Team News Riveting
Kolkata, October 18
Kolkata’s oldest sarbojanin (community) celebration of the goddess in Bengal is going back to the past in the year of the pandemic.
It is not just to recall how Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had relished a delicious bhog in the pandal; it is about how the pandal looked when puja started way back in 1926.
The puja was started in 1926 by Atindra Nath Basu with the support of Mahendranath Dutta, Swami Vivekananda’s brother. For years, the Samity used to be the cradle of freedom fighters initiated by the chant of revolution (biplob-er mantre dikshito).”
Basu, a freedom fighter himself, is said to have come up with the term sarbojanin because he felt the need for “a puja for all”.
The reason why Durga Puja of the Bangalis was designated as ‘Sarbojanin’ or the reason why Goddess Durga was established in the Sarbojanin compound has been discussed in brief in the beginning. The founder of Simla Byayam Samity in 1926 introduced the very first ‘Sarbojanin Durgotsav’ in Bengal.
The first priest of this Puja was Late Dr. Chapala Kanta Bhattacharya. In the first year Late Nitai Chandra Pal was the artist of the idol. Initially, as was customary, the idol was built in one canvas and the puja pavilion roofing was of bulrush leaves. The worship was conducted with remarkable respect and devotion.
In 1939 five separate canvases were prepared on the same dais and the idols were installed separately. Swami Vivekananda’s second brother Mahendra Nath Dutta who was Atindra Nath Basu’s neighbour, referring to various Sanskrit verse quotations supported this work of Atindra Nath Basu. While the idols were being constructed he came to the Samity compound regularly and supervised the installation process, about the idol structure, colour, dress, arms placement and so on by quoting Sanskrit verses.
Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Sarat Chandra Bose having prasad of Astami Puja (Pic by Simla Byayam Samity)
Installing idols in this way created a stir in Kolkata because in constructing the idol of ‘Maa Durga’ separately, Simla Byayam Samity created the precedence. At that time Atin Babu’s effort in the said matter received reception from the artist circle. Many members of the Tagore family visited the idol and appreciated it. In the same year Shri Subhash Chandra Bose unveiled the idol. In the Durga Puja a vast “Annakaut” was organized for. Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose, Sarat Chandra Bose and other leaders participated in this “Annakaut” with the general spectators and took Prasad.
The COVID-19 pandemic fallout has propelled the 95-year-old Samity to depict how the pandal looked like earlier. Covered roof and three open sides is the new design of the pandal this year.
With time, some grandeur has crept in. But an open and spacious pandal is like revisiting the past, when the idols have been under a covered roof and the rest of the area is open.
