Tradition rules at family pujas of former zamindars

BHUBANESWAR: At the Das house in Jagatsinghpur's Bodhpur village, workers are busy cleaning the premises of rodents and snakes. The members of this erstwhile zamindar family will come to the village to celebrate Durga Puja like their forefathers.
"The puja at our home started 300 years ago when our ancestor Dayanidhi Das saw his son Banamali worhsip the goddess with a lot of devotion," said Manjula Mohanty, the daughter-in-law and a lecturer.
The Das family has its own set of sevaks, who have been helping them with the puja preparations and rituals for generations. "Our idol is made by the Chitrakaras of nearby Nandapur village. It is around 8-ft high and also includes Shiva, Nandi and Bhrundi unlike the idols in other mandaps," said Mohanty.
"The tableau is also unique as two identical ones were made. While one is with us, the other is used at a village in Puri district," she said, adding, that the rituals at their home are performed by four 'purohits', who hail from Nayagarh.
"The commoners participate in the puja on Ashtami when they offer 'pana' to the goddess. We spend around Rs 1 lakh on the preparations and celebrations," she said.
The Dasverma family of Bakharabad, Cuttack, has gone a step further. One of the family members, Prasanta Kumar Dasverma, makes the idols himself.
The Durga idol is 4.5 ft tall. The family, whose forefathers were zamindars of Chainpal in Cuttack district and Kuanpal in Jajpur district, has been in Odisha for the past 500 years. The puja at their Cuttack home started 51 years ago.
"My brother wanted to make the idol. According to tradition, idols have to be worshipped and we started the puja," said Nita Das, one of the family members.
"The raw material for the tableau are sourced from Kolkata and assembled here. Everyone is welcome to our house during the puja," said Das.
The Mitras of CDA have also been organising the puja in their house for years now. They hail from Chandannagar in West Bengal. "My brother Chandrajit, an art teacher, makes the 6-ft idol and the tableau and also conducts the puja rituals himself," said Sarbajit Mitra. They started the puja in 2000.
The Dutta Rays of Nandalalpur in Bangladesh, who came to Kanchatala in West Bengal's Murshidabad district and then went to Sutahat in Cuttack, also have an elaborate puja.
"We have been doing the puja in Cuttack for the last 60 to 70 years though the tradition is 150 years old," said Debabrata Dutta Roy, one of the family members and a businessman. Their idol is 7 to 8 ft high and they get the dhakis from Kolkata.
Partha Roychoudury of New Rausapatna, Cuttack, has been seeing Durga Puja being performed at home for the last 47 years. "We were the zamindars of Badisal in Bangladesh and came to India in 1947 and settled in Cuttack," he said.
The joint family spends around Rs 2 lakh on Durga Puja that includes a 10-feet idol and tableau. "Family members and guests are expected to have prasad at our mandap," he said.
Historians believe that celebrating Durga Puja at home is a military tradition or 'Paika Parampara'.
"Zamindars used to worhsip their weapons with which they protected the masses, during Durga Puja. It is a continuation of tradition because India is a country of traditions. Here tradition never dies no matter how ancient it is," said Himansu Patnaik, historian and former HOD of history at Utkal University.