Durga Puja 2021: Kolkata pandal highlights first ever Durgotsav celebrated over four centuries ago

As the festival of Durga Puja is being celebrated with great fervour throughout West Bengal, one pandal in the state has been set up on the theme of Rajshahi Durga Puja. The Behala Barisha Sarbojanin Durgostab Committee in Kolkata has set up a pandal on the theme of the Rajshahi Durga Puja, where many believe the first celebrations of the festival began nearly 415 years ago. The pandal in Behala has been crafted by renowned artist Subrata Gangopadhyay. According to Tanmoy Chatterjee of the Barisha Sarbojanin Durgostab Committee, the pandal was constructed on the basis of the first celebrations in Rajshashi almost 415 years ago. Rajshahi, now in present day Bangladesh, is said to be the place where the Durga Puja festival was first celebrated over four centuries ago. According to News18, the celebrations for the festival were started in temple of King Kangsa Narayan of Taherpur in Rajshahi district’s Bagmra Upazila. The temple was built in 1480 AD by King Kangsa Narayan Ray Bahadur to protect himself from demonic influence. This is not the only pandal that has gained prominence in headlines recently. In South Kolkata, the Barisha Club had set up a pandal with the theme of ‘Bhaager Maa’ (“The mother, divided”), based around the subject of the National Register of Citizens (NRC) as well as the hardships faced by migrant workers during the coronavirus pandemic. The pandal, designed by Rintu Das, also shows the pain borne by millions of people who left their homes amid the violence following the 1947 partition. According to event organiser Debaprashad Bose, the pandal is divided into two parts, with the right side depicting the India border and the left side showing the Bangladesh border. A cage-like structure is set between the two sides and shows a woman carrying an idol of Goddess Durga, along with her children. Last year, the pandal, had showcased the goddess as a working-class migrant woman carrying her children in tow.