Culture meets commerce at Kolkata’s Durga Puja

Ayan Saha, 33, has been among the busiest radical successful Kolkata during the countdown to Durga Puja. This twelvemonth helium has designed 2 pandals, astir 20 kilometres apart, 1 successful Behala and different successful Kankurgachi. Saha, who graduated successful Fine Arts from the Rabindra Bharati University successful 2015, has been moving connected pandals since 2019. His designs transportation non-didactic messages that bespeak society’s realities.

He says, “I person called the 1 astatine Behala ‘10 feet by 10 feet’, the thought being to convey that for middle-class people, nary substance wherever they live, the chamber is invariably that size. That’s wherever they are confined to astir their full lives. At Kankurgachi, I recreated Shakher Bazaar, a fashionable marketplace, the thought being to amusement that we are ever selling thing oregon the other, peculiarly successful the property of societal media.”

Saha believes helium is simply a “struggler” successful the field, earning anyplace betwixt ₹2–3 lakh per pandal. He adds that this year’s highest pandal outgo is to an creator making ₹55 lakh, though helium is unsure who the creator is.

From a five-day autumn festival that erstwhile meant a agelong vacation for children and adults alike, bringing radical successful a neighbourhood unneurotic to amusement disconnected their sartorial sensation and speech notes connected life, Durga Puja, is contiguous an manufacture that functions similar a Bollywood production.

Here, artists physique their reputations and careers; artisans slope their savings for the year; and the almighty usage wealth to gully attraction to themselves oregon their brands.

The economies of Durga Puja, a Hindu festival to commemorate the decision of the demon-king Mahishasura, got a changeable successful the limb successful 2018. That twelvemonth the Trinamool Congress (TMC) authorities announced a assistance of ₹10,000 to each puja committee successful the State. The amount, going up each twelvemonth since then, stands astatine ₹1.10 lakh successful 2025.

Today, determination are 45,000 Durga Puja committees successful the State.Despite disapproval from the Opposition astatine the almost-₹500 crore bill, the TMC leadership, peculiarly Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, claims that the money allocated for Durga Puja has a multiplier effect and boosts the system of the State successful respective ways.

A survey by the British Council successful 2019 placed the economical worth of the originative industries astir Durga Puja — specified arsenic idol-making, pandal-making, lighting, literature, food, and retail, among others — astatine ₹32,377 crore, accounting for 2.58% of West Bengal’s GDP astatine the time.

In tandem with authorities and pujas being intertwined, galore pandals person chosen Bengali Asmita arsenic their message, an contented that has dominated authorities successful West Bengal for the past respective months.

In addition, with taxable songs being a trend, this twelvemonth Mamata Banerjee has herself composed a taxable opus for a pandal and besides an medium of songs.

On September 26, Union Home Minister Amit Shah was successful the metropolis to inaugurate a Durga Puja pandal designed to showcase Operation Sindoor. From the nutrient situation successful Gaza to nutrient adulteration to acid-attack victims to Bengal Renaissance — galore themes volition support the radical of metropolis hooked for astir a mates of weeks.

Each, bigger and amended than the erstwhile year.

People and wealth power

Engineer-entrepreneur Indranil Aich, a nonmigratory of the well-planned, upmarket Salt Lake City successful Kolkata’s north-east, says, “Durga Puja is present an economical symphony wherever religion meets endeavor and contented fuels transformation. As an organiser, I person seen however the fiscal dynamics person evolved: successful large-scale pujas, the lion’s stock of backing nary longer rests connected nonmigratory subscriptions but flows from firm sponsorships,” helium says, adding that each benignant of marque advertises, from FMCG to fintech.

This shift, helium says, began astir 2000, gaining traction post-2012 arsenic integer platforms and community-led initiatives matured. This improvement was driven by brands recognising the power and spending powerfulness of demographics that were utilizing societal media.

The momentum has seen interruptions though: during the COVID-19 pandemic and again successful 2024 pursuing the rape and execution of a doc successful R.G. Kar Hospital erstwhile determination were puja-boycott calls.“Today, marque sponsorships person go the ascendant backing model, with cumulative spends ranging from a fewer lakhs to ₹5–6 crore, depending connected the standard and visibility of the initiative,” Aich says.

Bankim Paul, a seasoned idol-maker successful Kumartuli, Kolkata’s municipality colony wherever murtis are made connected the banks of the Hooghly, says the assemblage of potters person got implicit the losses made during the pandemic and the puja boycott past year. This play each the idols were sold and the 80% of the concern that comes during this time, fulfilled. “No 1 had their hands escaped this year; concern has been booming,” helium says.

Of the 9 nights and 10 days dedicated to the goddess successful the Hindu calendar, it is connected the sixth time — sashti — that the consecration of Durga idols takes spot successful the pandals, with the worship going connected until the greeting of the last day. But of late, peculiarly aft Durga Puja was included successful the database of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO successful 2021, pandals are inaugurated — and pandal hopping begins — good earlier the sixth day.

The inaugurations are mostly done by Mamata Banerjee. This year, she acceptable disconnected the inauguration process adjacent earlier the archetypal of the 9 days, during the play erstwhile Hindus honour elders who person passed on.

This year, erstwhile torrential rains lashed the metropolis connected the nighttime betwixt September 22 and September 23, bringing successful astir 252 mm of rainfall successful lone a fewer hours, respective pandals were inundated. But wrong a substance of hours pandal-hoppers were backmost connected the streets. All this fuels spending and eyeballs for brands.

Set-like puja scenes

An inaugural called MassArt, which started the twelvemonth the UNESCO tag came, conducts a circuit of handpicked pandals successful Kolkata — this twelvemonth they chose 24 — good earlier the festival formally begins truthful that its guests get to respect the artworks earlier the venues get choked by people.

“We telephone it the Preview Show. Durga Puja is bigger than immoderate biennale successful the world. There are much than 3,000 installations crossed the city, and much than 25 cardinal radical retired connected the streets astatine immoderate fixed time. We organise an exclusive viewing, successful a depository setting, for radical from the taste assemblage earlier the crowds acceptable in,” says architect-art curator Sayantan Maitra, vice-president of MassArt.

With Durga Puja present becoming a competitory mega show, on with the duration of pandal-hopping extending, galore professions basal to benefit. For instance, labourers marque ₹800–1,000 a day. Electric and dependable contractor Subhasish Mondal’s income has gone up by astir 50% successful the past 10 years. “Until a mates of years ago, I worked successful 3 pandals; present I enactment successful six. I get to bargain instrumentality with the money, which are assets,” helium says.

Decorator Bidyut Baran Haldar, who has been erecting pandals for 22 years, has not seen amended days. His enactment excessively has gone up by 50% — from 3 pandals to six — and helium present makes astir ₹8 lakh from the festival compared to ₹1.5 lakh until 10 years ago. “The nett is not a lot, but enactment has decidedly gone up,” says Haldar, whose biggest pandal this twelvemonth is astatine Salt Lake City’s IB Block wherever helium says the Burj Khalifa of Dubai has been recreated astatine the outgo of ₹75 lakh.

Crowded out

The accrued magnitude of the festival, however, does not impressment everybody. Shailendra Singh, manager of Prakash Bulb Industries, among the oldest airy manufacturers successful Bengal, says, “Since the celebrations present commencement precise early, it is astir 2 weeks of holidays. Government departments are unopen and commercialized vehicles are not allowed to participate the city, hampering concern establishments,” helium says, explaining that they are not capable to service the Deepawali marketplace successful the remainder of India. Because of this, Bengal has mislaid this concern to different parts of India, helium claims.

“Till astir the precocious 1980s, Bengal was the lone supplier of festival lights for the full of India. Now it has turned into a user State from a shaper State.” Singh has different grouse: radical surviving astir large pujas having to enactment up with the crowds and the sound the full time for respective days.

Crowds are besides present gushing into once-secluded practice homes that beryllium to aristocratic families, with radical anxious to marque Reels for Instagram. Durga Puja successful Kolkata was erstwhile confined to specified homes.

Robert Clive, of Britain’s East India Company, was the main impermanent astatine the archetypal Durga Puja that was organised successful the location of Nabakrishna Deb, the interpreter who earned riches and the rubric of Raja for his publication to Clive’s triumph successful the Battle of Plassey successful 1757. It past became customary for aristocratic Bengalis to invitation British administrators to their puja celebrations — the higher the fertile of the officer, the taller the big successful what was past Calcutta’s societal standing.

The puja started by Nabakrishna Deb continues adjacent contiguous astatine the aforesaid property, called Shobhabazar Rajbari, and with the aforesaid rituals, 1 of the astir fashionable practice pujas successful the city. There are 2 Shobhabazar Rajbaris, crossed the roadworthy from each other.

Deb did not person an heir, truthful adopted his brother’s lad Gopi Mohun Deb. Later helium fathered a son, Rajkrishna, done different wife, and successful that house, helium started different Durga Puja sometime astir 1790. The archetypal property, wherever Clive was the guest, is known arsenic boro taraf (elder son’s side) and the second, arsenic chhoto taraf (the younger one’s side).

“I americium an eighth-generation descendant of Raja Nabakrishna Deb, from the lineage of Raja Rajkrishna Deb,” says Krishna Rajeshwari, a writer. “Our festivities are managed nether the supervision of custodians from the family. The backing is generously supported by household members from astir the world, who lend according to their capacity, and from income from the property. Fortunately, we person maintained our independency by not relying connected authorities funds oregon firm backing till date,” she says.

bishwanath.ghosh@thehindu.co.in

Edited by Sunalini Mathew