Beyond the idol: Durga Puja pandals are now platforms for social and political activism

Imagine an artwork gallery that spans a whole metropolis, drawing tens of millions of tourists in just some days. This is the actuality of Durga Puja in Kolkata, the place religion, craft, and activism converge into a panoramic public artwork spectacle.

I’m in the metropolis for a preview of the pandals as they are being assembled. It is a couple of days earlier than heavy rains inundate the metropolis, declare lives and flood many pandals. With themes starting from meals adulteration and acid assaults to Bengali literary thrillers, and titles comparable to Proshno (query), Artonad (scream), Nigurho (thriller) and Ocholayton (static), it isn’t shocking that newspaper headlines speak about the pandals this 12 months being puzzles for the widespread man. Or an unofficial IQ check. But there are additionally 1000’s of non secular pandals to view.

Workers deck up a pandal themed Free the birds from cages
| Photo Credit:
PTI

For the artwork customer, nevertheless, it’s incredible. With intricate craft and impeccable ideas, and a scale that’s not often seen, the competition, broadly described as the world’s largest public artwork competition, and recognised by UNESCO as an Intangible Cultural Heritage, is comparable, if not higher, than many worldwide artwork festivals. To prime all of it off, many pandals are crowd funded.

Last 12 months, I used to be disenchanted that I couldn’t take again any of the artwork I noticed. I’d requested Sayantan Mitra from massArt, a non-profit that works to advertise the artwork and tradition of Bengal, if one thing might be completed. This 12 months, as we stroll by way of new galleries arrange at the Alipore Jail Museum for the preview, particular person artwork works by the artists behind chosen pandals are being bought.

Items for sale close to a pandal
| Photo Credit:
PTI

An area for highly effective narratives

Pujo, as it’s identified to many, was initially carried out in the personal properties of zamindars (hereditary landowners) throughout West Bengal. A confluence of things reworked it into the cultural, social, and non secular phenomenon that it’s immediately, particularly in the capital metropolis. One was the philosophical affect of thinker Swami Vivekananda and the Ramakrishna Mission, which elevated the competition’s non secular and social significance. Also essential was its function as a platform for political expression throughout the Indian freedom wrestle.

Mukho Mukhi pandal by artist Shovin Bhattacharjee fuses know-how and custom with chrome steel installations, kinetic energy-driven constructions, and reflective components
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images

The use of Durga Puja pandals as levels for social and political activism is a more moderen phenomenon. Instead of merely adorning the pandal, community-based puja committees construct inventive ideas round a central theme — encompassing the construction’s structure, the idol’s design, the lighting, and even the surrounding surroundings.

In current years, themes have moved from broad social points to extra pointed political statements. This is especially seen in Kolkata, the place main puja committees are typically backed by rival political events. Using the umbrella of the annual competition, which attracts huge patronage, inventive administrators are pushing boundaries. They use it as an area for concepts, utilizing craft and design to create highly effective, piercing narratives on themes starting from the surroundings and historical past to social justice and ideologies.

A pandal themed on ‘Operation Sindoor’
| Photo Credit:
PTI

Mirroring present debates

This 12 months, considered one of the most attention-grabbing pavilions is non-profit organisation Tala Prottoy’s Beej Angan (seed courtyard). Spanning over 35,000 sq.ft., it tells a robust story about agriculture, nature, and sustainability. The pandal shines a highlight on points comparable to meals adulteration, rising costs, and the fallout of misguided farming insurance policies. The Durga idol by artist Bhabatosh Sutar takes on the guise of a farm woman with a plough, slaying demons and farm insurance policies.

At Tala Prottoy’s Beej Angan pandal, Goddess Durga as a farm woman holds a plough and stands on a urea bag instead of the demon.
| Photo Credit:
Sharan Apparao

An set up at Beej Angan
| Photo Credit:
Sharan Apparao

Another poignant pandal is one devoted to the victimisation of ladies. Artist Anirban Das’ work is a graphic take a look at ‘burning’, a robust metaphor encompassing torments comparable to rape, acid assault, human trafficking, home violence, and baby marriage that girls undergo in India. During the competition, survivors of acid assaults will be part of different ladies to carry out quick skits.

A performace at the Burning pandal, with artist Anirban Das’ work as backdrop
| Photo Credit:
Sharan Apparao

As I make my method by way of the metropolis, I come throughout a pandal on the chaap, or stamp, in its metaphorical and literal kind, suggesting the energy of the picture and its function in transformation; one other designed as a large illustrated strip, taking us on a visit again in time to the comedian books of the Fifties and 60s, and the world of fictional detective Byomkesh Bakshi and Bengali literary thrillers; and even a unusual pandal titled Chaa that pays homage to the historical past of tea.

The Chaap pandal
| Photo Credit:
Sharan Apparao

A metallic Durga at Beliaghata 33 Palli’s Roti Kapda Makhan pandal
| Photo Credit:
Sharan Apparao

Raja Ravi Varma, the traditionally famend artist who introduced the human types of gods and goddesses into properties along with his chromolithographs, has a pavilion devoted to his imagery. As does the highly effective riots of 1946, which shook West Bengal. It is made seen in a dramatic mixture of maps, outsized printing gear, and newspapers of the occasion — handstitched for tactility and influence — suggesting the sociological influence on society in the historical past of change in India.

The pandal devoted to Raja Ravi Varma

Igniting conversations

The pandals illustrate the energy of artwork, taking the customer by way of tableaus of highly effective concepts. The widespread particular person, who might not be an artwork aficionado, is now being drawn into the fold with these visible extravaganzas.

Pakdondi, by Kashi Bose Lane Durga Puja Committee pandal, is a tribute to Bengali author Leela Majumdar
| Photo Credit:
PTI

The world, and even the locals of the metropolis, have but to completely recognise this necessary change in the world’s largest public artwork competition. As these momentary installations proceed to problem conventions and ignite dialog, Durga Puja turns into not only a competition of religion however a profound agent of change.

Yellow cabs adorned by artists
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Asian Paints

Asian Paints x St+artwork India cabs
| Photo Credit:
PTI

Interiors upholstered in Sabyasachi’s ‘Paris X Calcutta’ material 
| Photo Credit:
Courtesy Asian Paints

The author is the founding father of Apparao Galleries.