Culture

Inside Kumartuli: Why is making Durga still a man's world?

In Kumartuli, where generations of artisans shape Bengal’s iconic Durga idols, women remain a small minority. Despite physical demands, social barriers and declining interest among younger workers, artists like China Pal, Mala Pal and Kakali Pal are slowly challenging the male-dominated tradition.

Sangita Ghorai
3 min read
Inside Kumartuli: Why is making Durga still a man's world?

Women are often told they can do ten things at once. From offices and the armed forces to the cockpit and the laboratory, women have proved their skills across professions. But in Kolkata’s traditional idol-making hub, Kumartuli, the picture is still a little different. When it comes to making Durga idols, women artists are still few and far between.

North Kolkata’s Kumartuli is more than just a place where idols are made. It is part of Bengal’s long and rich tradition of clay and craft. Idols m...

Join the Inscript family today to read the full article

All of Inscript's work, open to subscribers

Investigation, opinion, analysis
at just ₹149 - all of it within your reach

SubscribeAlready a Subscriber? Sign in
Written by
Sangita Ghorai
Sangita Ghorai
0 Followers

Read more

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

For 220 years, Darjipara’s Rajkrishna Mitra Bari has held Durga Puja in its own distinctive way. From raw ingredients offered as naivedya and sugar replacing animal sacrifice to fish-rice before Dashami Boron, every ritual carries a story of family and tradition.

Sangita GhoraiSangita Ghorai
How NCERT’s new class IX textbook is reframing medieval Indian history

NCERT’s new Class IX Social Science textbook reframes medieval Indian history through invasion, resistance, religious motives and civilisational conflict. Its accounts of Arab, Turkic, Mughal and European forces, alongside Jat, Sikh, Rajput and Ahom resistance, have triggered debate over historiography, ideology and pedagogy. References to traditional beliefs involving Hindu goddesses further raise questions about evidence, memory and teaching history.

Atri BhattacharyaAtri Bhattacharya
Winkle Twinkle review: Can communism survive changing times?

Srijit Mukherji’s Winkle Twinkle examines whether communism can survive changing times, generations and political realities. Through Sabyasachi Sen’s return to a transformed world, the film explores ideological faith, political relevance, adaptation and the uneasy inheritance of political belief.

Aritrik Dutta Chowdhury
Aritrik Dutta Chowdhury
Gandhi’s Politics was also a politics of sound

On Gandhi’s birth anniversary, a look at how bhajans, hymns, prayer meetings and nationalist songs became part of his political practice — and how his sonic repertoire sought to negotiate religion, nationalism, discipline and communal harmony.

Utsa PalUtsa Pal
Gandhi’s education philosophy: when the classroom was meant to look like life

Gandhi’s education philosophy connected learning with productive work, character, self-reliance and community, challenging the idea that education begins and ends with textbooks.

inscriptinscript
On Gandhi Jayanti, ‘Jail Bharo’ returns as a weapon of protest

On Gandhi Jayanti, the ‘Jail Bharo’ tradition returns to India’s streets as the Cockroach Janata Party invokes Gandhi’s legacy of Satyagraha in its protest against alleged irregularities in the electoral-roll revision process.

Atri BhattacharyaAtri Bhattacharya
Nolan's 70mm question

Christopher Nolan’s insistence on IMAX 70mm for The Odyssey raises a larger question about who gets to experience art as its maker intended. When the finest technological format is unavailable to much of the audience, does artistic ambition become elitist? From cinema screens to gaming rigs and music platforms, this essay examines how infrastructure shapes access, enjoyment and our understanding of what it means to experience art.

Samya Brata Roy
Samya Brata Roy