Art Related to Durga Puja in Calcutta an Overview

This book is a 22nd-month report from 18th June to 17th July 2015 describes that Durga puja once a festival in Kolkata has turned into a carnival in recent time. A practice of pandal (marquee) designing and idol-making has flourished on this occasion which is a synthesis/fusion of contemporary and folk art. It has inspired the tradition of pandal designing in other districts of West Bengal. Artists started experimenting in this field in the 80s and 90s of the last century. Prior to this, new ideas started emerging on a very small scale. In a few localities in Kolkata Durga puja has been being celebrated for a hundred years or even more than that. There was a time when a puja was organised, and people from neighbouring locality used to either participate in it or start another puja. As a consequence, Durga Puja started being organised extensively all over the city. It was then full of devotion rather than an extravaganza. The idol makers of Kumortuli used to follow the style of the idols of those of the aristocrats. When puja started being organised by the commons, they also followed the tradition of the bonedi families. Pandals were not over decorated rather simple. They were built of folded clothes decorated with kuchi-work. Bamboo armatures were traditionally covered with cloth. Even the pujas in the outskirt of Kolkata opted for ekchala tradition of the idol of the bonedi families modelled by the idol makers of Kumortuli. This publication is an outcome of the project under Lalit Kala Akademi, Ministry of Culture, Government of India which is titled as "Preservance and Digitising Art Activities During Puja Festival in Kolkata."