Maa Durga is seated on Mahadev’s lap in this over 250-year-old Zamindar Bari Durga Puja in West Bengal organised by the Dey family. The Durga idol in Purba Bardhaman’s Barshul Zamindar Bari does not have ten hands and is not seen killing the Mahishasura like the usual ones. Here, Goddess Durga with two hands is seated on Mahadev’s left thigh and the duo is worshipped as “Haragouri”.
Durga is accompanied by her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh but the daughters are not accompanied by their ‘vahanas’, Devi Saraswati’s Swan and Goddess Lakshmi’s owl. Mahishasura does not accompany the Haragouri idol.
Why this form of Durga idol is worshipped in this house?
Looking into history, this heritage house belonged to Yadav Chandra Dey, who was the Zamindar of Barshul. Zamindar Yadav Chandra started the Durga puja in a ‘Ghat’ or metallic/earthen pot filled with water.
Idol worship began from the era of Zamindar Gourprasad Dey. A group of saints took shelter in this house while going to Gangasagar, who advised the Zamindar to worship of the goddess in the form of Haragouri. It was believed that worshiping the goddess in the ‘Haragouri’ form increases wealth.
It is said that during the reign of Zamindar Gourprasad De, saints came and took out clay dolls of several forms of Maa Durga from their cloth bag. Then they blindfolded a girl child of the family and asked her to pick up a doll. The girl child picked up the doll of Hargauri. Following this, the saints advised the Zamindar to worship this form of Goddess Durga.
Maa Durga is worshipped as per Shakta rituals
Even though the family followed Vaishnavism, they stated Durga Puja as per Shakta rituals on the advice of their Guru. Following his advice, a wax gourd is sacrificed in front of the Goddess on Saptami. On Ashtami, a goat is sacrificed. On Navami, three wax gourds, four cucumbers, a lemon and three sugarcanes are sacrificed. However, no member of this family can eat any of the sacrificed items as per tradition.
Animal sacrifice following cannon firing
Earlier, the animal sacrifice on Sandhi Puja (the main puja of Maa Durga performed between Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami) would begin after hearing the sound of a cannon fired from Bardhaman’s Sarvamangala temple, a tradition which has been discontinued over time.
On the day of Dashami, Maa Durga’s idol is placed on a bamboo structure and carried around the village before immersion in a nearby pond.
This affluent zamindar family once had a business of ships, salt and paan, their commercial ships sailing through River Damodar. Zamndari system was abolished long ago, but the Durga Puja is still conducted although not in such a grand way as done in the Zamindari era. The Dey family’s heritage mansion stands as a witness to the nobility, tradition and history of the past.
