A six-foot Patachitra Durga painting adorns this south Kolkata house during Durga Puja, where the artist takes on the role of priest.
“In Kolkata, to my knowledge, this is the only Patachitra Puja, Patteshwari Puja. There is no other, not in history, not at present also,” says Halley Goswami, an Indian art researcher and artist.
Goswami began his family’s Durga Puja 25 years ago. He sculpted the goddess by hand and performed the rituals himself. Today, the Alipore-based artist has moved from clay to Patachitra, bringing the centuries-old folk art tradition into his household puja while retaining all the rituals.
The Patachitra of Durga this year
For the last two years, his family has worshipped Durga through Patachitra. It is a painted representation of the goddess that is immersed after the Puja.
Goswami begins his artistry of creating the pratima two weeks ahead of the pujo.
The six to six-and-a-half-foot artwork is made using traditional techniques. A wooden surface is covered with cotton cloth fixed with gum arabic and calcium carbonate, or khori mati. The artist prepares the pigments himself, mixing powdered colours with gum arabic before straining them for use.
After the Puja, the painted goddess is immersed in the Ganga.
But why a Patachitra?
Goswami says that he made the shift because managing the sculpture, its decorations and the worship had become difficult for their nuclear family. “It’s a little difficult for me to do both things together, as in making the pratima, making the saaj, and then again sitting for Puja as the purohit,” he explained.
The move also reflects his intention to revive Patachitra’s classical roots. Though trained in law, Goswami chose painting as his profession. His interests lie in Bengal’s terracotta temples, Indian spirituality and traditional art forms, including Pichwai and Kangra painting.
For 25 years, artist Halley Goswami has shaped his family’s Durga Puja with his own hands
Patachitra worship has precedents in Bengal’s suburbs, where some family Pujas use painted representations of the goddess instead of sculpted idols. Goswami sees his practice as a continuation of that heritage and not as an invention of his own.
The rituals remain central to the south Kolkata household’s celebrations. Goswami meticulously observes Mahasnan, the ceremonial bathing of the goddess. Kumari Puja, Sandhi Puja and the Dashami rituals are also performed, keeping the traditions in mind.
On Dashami at the Goswami house, the goddess is offered panta bhat, alongside homemade naru, lobonga latika, khaja and malpua.
The family traces its roots to the Gaudiya Vaishnava Goswami lineage of Hooghly, with ancestral zamindari in Parul village in the Dhaniakhali region. The artist said, “Now, based in Alipore, the Puja is less about the conventions of a Kolkata bonedi bari and more about the personal commitment”.
