Namoshkar!
This is a story about a festival, a Puja in Bengali, that is huge. Weeks before the day arrives men are constructing structures using long bamboo poles and rope. These structures, Pandals, are going up in all the neighborhoods in whatever open field is available. I watch these events take place and listen to the talk surrounding Ma Durga's arrival. There are sales at The Big Bazaar, people are shopping for new clothes and toys and food. There is a great deal of excitement. School is back in session for one week after the exam break, but it might as well be closed because no learning is going on. Everyone is waiting for the Puja to start.
Ma Durga is the goddess of power and strength. She was created to slay the evil demon, which she does. She is married to the god Shiva and they have four children, two boys and two girls. The children are famous gods/goddesses in their own right; Ganeesh is the god of business, Laxmi, the goddess of wealth, Saraswati, the goddess of knowledge and Karti, the warrior god. Ganeesh has the head of an elephant because when he was little, his head was severed and his father replaced it with the head of an elephant.
The Pandals are being built for these gods where they will stay for the first week of the Puja. Once the structures are built, they are then covered with cloth, some white, some gold. The cloth is pulled tightly around the bamboo so it doesn't look like cloth but like a regular kind of house covering. There are also decorative symbols all over the Pandal. These are amazing architectural wonders considering the structures.
Finally the night arrives and everyone is ready: the vendors, the worshippers, the Gurus, the drummers, and the spectators. Let the party begin! And begin it does. Each Pandal site has an entertainment stage complete with loud speakers that carry the sound from one right into my kitchen window, and the sound from another right into my bedroom window. I can hear the singers and the music where ever I go in my flat. The activities begin around 6:00 and go on until 11 or 12. People are everywhere as they make their way from one Pandal to another comparing one to the other noting which one has the best decorations. There are also fireworks and explosions off and on throughout the week.
The "idols" are on a stage with Ma Durga in the center flanked by Ganeesh and Laxmi on her left (stage) and Saraswati and Kartik on her right. During the day, worshippers come to venerate these "idols", stroking them, bowing to them, kneeling before them in prayer, feeding them, offering other sacrifices. Money touches Laxmi, textbooks touch Saraswati. Each god/dess has an animal with it. Ganeesh, the business god, has a rat. I'll let you play with that one. Laxmi has an owl, Durga, a lion, Saraswati, a swan, and Kartik, a peacock. No one seems to know what these animals represent.
At one of the Pandals, the censing ritual is in progress and I am mesmerized by the drums, the censor with his bell in his left hand ringing continuously and the incense bowl with fire in his right hand. He moves in a rhythmic motion from one god to the next censing each one. I am thinking somewhat mischievously what our priest would look like censing the altar in this fashion. This censor is dressed in a white dhoti, white tunic type shirt and there is a head-covering of some sort. There are drummers off the stage and to the left keeping the beat. Then the censor turns to the crowd and many rush forward to pass their hands over the flame, then with their hands warm from the fire, they stroke their faces and the faces of their children. The ritual begins again and goes on and on into the night.
One of the Pandals in my area is different from the others in that on the stage with Durga, et al the backdrop is a three-dimensional scene showing life in the city: police brutality, giving money to the beggars, lots of traffic, an ice-cream vendor, and other city sights, tall buildings, signs, etc. I don't quite know what to make of it and asking is useless. But Durga surely is not the center of attention here. She's in her spot, but she is small as are her kids.
Sunday is the last day of the Puja. It's the night when Durga and her family leave the Pandal and head back to their mountain home. The activities begin in late afternoon. I decide to attend the Pandal in my neighborhood. It's a lot smaller but nice and earlier in the day, I chat with some of the worshippers, eat a little food offered to the gods and basically feel welcomed here.
When I arrive at the Pandal, mostly men and boys are there. There are a few last minuted worshippers on stage and someone has passed out incense bowls which begin filling the area with holy smoke. This is also the time when women take a red spice and smear it on their heads, their arms, and their hands. I get drawn into this activity and have the spice smeared on my forhead. Again, I do not know the significance. The yound girls are trying to smear the spice on the foreheads of the young boys so there is a lot of chasing and giggling going on. The crowd gets larger and the worshippers are shooed off the stage. The first truck backs into the Pandal and Durga begins her journey home. She is heavy and it takes a lot of men to move her onto the truck. All the while the drummers are keeping the beat on special drums used only at this festival, the incense is flowing, and many are dancing a circle dance similar to the dance the Arabs do at weddings and other celebrations.
Once the "idols" are in the trucks and secured, the parade formation begins. First there is a rickshaw van hauling a light, loudspeaker, and two keyboards, then there are more drummers with different drums and a keyboardist, then Durga's truck, then another van with the generator, another truck with Saraswati and Kartik, then three more rickshaw vans carrying green neon lights. All of these vehicles are connected with a rope. Off we go into the night for a parade around the block. I think they are headed to the lake for the final plunge, so I turn off onto a street I know and head back to my house. A few moments later, I hear the parade coming down my street. I watch them pass from the balcony. The drummers are still beating the drums but the dancers have slowed to a stroll. I guess they will remove the ropes and the vans and let the trucks take the family to the lake where they will be slipped into the water so they can get back home. Water is the way they get there. Later on, perhaps the next day, the family is fished from the lake, cleaned up, and packed away until next year's Puja. The Puja continues for the rest of the week and then on Thursday, Laxmi has her own special day. I wonder what that will be like...
This whole experience has been very interesting to me as I compare our rituals to the Hindus'. In some ways they are so similar; that's why I put quotes around IDOLS.
When I mentioned to a group of kids I was talking with that the DurgaPuja was like Christmas, they laughed and said, "Oh yes, we celebrate Christmas, too." The Indians love a party, no matter who is throwing it.
