Enthusiasm soars As Durga comes home

RANCHI: Two of the city’s oldest pujas—Hinoo Puja Committee Bangla Mandap and Durgabati—will be celebrating their 105th and 135th year of celebration this year.

In 1913, a group of residents of Hinoo, who were employed with the Accountant General’s office when Sir Edward Albert Gait was the Commissioner of Chotanagpur Division, organised a small puja and thereafter the tradition continued. However, the city’s first community puja was at Durgabadi. In 1883, the Bengali community under the aegis of head priest Ganga Charan of local Zilla School, started the puja.

Both these century-old pujas stand in contrast to modern pujas where the focus is on opulence—eleborate decorations, lightning and pandals based on themes. Tradition rules the celebrations at the Hinoo and Durgabati pujas. As in the past, the Durga idols are still based on ekchala (single arch) tradition. These pujas are a big draw with pandal-hoppers who come from far and wide.

“We rope in dhakis from Rampurhat in Tarapith while simple decorative lighting is done by electricians from Chandannagar. Our puja is the city’s second oldest after Durgabadi while the ekchala idol is made by well-known modeller Jagdish Pal. When Durga Puja started here in 1913, idol-maker Anadip Pal used to make the images,” said president of the Hinoo puja PS Goswami.

Goswami added, “We do not believe in collecting chanda (donations) from shops but we have over 500 members in our committee and a few corporate bodies, sponsors and donors who contribute individually to help us organise the puja.”

Meanwhile, one of the executive members of the Durgabadi puja Pradeep Roy said, “Keeping the tradition alive, we do not invite politicians to open the puja. We adorn the images with original gold jewellery on Shashti. People come to our puja for the rituals.” Roy added that time management is very important as every second matters. “As far as the budget is concerned anyone can donate in cash or kind according to their capacity,” he said.