When most of the Durga puja pandals are based on contemporary themes, few Durga puja committees still continue the traditional style of puja and untouched rituals. The 133 year old ‘Durgabati’ is one such example in a league where deity and her worship is the only attraction and the puja rituals are performed in the most conventional way.
Citing details about the age old Durga Puja tradition of Durgabati, Secretary of Durgabati, Gopal Bhattacharya said, “The idols are made inside the temple premises. Every year artists come from Purulia, Kolkata. Here every ritual is performed traditionally. The idol is taken in a traditional Palki and even on shoulders for immersion. Even the drummers and idol makers belong to the same lineage of those from the first puja in 1883.”
“Every year the centre of attraction here is the traditional ‘Dhaki’ which is performed during the Sandhya Aarti. 8-10 priests perform all rituals in a traditional way. The offerings and ‘Bhog’ are also prepared by the members of the puja committee,” Bhattacharya further added.
Several devotees do visit the Durgabati to seek the blessing of Goddess especially on the auspicious occasion of Durga puja.
“I am coming to Durgabati, since 1999 with my family. For us it has become a tradition to visit the place especially on the 8th day of Durga puja. Every ritual here is performed in a traditional way depicting the Bengali culture. There is a huge rush inside the temple premises to attend the ‘Sandhi puja’, said Komal Basu, a resident of lalpur.
Similarly, maintaining the legacy, Deshapriya club puja committee is also conducting Durga puja since 1960.
“This is our 54th year since our ancestors started conducting puja. Earlier, it was a very low profile affair were only few people of Bengali community use to get involved in conducting Durga puja. Now, the situation has changed and now more people belonging to other communities too get involved in Durga puja preparation,” said Secretary of Deshapriya club Aseem Sarkar.
“All preparation is done in the typical Bengali style. The centre of attraction here is the ‘Dhaki’ which is performed during the ‘Sandhi puja’. This is the third generation of drummers who performs ‘Dhaki’ during the puja,” Sarkar added.
Devotees also prefer visiting only those pandals where the rituals are performed in accordance with the culture and tradition.
“There are very few places in Ranchi, where during Durga puja all rituals are performed systematically. Every year, we visit Deshapriya club for conducting ‘Kanya pujan’, said Alka Bakshi, a local resident.