Hailakandi, Oct 14: The sound of conch shells rings through Rangauti village near Hailakandi town as the Purkayastha family prepares to celebrate its nearly 256-year-old Durga Puja, preserving a tradition shaped by royal patronage, ancestral heritage and generations of devotion.
Regarded as the oldest Durga Puja in Hailakandi district, the family’s annual worship of Goddess Durga has endured despite changing fortunes.
The family no longer enjoys its former zamindari status or financial prosperity, but its members remain steadfast in preserving the rituals passed down through generations.
The exact age of the puja varies across accounts, though the family traces its origins to the late 18th century.
According to Gurudas Purkayastha, a member of the present generation, the tradition began during the reign of Kachari King Krishnachandra, who entrusted the responsibility of conducting the worship to the family’s ancestor, Masai Thakur.
“Our family’s Durga Puja tradition dates back nearly 256 years. It was started during the reign of Kachari King Krishnachandra, who later entrusted the responsibility of conducting the worship to our ancestor,” Gurudas said.
Kamaljyoti Purkayastha, another descendant, said the family’s roots lie in Satgaon in the Balisira region of the erstwhile Srihatta district, now in Bangladesh.
From there, their ancestor moved to Murkhargul village in the Bandukmara region of the Barak Valley before eventually settling in Rangauti.
“Our ancestors originally lived in Satgaon in the Balisira region of the erstwhile Srihatta district. Masai Thakur later moved to the Barak Valley and eventually settled in Rangauti, where our family’s legacy continued,” Kamaljyoti said.
Masai Thakur served as the royal priest to King Krishnachandra. The family says the king bestowed the title of Purkayastha upon him around 1770, although the Durga Puja had begun nearly three decades before he received the title.
Remnants of old walls on the family premises stand as reminders of its historical past, even as the scale of the celebrations has changed over time.
There was a time when the Purkayastha household’s Durga Puja was a major gathering, with four days of worship accompanied by yatra performances and musical programmes.
These drew visitors from Rangauti and neighbouring areas, making the annual celebration as much a cultural occasion as a religious one.
Financial constraints have since curtailed the grandeur of the festivities. The traditional performances are no longer held, and cultural programmes have taken their place.
Yet, the family continues to gather for the annual worship, welcoming Anandamayi, the blissful mother, with prayers and devotion.
Women of the household now shoulder much of the responsibility for keeping the tradition alive, ensuring that the rituals continue despite the reduced scale of the celebrations.
The family follows the Shakta tradition of worshipping Goddess Durga. Its idol also retains a distinctive feature: unlike the conventional depiction of Durga accompanied by her children, Ganesha and Kartikeya are absent.
Family members say they do not know the precise reason for this unusual iconography, which has nevertheless remained unchanged through generations.
The four-day worship culminates on Vijaya Dashami, when the idol is immersed in a pond within the family premises, bringing the annual celebrations to a close.
Residents of Rangauti and nearby areas continue to participate in the puja, although the gathering is smaller than it was in earlier decades.
For the family, however, the significance of the occasion lies less in its scale than in the continuity of its rituals.
Across Hailakandi, several traditional households continue to preserve ancestral Durga Puja customs.
For the Purkayasthas, the annual worship remains a living inheritance, sustained by faith, family bonds and a determination to carry forward a legacy that has endured for more than two and a half centuries.