The dazzling community celebrations of Durga Puja are a relatively recent evolution of a much older tradition: the household pujas of Bengal’s aristocratic bonedi bari families.
The courtyards of these homes preserve centuries-old celebrations that remain at the heart of the city’s cultural memory.
This year, the Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage (Intach) honoured three such traditional bonedi bari Durga Pujas — those of the Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family, the Chorbagan Mitra family and the Ray Banerjee family of Harakutir. The awards were presented on Monday.
“Long before glowing light arches transformed the festival, Puja’s true soul throbbed within the courtyards of the city’s ancient mansions. While numerous awards are given every year to Puja pandals across the city, the original bonedi bari pujas have not been recognised,” said G.M. Kapur, state convener of Intach.
A committee headed by cultural historian Tapati Guha Thakurta selected the three pujas from a list of contenders. Guha Thakurta played a key role in getting Calcutta’s Durga Puja included in Unesco’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.
Sabarna Roy Chowdhury Aatchala Durga Puja (founded in 1610)
Lakshmikanta Gangopadhyay — later known by the honorific Ray Chowdhury — founded the puja with his wife, Bhagabati Devi. They are said to have inaugurated the family’s Durga Puja at Barisha, at what is now called Aatchala Bari, or the “eight-roofed house”, in the autumn of 1610.
Lakshmikanta rose through Mughal-era patronage and was granted, in 1608, a land parcel covering eight parganas, including the three riverside villages of Sutanuti, Gobindapur and Kalikata — settlements that would, nearly a century later, be leased to the East India Company and become part of Calcutta.
“This puja did not emerge inside an already established city. It predates the very existence of ‘Calcutta’ as an administrative or commercial entity, since the East India Company’s Charles Eyre (son-in-law of Job Charnock) did not formalise the lease of the three villages from the Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family until November 10, 1698,” says an Intach dossier.
Durga is depicted in a single unified frame, or ekchala, along with her children. Mahishasura is rendered green, a colour “associated in the family’s iconographic reading with envy and malevolence”, says the dossier.
“This year, the puja turns 417. We are honoured by this recognition. We hope to continue the traditions for as long as we can,” said Jaydeep
Ray Chowdhury, who represents the 35th generation of the family.
Chorbagan Mitra family (founded in 1669)
Chorbagan translates as “garden of thieves”. The area in central-north Calcutta, now called Muktaram Babu Street, was once associated with thieves and bandits.
“That a family of this wealth and standing chose — or found itself — rooted in a neighbourhood carrying such a name is itself a small piece of urban-history colour: it speaks to how unevenly respectable and disreputable Calcutta were intermixed geographically,” says the Intach dossier.
The puja and the Mitra mansion trace their origins to Ramsundar Mitra, a moneylender. Family history and independent chroniclers say his clientele included Robert Clive.
The Mitra mansion is a striking example of Gothic architectural influence, with a red-coloured facade and six large pillars.
The Durga Puja is conducted on a rotating basis between two spaces within the property: the thakurdalan fronting Muktaram Babu Street and a second dalan reached through the narrow adjoining Mitra Lane. In earlier generations, the family’s puja celebrations included music conferences featuring some of the most celebrated names in early 20th-century Bengali classical and film music.
Avishek Mitra, among the current organisers, said: “For us, tradition and continuity are more important than any award. But the recognition is inspiring because home pujas tend to get overlooked amid the grandeur of community pujas.”
Ray Banerjee family of Harakutir (founded in 1692)
The puja was founded by Keshab Chakraborty, who came to Pathuriaghata, then part of Sutanuti, from Bishnupur in search of better opportunities. He made his fortune in the salt trade. The Harakutir mansion was built in the mid-18th century on a site that was once a crematorium.
“He discovered an Ashtadhatu idol of the goddess while bathing in a an ekchala Durga idol,” said Archisman Ray-Banerjee, the presentorganiser.
The Ashtadhatu Jagaddhatri idol is worshipped alongside the ekchala Durga idol, made from scratch every year.
Freedom fighters Binoy, Badal and Dinesh are said to have taken shelter at the family home the night before the Writers’ Building attack, while Netaji visited the house, Archisman said.
Musicians such as Haraprasad Shastri, Gangacharan Chattopadhyay and Jadu Bhatta, as well as novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, are said to have attended soirees at the mansion.
“Our doors are open for everyone. The younger generation, Gen-Z, is at the forefront of our puja. Most of them are not related to us by blood but are still an integral part of our celebrations,” said Archisman.