Exploring the Quintessential Puja
Oly Roy
THE MAKING OF GODDESS DURGA IN BENGAL: ART, HERITAGE AND THE PUBLIC by Samir Kumar Das & Bishnupriya Basak Springer Verlag, Singapore, 2021, 240 pp., 9911.00
December 2022, volume 46, No 12

One of the festivities that is held in great reverence is the Durga Puja. Though it is a five-day journey, Bengal, and Bengalis (across the globe) prepare for the festival throughout the year.

The Making of Goddess Durga in Bengal: Art, Heritage and the Public is a collection of articles authored by various scholars is an ethnographic study, divided into four parts, of its colonial past and the artists involved.  One of the central themes of the book revolves around Kumartuli, the name derived from the word kumor (potter) located in the northern quarter of the city of Kolkata.

The first part of the work deals with the idea of caste hierarchy that prevails within this community, and it also has looked upon the history of various regions in Bengal of landmark importance related to the theme of the work.

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