220 years, same Rituals: Inside Darjipara’s Rajkrishna Mitra Bari durga puja

Amid the lights, grandeur and dazzling themes of Kolkata’s Durga Puja, some Bonedi Bari pujas continue to follow rituals that have remained unchanged for generations. Each old family has its own customs—an unusual offering, a particular way of worshipping the goddess, a food tradition or a centuries-old ritual connected to immersion.

The 220-year-old Durga Puja at the Rajkrishna Mitra house in Darjipara is one such story.

What makes the puja special is not simply its age. Almost every part of it comes with its own family rule—from the bhog and naivedya to the food served at home, from Kumari Puja to Dashami’s Boron. And then there is one particularly striking tradition: on Dashami, the women of the family eat fish and rice before going to bid farewell to the goddess.

There was a time when animal sacrifice was also part of the puja. Today, there is no sacrifice—even symbolically. Instead, sugar offerings have taken its place.

A family history that goes back much further

According to Anusua Mitra Biswas, a member of the Rajkrishna Mitra family, the Durga Puja was started by Radhakrishna Mitra. He was the great-grandson of Nilmani Mitra, whose name survives in the address of the house itself—19C, Nilmani Mitra Street in Darjipara.

Nilmani Mitra was the nephew of Durgacharan Mitra. Family history says that the saint-poet Ramprasad Sen used to write accounts at Durgacharan Mitra’s seresta. One of his famous lines, “Ma, give me the job of a treasurer”, is also connected to this family history.

Nilmani Mitra was a powerful figure in his time and, according to family accounts, the Mitras were connected to the salt and gemstone trade during the period of Nawab Siraj-ud-Daulah. Later, following differences with the East India Company, Nilmani Mitra moved to Benaras, where he died. His son also died there.

Eventually, Nilmani Mitra’s widowed daughter-in-law returned with her sons and took shelter under Durgacharan Mitra.

One of Nilmani Mitra’s sons, Prankrishna Mitra, once made an idol of Goddess Kali while playing and invoked the goddess. The family believes that their fortunes began to change after this.

Later, Ramdulal Sarkar arranged the marriage of his eldest daughter, Bimala Sundari, to Radhakrishna Mitra to preserve family ties. A business relationship grew between Radhakrishna Mitra and the Sarkar family. Eventually, Radhakrishna and Rajkrishna Mitra also started businesses independently.

Over time, the Mitra house took shape—and so did the Durga Puja tradition that continues to this day.

An idol unlike others

One of the most distinctive features of the puja is the idol itself

Instead of the familiar chalchitra, the faces of deities are framed by what the family calls Motcauri work, a special form of moulded clay decoration. The craft is now slowly disappearing, which is why the family carefully preserved its old moulds.

Even the mould used to make the goddess’s face has been kept safely. The reason is simple: the family wants the idol to return in exactly the same form year after year.

The idol is currently made by Kumartuli artisan Tapas Pal.

There are other distinctive details too. Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati have faces modelled in the style of traditional goddess faces. Kartik and the demon, on the other hand, have human-like faces, which the family refers to as Bangla mukh.

The lion is unusual as well. Rather than looking like a conventional lion, it takes the form of a ghotakakriti or divine lion.

A puja made by the family, for the family

The puja is not run by a trust, nor is it a typical Sharikia puja divided among different branches of a family. Everyone participates.

The younger members help decorate the idol, make clothes for it and take care of different aspects of the decoration. The older members handle responsibilities such as arranging the offerings.

And today, women play a particularly important role in running the puja. Anusua says that since the three sons of the family do not have male children, the women have gradually taken on a larger share of the responsibility.

The preparations begin much before the actual Puja days.

On Rath Yatra, the kathamo puja formally marks the beginning of the process. The idol is made at the house itself. Bodhon takes place on Pratipada, and that is also the day the goddess is placed on her throne.

Kumari Puja is held on all three days—Saptami, Ashtami and Nabami.

Even the bathing of Kolabou has its own rule. She is not taken outside. Instead, the ritual takes place inside the house, in front of the thakur dalan.

No cooked rice offering

Perhaps the most fascinating part of the Rajkrishna Mitra house puja is its food.

The family belongs to the Kayastha community, and traditionally, cooked rice offerings are not made to the goddess.

Instead, the bhog includes luchi, five kinds of salt-free fried items, gaja, methai, coconut sweets and other preparations.

But a large part of the offering is made up of ingredients in their raw form.

This tradition has a practical history.

When seasonal ingredients were not available throughout the year, the family would preserve them when they were in season. Pickles made from jujube, tamarind and mango, along with amsi and other preserved ingredients, would be prepared, dried in the sun and first offered to the goddess.

The same applies to bori.

There is a long list: spice bori, hing bori, urad dal bori, spinach bori, beetroot-spinach bori, poppy-seed bori, peanut bori and dhoka bori, among others.

Even the khichuri offering follows a different logic.

Instead of offering cooked khichuri, its ingredients are arranged separately. Rice is placed at the bottom. On top of it is sun-dried moong dal coated with ghee until golden.

Instead of the fruits usually served with khichuri, there are different fried items, chorchori, aloo-potoler dum and other accompaniments. Raw tamarind, lemon, coriander and cumin are also placed there—the very ingredients that would go into making the khichuri.

The goddess is offered the ingredients rather than the cooked dish.

Pithas are also prepared.

And then there is the unusual makhan-michri offering. Butter is shaped into a form resembling a small kanikal or Shri, placed upright and offered with rock sugar. The family has passed down the technique of making it from one generation to another.

When sacrifice gave way to sugar

Animal sacrifice was once part of this puja.

During Radhakrishna Mitra’s time, goats were sacrificed. But family history says that on one occasion, during Rajkrishna Mitra’s time, a young goat came and stood at his feet.

After that incident, the family stopped the practice.

There is no symbolic sacrifice today either.

Yet the old ledgers preserve the memory of the tradition. From these records, the family discovered that on Saptami, one goat was traditionally replaced by a sugar offering, while on Nabami, three goats were replaced by three such offerings.

Today, that sugar offering remains as a memory of the old practice.

Ashtami has another special ritual—the Kalyani Puja.

Small sugar offerings are made for the well-being of every family member and close friend. Each person has a separate offering. One additional offering is kept in the middle—for the well-being of everyone known and unknown, familiar and unfamiliar.

108 Aparajita flowers and a family-lit homa

At Sandhi Puja, 108 Aparajita flowers are mandatory. One may also offer 108 lotuses, but that is not compulsory.

There are also 108 lamps.

Nabami brings a homa and pradakshina. Even here, the family follows its own method.

Usually, the priest lights the homa fire. Here, members of the family themselves bring the fire in a dhunuchi and hand it over to the priest, who places it in the homa kund.

The priest performs the main ritual, but the family members initiate the lighting of the sacred fire.

Fish, rice and paan before Dashami Boron

Then comes Dashami—and one of the most distinctive traditions of the house.

Before going to perform Boron, the women of the family eat fish and rice.

The woman who performs the main Boron eats the fish head and tail, and arrives before the goddess with paan in her mouth.

Paan has a special place in several of the family's rituals. Different kinds—Jhardkhili, sweet paan and chhyacha paan—are used while bidding farewell to the goddess.

There is also the Panta Bhater Thala.

The plate contains rice, moong dal, paan masala, sour preparations, jatrar doi, boro doi and several other items. According to the family, the food offered to the goddess is also eaten by the family before Boron.

After the offerings are made, the food from this plate is cooked and eaten by the family.

In other words, the connection between the goddess’s offering and the family meal is direct.

Even the sourness of the homemade pickles has a place in the ritual. Pickle extracts prepared before Puja are tasted by family members before they come to perform Boron.

Fish remains important on Dashami night

The family’s food traditions continue throughout the Puja.

On Saptami, there is a tradition of eating greens, shukto and payesh. There is no restriction on eating fish, and some family members also enjoy khichuri.

On Ashtami, some eat rice while others choose luchi. There is no rule that everyone must eat luchi; some even have rice or fried rice.

The family eats together on Nabami as well.

But Dashami is different.

Fish has a special place on that day. The women of the family must eat fish at night. So, from the fish-and-rice meal before Boron to the fish served at night, Dashami remains closely tied to non-vegetarian food.

Even the immersion has its own ritual

The traditions do not end with Boron.

During immersion, family members wear dhoti and uroni, carry sticks and take the idol on their shoulders. Someone from the family always keeps a hand on the idol.

There was once a ritual of releasing a Nilkantha bird, but that has now stopped. Earlier, the idol was also taken for immersion on a pair of boats or by boat. That tradition has disappeared because getting permission for boats is no longer easy.

And then comes another unusual ritual after the family returns home.

Earlier, family members had to enter the house after water was poured over a calf’s feet. Since calves are no longer easily available, the family now uses a porcelain representation of one.

At the entrance, a man who usually helps with household work dresses as a woman and appears as the Goylabou, holding a lit lamp. The family members receive the warmth of the lamp before entering the house.

For the family, it remains one of the most fascinating rituals of the entire Puja.

A tradition that keeps returning

The 220-year-old Durga Puja at the Rajkrishna Mitra house is therefore much more than an old idol, a Bodhon, a Sandhi Puja or an immersion.

It lives in the jars of pickle prepared months in advance, the many varieties of bori, the raw ingredients arranged as an offering, the unusual butter-and-sugar ritual, the sugar offerings that replaced animal sacrifice, three days of Kumari Puja, Kalyani Puja and the Panta Bhater Thala of Dashami.

Every ritual carries a piece of the family’s past.

Perhaps the most striking image comes on Dashami itself.

Before going to bid farewell to the goddess, the women of the house eat fish and rice. They take paan. They eat food that has first been offered to the goddess. And then they go to perform Boron.

Times have changed, and many social customs have changed with them. Yet at the Rajkrishna Mitra house, generations of family members continue to return to the same rituals, the same forms and the same beliefs.

And every year, in the middle of Kolkata’s changing Puja landscape, their Durga returns in the same familiar form.