A bid to help an acquaintance source the requirements for a puja Down Under has turned a biochemistry professor into a priest who is now in demand every autumn in the land of kangaroos and koalas.
Krishnajyoti Goswami, a resident of Alaktika Housing Complex in Action Area IID, spends much of his time in Malaysia where he is a faculty of medicine in Lincoln University College. But during Durga puja, he is far away from either address, draped in a dhoti, tinkling the ghanta and wielding the chamor for arati.
“I am doing the inaugural puja of the Bengali Society of Geelong, southwest of Melbourne, on October 24 and 25. I have been requested to perform Laxmi puja as well within that period,” Goswami told
The Telegraph Salt Lake, before setting off for Australia.
Goswami’s first priestly assignment was in 2025 for a puja under the banner of Bangosathi, founded by Rabindranath Shaw, who also runs a dance school in Melbourne. “My first interaction with them was when I spoke to the idol-maker Mintu Paul on their behalf. Shaw also requested me to buy puja utensils and pack them in the same container in which the idol would set sail,” he recalled.
Search for tutor
It was at this point that the organisers hit a hurdle. “It is difficult to get a visa for priests as they can seldom show any collateral asset or a permanent job,” said Goswami. An acquaintance suggested that he take on the mantle himself. Though he had witnessed Durga puja at his ancestral home in Nabadwip, Goswami was hesitant. “My grandfather used to do puja and I helped him. Still I was unsure. Then my daughter reminded me that since I had done theatre, I could memorise the mantras like the lines in a play. The vital step was to find a tutor. I was ready to offer Rs 10,000 as tuition fees. But our Nabadwip priest dismissed my chances. A priest in Salt Lake said it would take a year to train me. I had just a few weeks in hand.”
Finally it was a junior colleague at a pathology laboratory where he helps part time who provided a solution. “He took me to meet his father Samir Chakraborty who asked me to buy Shyamacharan Bandyopadhyay’s Durga puja manual, following Kalikapuran.”
The Sanskrit pronunciations were another stumbling block. “My sister Krishnakali, who teaches Sanskrit in a south Calcutta school, stayed up till 2.30am to train me.”
Then his training in priesthood started in earnest. “Samir babu taught me the various finger positions — karanyash followed by anganyash (in which the seeker touches specific parts of his body while chanting mantras), how to pick up flowers in kurmamudra, all about the ghots, though the organisers abroad have to make do with coconut in place of daab... I was told about a number of deities to whom puja would have to be offered beyond the divine quintet – Chandi, Narayan… I had to carry a shaligramshila (the sacred ammonite stone representing Lord Vishnu) with me,” said Goswami, of his debut last year at Bangosathi.
So strict was his prescription that his wife, Indrani was not allowed to touch the bag in which he took the shaligramshila and his priestly clothes (hessian dhoti and namaboli from the Iskcon store). While the banana plantain (kala bou) and tulsi were available in Melbourne, belpata and lotus came from Brisbane.
“ I had taken elaborate notes from the pujapaddhwati book and divided the rituals into two parts since I had to finish the puja in two days. So, Bodhon to Ashtami puja took place on Day I, and Navami and Dashami puja on the next.”
A Bangladeshi engineering student, Shyamsundar Bhowmik, translated all the slokas into English so they made sense to everyone, including the Australian visitors.
“I got so confident after Day 1 that I performed the Navami arati with a bit of a dance,” Goswami said with a laugh.
This year, he has given up the Bangosathi assignment as his daughter Namrata, who stays in Melbourne, is home for Puja after eight years. “I will be worshipping the same idol though as the Geelong puja will use the Bangosathi idol,” he said with a smile.
Next year, he has accepted both as they will be happening on consecutive weekends. “I have got offers even from Ireland and Malayasia as the Bangosathi rituals were live streamed and seen globally,” said Goswami.
But for now, Melbourne is where Puja takes him during the long Eid holiday at his Malaysia college.