From Robert Clive as chief guest to no guests this year: Kolkata family tones down Durga Puja celebration

For the first time, outsiders will not be allowed due to the COVID-19 pandemic

October 21, 2020 11:39 pm | Updated 11:39 pm IST - Kolkata

Preparations on for Durga Puja celebrations at the palace built by Naba Krishna Deb for his son Rajkrishna.

Preparations on for Durga Puja celebrations at the palace built by Naba Krishna Deb for his son Rajkrishna.

One day in the autumn of 1757, a cannon shot reverberated through the settlement of Shobhabazar, now a part of north Kolkata. It wasn’t a spillover from the Battle of Plassey, which had taken place only a year before about 80 km away, but still, in a way, connected to it. The cannon was fired to mark the slaying of the demon at the Durga Puja taking place at the newly built palace of Naba Krishna Deb, then Calcutta’s wealthiest man — complete with the title of Raja — for having helped Robert Clive in the decisive battle.

The chief guest at Naba Krishna’s maiden Durga Puja celebrations was — who else — Robert Clive himself. This grand event set off a trend. Soon, every wealthy Bengali worth his title was organising Durga Puja at home to assert his social standing, which would be directly proportional to the number of sahibs and memsahibs gracing his event. Nautch girls would be in attendance and dinner would include wine and meat.

While Naba Krishna had all the wealth, he had no heir, so he went on to adopt his brother’s son Gopi Mohun Deb. Later, though, he was able to father a son, Rajkrishna, through another wife, and in that home he began another Durga Puja, either in 1788 or 1790. Later, he split his wealth between the two homes.

A lot of water has flown in the Hooghly since then: Clive is now in the pages of history books and those grand titles are as good as family gold. But the two homes set up by Naba Krishna have been following the tradition of Durga Puja to a T. Except that this year, for the first time, outsiders will not be allowed in due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Every Durga Puja, it is the Shobhabazar Rajbari, where Clive was the chief guest in 1757, that enjoys all the limelight. Not much is written about the second Shobhabazar Rajbari that lies across the road, the one Naba Krishna built for his biological son Rajkrishna. The first one is known as boro taraf (loosely translated, elder son’s side) and the second as chhoto taraf (younger son’s side). The traditions they follow are nearly the same, except that a blank continues to be fired (now it’s a gun instead of cannon) only by the chhoto taraf family now.

“We are a big family, more than 200 members at present,” said Krishna Rajeshwari Mitra, a homemaker and writer, who is an eighth-generation descendant of Naba Krishna and belongs to the Rajkrishna branch. The 200 she mentions are the present-day members of this branch alone. “Personally knowing one another is by no means an easy job, but meeting up during Durga Puja definitely helps to be familiar with others and even remember faces and names.”

The one celebrated by the family, according to her, differs from the other Durga Pujas in two aspects. One, sweets and savouries are offered to the goddess instead of cereals; two, only male members are involved in the rituals right from the making of the idols to the immersion. And idols are crafted from moulds that date back to the times when Puja began in the respective palaces.

“Another point worth mentioning is that a band party accompanies the immersion procession. Once upon a time, a bird would be flown just before the immersion, a signal to Lord Shiva that the Mother Goddess was on her way back. Later, we began dropping a mud bird into the holy river. For the past two-three years, we have been releasing a balloon,” Ms. Mitra said.

So how does it feel, in the present day, to be a part of the Naba Krishna Deb family? “I definitely feel fortunate to be born in this family,” Ms. Mitra said. “At least in Kolkata we get some importance, especially during Durga Puja. But I was always taught to be well-mannered and humble. I guess these are things that children of all bonedi families ( bonedi derives from buniyadi , or families that laid the foundations of Kolkata) are taught.”

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