Balasore: The Durga puja observed in Barabati area in the Budhabalanga river basin here has acquired a special place in the people’s minds.
The festival here is an amalgam of Odishan and Bengali traditions and continuing for 165 years.
Zamidar, Kar and Das families have been patronising the puja. The rituals and traditions followed here are different from others.
The preparation starts from the Srigundicha day when soil is collected from the Budhabalnga ghat for making idols. A special puja is organised for removing soil from the river.
Seven types of priests – Pradhan Acharya, Chandi, Hota, Japa, Tulasi and Charchak — are engaged for this ritual. Seven mahan (some quintals) of ‘arua’ rice is required for this ritual.
On Astami, an offering is prepared with 50 bowls of rice for Sandhi Puja, while for ‘homa’, five mahan of wood and 20 kg of ghee are burnt.
A new tradition was added to this puja a decade ago. After immersion of the idol, Sindhura Khela is played by devotees. “All family members have been celebrating this Sindura Khela,” said Bikrajit Kar, a local.
Purnachandra Kar, a senior member of the Kar family said, “Durga Puja is organised at 70 places in the town, but Barabati Durga Puja is something special.”
Some elderly persons recalled the origin of the puja. The ancestors of the Kar family used to live in Sayapur in the Bardhaman district of West Bengal in 1700. They used to go to various places for business.
At that time, Muslim Subedars and Bagis were ruling various parts of India. Oppressed by these rulers, the forefathers of the Kar family left for Balasore and stayed in the Barabati area.
By 1769, they settled there permanently and started their business. They were a sea-faring group and used to do business in Java, Sumatra, Bali and Brahmadesh.
“To protect themselves from enemies, people had then started the tradition of worshipping the Goddess at Barabati. Later the maritime business ended, but the worship remained alive. It was said that the brass idols of Hara, Parvati, Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik were brought from Kolkata (then Calcutta) in 1822 and Durga Puja was started here. Later, Mahadev Puja was added to Durga Puja,” said Subrat Kar, Prashant Kar and Dinesh Kar.
PNN