Barir Puja ~ past and present

Abhishek Law KOLKATA, Sept. 28: While one family seems to be doing away with their century old tradition in keeping with the changing scenario, another family plans to go by the book and adhere strictly to norms laid down in scriptures of the past. If the Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family of Behala, a 400-year veteran at performing Durga Puja, has decided to do away with the practice of animal sacrifice, the Das' of Seal Lane in Entally are first-timers who plan to follow canons laid down in Raghunandan's Durgotsav Tattva and Brihat Nandikeshwar Puran.The Puja at the Roy Chowdhury household dates back to 1610 when Lakshmikanta Roy Chowdhury first initiated the Puja. As years passed on, the family grew and in order to ensure complete participation of all family members they initiated a second Puja in Barisha in 1717. This came to be known as the Baro Barir Puja. Later other households ~ Mejo Bari, Majher Bari, Benaki Bari, Kalikinkar Bhawan and Birati Bari ~ too had their own Pujas. Animal sacrifice has been a part of the Puja ritual since then. In the past, 13 goats and a buffalo were sacrificed during the Puja days. While one goat was sacrificed on Saptami, two were sacrificed on Ashtami and one during Sandhi puja ~ the time between Ashtami and Nabami, and one buffalo and nine goats on Nabami. It was this buffalo sacrifice on Nabami that used to be a major draw among visitors. “But the practice was stopped in the Aatchala household since 2007. The Aatchala household was the last household amongst the seven households to ban animal sacrifice,” said Mr Devarshi Roy Chowdhury, secretary Sabarna Roy Chowdhury Paribar Parishad. Several family members had then argued that animal sacrifice can be substituted with vegetable and fruit offerings. Later, the family came to a consensus of sacrificing nine ash gourds (chalkumro) and a special sugarcane, which has three stalks sprouting from the same root of the plant.Meanwhile, the Das' too have reasons to be proud. Their first-time Puja has been an outcome of one year's thorough research with an eye on every detail. And as such, this family has decided to have a 15-day Puja from Krishna Nabami (23 September) to Shukla Nabami (8 October).Mr Prasenjit Das, a member of the family, put his career as an engineer on hold so he could complete his training as a priest since he would be presiding over the Puja at the Das household. Mr Das would be accompanied by nine other priests from Brindavan and Varanasi, in his endeavour. source: thestatesman.net