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Under the azure autumn sky, amidst the amorous cascades of prancing clouds and swaying ‘kash’, rises the reverberating hum of worship of the warrior goddess— Durga. A daughter has returned home, triumphant. Her worship is a heedy amalgam of indiscriminating joy, creativity, love and unbarred popular participation. As nimble fingers cajole the unrelenting earth into the soft curves of the feminine physique, a Goddess is born. She dons the jewels of another and resides in the shelter constructed by yet another. Her abode is lit and adorned by one and Her food made by another. Her eyes may have been painted by one but in them, are reflected the multitude of humans, stripped off their social identities, naked and exposed to their souls. Her smile pulsates across the hearts of all, harmoniously blending across man-made boundaries of social class and economic order. In her home, all are one and one is all.
In December 2021, given concerted efforts by historian and social scientist Tapati Guha-Thakurata, Durga Puja was included by the UNESCO in its Lists of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
STORY BY HRISHITA GHOSH
Physician by chance and photographer by choice. He documents people, culture and events purely as they are.
