As Durga Puja began on Sunday, Lucknow’s pandals are nearing completion, each taking shape as a world of its own, where history, art and architecture come together to tell stories that go beyond festive spectacle.
The installation will draw from the tradition of prominent private family Durga Pujas that have continued for 100 to 300 years,” said society’s president SK Banerjee. At Latouche Road, the idea is rooted in history with Zamindar style puja. “The Latouche Road Puja Sangsad Society is recreating the Thakur Dalan of a Bonedi Bari of Kolkata, the courtyard inside the mansion of an influential family traditionally used for family and religious gatherings. “The recreation is not limited to the architecture. Several of these elaborate installations are being created by Lucknow-based artist Asim Matiya who has become closely associated with the city’s large-scale Durga Puja pandal designs.
Goddess Durga and her family will be dressed in a complete set of gold-plated jewellery specially crafted by artisans from West Bengal, adding another layer of authenticity to the recreation of an old Kolkata household puja,” said society’s general secretary Niloy Sen. “The pandal will take the form of a terracotta village temple and will feature art inspired by the works of Bengali artist Jamini Roy, whose visual language drew heavily from Bengal’s folk traditions,” said its president Ran Avatar Pandey. At Rabindra Palli, the theme “Chironton Bangla” similarly looks towards traditional Bengali life, with a village setting and Goddess Durga portrayed as an ordinary Bengali household woman rather than an elaborately adorned royal figure. “The puja is being organised entirely by women members of the colony,” its media coordinator Shefali Devanshu Choudhary said.
