question of an informal chit-chat. And this was Mumbai — the most modern city in the country.

Why am I saying this?

This is an anecdote which, in my mind, represents the social emancipation of women in Bengal. Bengal went into an abyss of women’s repression in the 19th century. It had Sati, it had child marriage, it had polygamy.

But it also saw significant reforms — when it bounced back it got a headstart on many other areas of India. Women in Bengal, for a long time, have been seen as another member of the family. The girls are given education, dowry incidents are still shallow, the female infanticide is virtually absent.

For example, when a lady gets married, barring some exceptions she is accepted as a daughter. There is no ghunghat, there is no seva, there is no display of respect. For example, my mom was probably closer to my grandmother than my father was — so much so that she got her unstinted

support on all occasions.

The same status of women, of a family member, there than exalted (saas) or ordinary (bahu) position, finds its reflection in Durga Puja. So when Durga comes home with her family, she is seen as the daughter who is visiting her parents. Shive is coming to his in-laws. The children are meeting grandparents, uncles, and aunts. Since she is visiting a large community in case of a Barwari Puja, a temporary home is made for her — the Pandal.

The days of the visit are auspicious, so the Puja happens. But more so the days are also of good fun — so increasingly the family is coming nearly and leaving late. Just as it happens in an ordinary home.

Now how do you celebrate when the near and dear ones come? You do what you enjoy doing. Like putting up an attire that may not always be traditional. Like dressing up differently. Having food that one enjoys. Or listen to music that one identifies with.

And that is why some Pujas offer non-veg to the Goddesses and her family on Maha Bhog of Ashtami. And play Aazan — as it happened in one very prominent Puja. Bengal is now looking at how the rituals can be modified so that it becomes more inclusive.

Like women and/ or non-Brahmins being the priest. Including the widow, the separated, the single, and even the Others in Sindoor Khela. Or as it started this year — gender neutralizing the Mantras. Like using Santan instead of Putra. Or even Transwoman as Durga — which has happened not yesterday, but almost a decade back. Will the so-called purification, which some are keen on, happen?

And as we expect, the Puja in Bengal is now expanding to embrace even animals. At Atlas Club of Shyambazar, there was a Puja last year which was for the dogs. All else is welcome, but the canines had the primacy and everything else evolved around them.

I don’t think so. Because the traction is towards having more fun, with more people, in an inclusive manner. So what the puritarians, who are concerned, do? Just come to Bengal during the next Durga Puja, and let yourselves loose. You will be converted to a religion called fun.