Organisers start booking idol makers, decorators for Durga Puja in West Bengal

Durga Puja organisers have started booking people who will make idols, marquees and lighting arrangements for West Bengal’s biggest festival, which is four months away.

People associated with the Durga Puja made a token payment to artisans on the day of Rath Yatra as an advance for making idols at Kumartuli, the potters’ colony in north Kolkata, as it is considered auspicious.

College Square Sarbojonin, one of the big-ticket Durga Pujas here, did the booking for its idol at Kumartuli and also made the initial payment to seal the contract with the decorator and electrician.

"Like previous years, we started preparations for Durga Puja from the day of Rath Yatra by presenting a token amount to our sculptor Sanatan Rudra Paul at his workshop. We even handed over some amount to the pandal maker and electrician,” College Square puja committee spokesperson Bikash Majumder told PTI.

The organisers of another crowd-puller puja at Mohammed Ali Park heralded the autumnal ritual by organising 'khuti puja' on the Rath Yatra day. ‘Khuti Puja’ is a ritual where a bamboo pole to be used for setting up a marquee is worshipped. The deity is housed at the marquee during the Durga Puja which begins on October 20 this year. Some artisans also start making idols from this day when the organisers give them flowers and pieces of wood after performing ‘khuti puja’.

Santoshpur Lake Pally puja committee, well known for its unique themes every year, unveiled its 2023 theme 'Swantantra' (different) and also sealed the contract with the two artists Adhir Paul and Rajkumar Pramanick officially during the day. "We started the puja preparations officially from the day of Rath Yatra by clinching the deal with the theme maker and clay modeller,” said Somnath Das, office-bearer of Santoshpur Lake Pally puja committee.

Some distance away in Rabindra Sarobar area of south Kolkata, Partha Ghosh, spokesperson of the Shiv Mandir Sarbojonin puja committee, said their preparations have also started. Renowned clay modeller of Kumartuli, Mintu Paul, known for crafting idols of mega-budget pujas like Santosh Mitra Square, said he got bookings for 10 pujas on the day of Rath Yatra.

Another clay modeller Sujit Kumar Paul said five organisers booked idols at his workshop. "This practice is customary. It had come to a halt only for two years - in 2020 and ‘21 - due to the Covid-19 pandemic. But things are back to normal,” he said.

A spokesperson of Kumartuli Mritshilpi Samity, an organisation of the clay modellers, said bookings of not less than 1,000 idols were done in different workshops at the potters' hub on the day of Rath Yatra.