Durga Puja in Great Britain

Sagarika Dutt explains what celebrating Durga Puja in Britain is all about

THE influence of postmodernism has been so profound that it is difficult to ignore its implications. Jean-Françoise Lyotard defines the term modern as “to designate any science that legitimates itself with reference to a metadiscourse” and the postmodern as “incredulity toward metanarratives”.1 It questions our belief in linear progress, absolute truths, the rational planning of social orders and the standardisation of knowledge and production. David Harvey observes that “postmodernism by way of contrast, privileges ‘heterogeneity and difference as liberative forces in the redefinition of cultural discourse’. Fragmentation, indeterminacy, and intense distrust of all universal or ‘totalising’ discourses… are the hallmark of postmodernist thought.”2
The celebration of Durga Puja in British and other Western cities, and the visibility of non-Western cultures in general provide an interesting focal point. Britain has over two million people of South Asian origin, mainly concentrated in cities like London, Birmingham, Bradford and Leicester. The tolerance for cultural difference(s) creates space for ethnic minorities to practise their own religions, build mosques, temples and gurdwaras and celebrate their cultural identity. This has led to different cultural practices flourishing in Britain, often side by side. In a way, celebrating Durga Puja in Britain is no different from celebrating Diwali or Id; it is a minority culture that immigrant communities promote and is part of a multicultural society.

However, even in cities like Leicester, it is a relatively low profile event, unlike Diwali, which is celebrated as a major public festival and transcends the boundary between the private and the public, as the Hindu Bengali community is quite small. While Hindus form around 14 per cent of the total population of Leicester, according to the census of 2001, and Indians constitute 25 per cent, making Leicester an Asian/Indian city, there is no official record of the total number of Hindu Bengalis living in the metropolis.

Roger Ballard, the editor of a volume on the ethnography of the South Asian diaspora in Britain entitled Desh Pardesh, observes that South Asian settlers in Britain have put down local roots and “made vigorous efforts to rebuild almost every aspect of their social and cultural traditions”.3 But sometimes South Asian identities also develop in response to social and racial exclusion, especially in the workplace, where even professionals like medical practitioners initially enthusiastic about assimilation meet a glass ceiling and, after years of rejection, realise that social inclusion is something to strive for rather than a social reality.

Their adaptive strategies then begin to change and they begin to identify more closely with their ethnic compatriots whom they had earlier shunned. On the other hand, a process of cultural hybridisation is also taking place to which British-born Asians contribute. It has given birth to new forms of music and dance, even accents. Ballard's belief that all immigrants will eventually be assimilated and that indigenous whites are unduly concerned about ethnic enclaves may need to be revisited in the light of the 7 July London bombings.

Identities are more complex than we think and are constantly being reconstructed; moreover, whether there are any universal principles of social existence and social ordering or not, a sense of responsibility should accompany the cultural freedoms that all immigrants enjoy in Britain. At the same time, the state needs to address issues of social injustice and welfare.

The British experience of multiculturalism is interesting. However, probashi Bengalis have always had a tradition of organising Durga Puja wherever they live, including in Indian cities outside West Bengal, like Mumbai and Delhi. As a teenager growing up in north India in the 1970s and 1980s, I was always encouraged by my mother to buy a couple of new saris and go to the puja pandal with my friends. Many decades later, I find myself doing the same in Britain.

However, Indian society is predominantly Hindu and the Bengali festival of Durga Puja has firm roots in the Hindu religion. To this day the priest recites Sanskrit mantras, thus making all Hindus who wish to participate in the puja ceremony feel at home. The popular aanjali or worship of the goddess with flowers and the evening aarati attract people of all ages and make the occasion socially inclusive. But so far from the heartland of Bengali tradition, the organisers have to be innovative. There are few Bengali temples and professional priests, so venues have to be found and Brahmin gentlemen are invited to perform the puja and conduct the ceremony much as they would in their own homes, and with utter dedication. Nor are there any dhakis, only recorded music. The decorations, cultural programmes and refreshments, not to mention the magazines published by the organisers, require considerable improvisation and artistic ability.

In Leicester, elaborate puja arrangements are made by Bengali housewives who make every effort to ensure the occasion is not just a cultural reunion but also a spiritual experience. The reconstruction of the puja ceremony and the symbolism that is an intrinsic part of it relies heavily on the participants’ self-identification with and rootedness in this ritual that makes it meaningful and a moment when the human soul surrenders itself to the divinity. The practice is an empowering one.

As postcolonial feminists have pointed out, non-Western women should not be seen as weak or backward. The icon of Durga, a symbol of strength, power and goodness, proves their point. Women can be strong. Where women are given space to express themselves, they can realise their potential. In Britain, South Asian women migrants have “created new communities to replace the ones they left in their native lands”4 and have often overcome marginalisation by showing courage, inventiveness and a strong community spirit.

In a predominantly Christian society, Durga puja, like all other non-Western religious festivals, is an anomaly. Private though the celebration is, with no proselytising zeal accompanying it, it represents quintessentially Hindu Bengali values and is merely a snapshot of a vibrant culture thousands of miles away that contributes not only to a postmodern Britain but also a postmodern world. However, that world should not become divided into compartments and give rise to social hierarchies. As S Bald says, “The imperialist ideology, which at one time was necessary to justify British colonialism in India, now represents the South Asians’ ‘deviation’ from the British-defined norm of physiognomy and cultural practices as evidence of their inferiority to the British.” This ideology needs to be overcome.

It is heartening to note that international organisations like Unesco are in favour of promoting and celebrating cultural diversity. In a world dominated by liberal values for the foreseeable future, Durga Puja will continue to be celebrated in Britain and other Western countries, harnessing the energy, enthusiasm and talent of the Bengali community.
(The author is a Senior Lecturer, Nottingham Trent University, UK.)

1. Jean-Françoise Lyotard, What is postmodernism? in C Jencks (ed) “The post-modern reader”, Academy Editions, London, and St Martin’s Press, New York, 1992, p.138.
2. David Harvey, The condition of postmodernity, ibid, p.300.
3. R Ballard (ed), Desh Pardesh, the South Asian presence in Britian, Hurst and Company, London, 1994.
4. S Bald, Coping with marginality: South Asian women migrants in Britain, MH Marchand and JL Parpart, Feminism, postmodernism and development, Routledge, London, 1995, p.112.
source: the statesman

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