Durga Puja in Bangalore Karnataka

Jayamahal Sarbajanin Durga Puja

The Jayamahal Sarbajanin Durga Puja is one of the oldest among the Durga Pujas celebrated in Bangalore. The history of this Samiti and the Puja is really interesting. Lot of Bengalis from Deharadun’s Technical Development Establishment (I&E) moved to Bangalore during 1954 These bengalis started performing Durga Puja in 1955 under the leadership of Lt Colonel B M Chakraborty who was the Superintendent-in-charge of TDE (E). The event came about with the efforts of the Bengali employees of TDE (E), with contributions from their salary. Sri S N Das used to spend three months of tireless effort in P N Das / G M Nandi’s garage to mould, paint and dress up the idol with the help of other members viz. S C Das, G M Nandi, M C Saha, N Mondal etc. Arranging puja, prasad and bhog was organized by the womenfolk.

Initially the location was the Mysore Lancers Line & Welfare Centre hall. From those very days pandals were erected in the open area and plays were held; rekindling the cultural heritage that Bengalis share.

It was in 1966 that all the Bengalis of Defense organizations decided to have a puja at Jayamahal Extension. At that time AVM S N Roychaudhury was the driving force behind this Puja. The Puja from Mysore Lancers site moved to a corner plot in Jayamahal Extension. The main sources of inspirations and resources were all from the Defense Organizations. In1967, the Patron-in-Chief was none other than Smt Hasi Lal, the wife of the then Air Chief S P Lal.

The Puja venue then moved to Kurgee Hall in Vasanth Nagar. For three years, Durga Puja was celebrated there. Finally due to huge effort of Mrs. Shoba Sengupta, permission was received to celebrate the Puja in Ladies Club, Jayamahal ground, our current venue. In 1973, for the first time the “Defense Puja” was celebrated with real fan-fare in Ladies Club ground.

Later lot of other Bengalis residing in and around Jayamahal joined this Puja. The Puja started growing and lot of people like Mr. Sujit Ghosh started getting involved actively with this Puja. Many Defense organisations like Command Hospital, Training Command etc. started their Durga pujas in their own premise. So this Puja started losing the Defense tag as majority of the people involved with Puja were from non-Defense organizations. In 1980, Dr. K C Nag joined this Puja as President.

In the year 2000, the organization was registered under Societies Act and was renamed as “Jayamahal Sarbajanin Durga Charitable Samiti”. Dr. K C Nag took over as the Chairman of the organization. He led the organization till his death in 2006 when B K Pal the current Chairman took over.

Existing facilities:

• The hall in the Samiti premises is available for cultural activities for all communities
• The Samiti building is also available as Guest house for Members of the Samiti

Proposed facilities:

• Table Tennis Board
• Carrom Board
• Video entertainments

About Durga Puja

Durga Puja is the biggest festival of Hindus in Bihar, West Bengal, Jharkhand, and Bangladesh, and of Bengali Hindus all over the world. It is also called Akalbodhan, Vijaya Dashami, Dashain, and Dussehra.
The actual period of the worship however may be over the preceding nine days Navaratri or five days (Sasthi, Saptami, Asthami, Nabami & Vijaya Dashami) -

The worship of Durga in the autumn (Shôrot) is the year's largest Hindu festival of Bengal. Durga Puja is also celebrated in Nepal and Bhutan according to local traditions and variations. Puja means "worship," and Durga's Puja is celebrated from the sixth to tenth day of the waxing moon in the month of Ashwin (Ashshin), which is the sixth month in the Bengali calendar. Occasionally however, due to shifts in the lunar cycle relative to the solar months, it may also be held in the following month, Kartika (Kartik). In the Gregorian calendar, these dates correspond to the months of September and October.

In the Krittibas Ramayana, Rama invokes the goddess Durga in his battle against Ravana. Although she was traditionally worshipped in the spring, due to contingencies of battle, Rama had to invoke her in the autumn akaal bodhan. Today it is this Rama's date for the puja that has gained ascendancy, although the spring puja, known as Basanti Puja, is also present in the Hindu almanac. Since the season of the puja is Shôrot autumn, it is also known as Shôrodia.

The pujas are held over a ten-day period, which is traditionally viewed as the coming of the married daughter, Durga, to her father, Himalaya's home. It is the most important festival in Bengal, and Bengalis celebrate with new clothes and other gifts, which are worn on the evenings when the family goes out to see the 'pandals' (temporary structures set up to venerate the goddess). Although it is a Hindu festival, religion takes a backseat on these five days: Durga Puja in Bengal is a carnival, where people from all backgrounds, regardless of their religious beliefs, participate and enjoy themselves to the hilt.
Durga Puja 2007 was held from 17 October, 2007 to 21 October 2007. Durga Puja 2008 will be from 5 October 2008 (shaShTi) to 9 October 2008 (dashamI).

WriteUp: From Wikipedia

Management Committee:

Chairman: B K Pal

President: Bijon Majumder

VicePresident: Arun K Chaudhuri

Secretary: Himadri Nandi

Treasurer: S C Bose

Members:

Debasis Banerjee
Tapan Datta
Srirup Ray
Anuradha Roy
Somnath Ray
Sharmila Bhattacharjee.

Co-opted Members:

Kalyan K Chowdhury
Upal Nandi
S N Kundu

Contact email id: jayamahalsamiti@gmail.com