Durga Puja in the Tea Garden - 3

Thakur Moshai conducting Saptami Puja

At this time of year, three forms of the Goddess are worshipped in Bengal, and at three different phases of the moon. Durga Puja is at the time of the growing moon. Ma Durga is both mother and daughter. On the day of the new moon, Mahalaya, she leaves her husband's home for a visit to her parents, with her four children, Ganesha, Kartikeya, Lakshmi and Saraswati. She arrives on Shashti, the sixth day of the moon, and that is the day when her image is installed. Puja is conducted between the sixth and the tenth day of the growing moon.

This month's full moon is called Sharad Purnima. It is the brightest full moon of the year, and the Goddess is worshipped as Lakshmi, the embodiment of fulfilment and prosperity in every sense.

The dark night of the new moon that follows is the night of Kali Puja. The Goddess takes on her most fearful and powerful form as the destroyer.


The Colourful Puja Pandal - with the inevitable tea garden water tanker parked nearby!
Wishing everyone a very Happy Puja!

Get the Puja atmosphere - watch this video, hear the drum beats!

Durga Puja in the Tea Garden - 2

Puja Arrives - Shortly after the images were installed on Shashti evening,5 October 2008, Moraghat Tea Estate

Legend connects Durga Puja to Dusshera, when Rama killed Ravana. It is said that before leaving for Lanka to fight Ravana, Rama felt he needed the blessings of the Goddess, who is the embodiment of Shakti, the powerful female principle. He performed Durga Puja.

It was,the legend goes, the first time that Durga Puja was performed in the 'sharad' or autumn season, and ever since that time, Durga Puja has become a 'sharad utsav' - an autumn festival. Another little story is connected to the puja performed by Rama. One hundred and eight lotuses are needed for Durga Puja. Rama searched high and low and got the lotuses with some difficulty. The Goddess decided to test his faith. When he counted the flowers, it always appeared that he was one short. Rama took out his bow and arrow and prepared to shoot out one of his eyes to make up the number. The Goddess relented, and accepting that his faith was true, she appeared before him and blessed him.


The 'Dhak' Player Wecomes the Goddess
Ma Durga arrives on different forms of transport every year.This year, we are told, she arrives on an elephant - an auspicious omen, but departs in a palanquin, which symbolises conflict and unrest everywhere. That's nothing new in these troubled times.

Durga Puja in the Tea Garden - 1

Durga Puja at Moraghat Tea Estate, 2007


Pomelo at the breakfast table is a sure sign that Puja is here! It's the size of a smallish football, and has a sweet-sour-mildly bitter taste. This fruit is one of the many offerings that is made at Durga Puja, and it is among the food items that are given out as prasad after being consecrated. In all these years, the pomelo tree in the compound has followed the Indian calendar accurately - if Puja is late, the fruits ripen late, and if it is early, then the fruits are ready early as well! This year's Puja starts on Sunday, 5 October.

Red and Ready

Durga Puja is next week, and there's that special something in the air that marks this season.
Our flower beds are empty, but the hibiscus, or Jauba, as we call it here, is coming out in full force. The flower is used for Puja every day in Bengali homes, and the 'Panchamukhi' (literally, five-faced)jauba
is said to be a must for worshipping the Goddess during Durga Puja. It's a compound flower, round in shape, and it looks as if it is made up of five flowers fused together. The cracker-red flower in the first picture is a 'panchamukhi'. The second picture shows one single-centred and one double-centred flower, both growing on the same bush. They're the same size as the 'panchamukhi' - measuring almost five inches across.

For years, Mithhoo the Mali fought my love of hibiscus - it was too 'common' to grow in Burra Bungalow, he maintained. He's changed his ideas, and he grows all these specimens now with some pride.

Some Little Ones
The flower on the extreme left of the picuture was sourced from somewhere and planted in the compound by Mithoo himself. It doesn't grow upright on the bush, but hangs like a pretty twirling bell.

This really large bloom may be a 'common' or 'everyday' variety, but that doesn't stop it from being a real beauty.

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