Durga Festival in West Bengal (Calcutta)

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KOLKATA,OCTOBER 17:

The Durga Puja festival in West Bengal is providing rare instances of religious

harmony with Muslims helping out in one celebration and Hindu deities being

worshipped in a mosque-like marquee in another.

Usually, the five-day autumn festival bridges religious divides as people from

every community participate in the celebrations. However, outstanding exemplars

in religious amity are being set in small towns and villages across the state.

Take for instance a community festival in Asansol town, where Muslims,

Christians and Sikhs are actively participating in constructing a decorative

pandal, or marquee, inside which the beautiful clay idols of Goddess Durga and

her pantheon will be worshipped. "We help out with this festival in every way

we can because we believe emotions of joy and celebrations are universal," said

Gafur Mia, one of the chief organisers of the festival in Asansol's number three

colony.

The festival that celebrates Hindu goddess Durga's slaying of demon king

Mahishasur and the victory of good over evil begins Oct 19. The autumn

festival, the equivalent of Christmas for Bengalis in terms of festivity and

revelry, will end Oct 23 with the immersion of the idols of Durga, her four

children -- Laxmi, Saraswati, Ganesh and Kartik -- and the demon king. Muslims

are helping in a big way in organising a community Durga Puja celebration at

Kumratari village in Birbhum district.

The Muslim villagers pooled in money to restart the Durga Puja in Kumratari that

had shut down nine years ago because Hindus there could not raise enough funds.

"We are actively participating in the celebrations.

Our children enjoy it so much and it is an occasion to come close," said Anarul

Haque, a social worker and resident of Matpalsar. But the best example of

communal harmony is on display in Berhampore town in Murshidabad district,

where organisers of the Lower Kadai Durga Puja have modelled their pandals on

the Katra mosque in the region.

"Our objective is to uphold the tradition of religious tolerance of Murshidabad,

which has a history of Hindus, Muslims and Christians uniting to fight for

independence from British rule," said Kundan Biswas, one of the organisers of

the celebrations. "We offer prayers to goddess Durga and help erect the marquee

with our own hands. This is our celebration," said Mohammed Ismail, a member of

Lower Kadai Durga Puja committee.

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** Note: Source not known; this was fwded to moir.For Ganesh

Bhaktas:/

 

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