Clay Images of West BengalCalcutta Notes 15th November 1980 am Krishnanagar. Found out that the 2 wooden images mentioned in Tarapada Santarai's book are in Krishnanagar thana but are nearer Belpukur than K so I couldn't get there. Went to Sosthitola and saw some images of Jagaddhatri being completed. 2 that I saw had ghorasingho but the decorations around the neck were coloured and not standard black and white form. Also J sat diagonally. The face here I noticed is different from Kumartuli in that the forehead is broader and the hairline flat. The chin is small as is the mouth. A lot of the Krishnanagar images conformed to this type. Then went to Ghurni and spoke with Kartik Pal. He is not at all interested in making the clay images for the pujas. He told me to go to Ananadamayi Tola. Conversation with Subir: kathamo-after bisarjan taken to thakur dalan on certain dates (Rath Jatra or any holy occasion) and first clay is put on. S didn't know the name. Ghorasingho in rajbari can be found everywhere even in writing pad. It is, S thinks, a family symbol-some families have symbols and ghorasingho is one of them. 'Sri Sri Kali Jyoti' written on top of Bishnu Mahal I had noticed in the old courtyard/square of the original rajbari, 2 ghorasingo emblem on top of N and S sides (inside). Strangely enough though this design was also present on the 2 Shiv mandirs flanking the central Ramchandra one of the Singho Roy family at Nakashi Para (Nadia). Anandamayi Tola (tola=area). Daily puja. The pujaris have some property and they have income from this property. These brahmins are, however, not necessarily the gurukul (cf Dutta interview). Maharaj Roy-a Vaishnava, grihadevata Nanda although that family did Kp, did not have a grihadevata. Subir tells me that not every family has this tradition, only the old families. But Nanda's family have their gurukul in Nabadwip. Kp in Nanda family not a tantric puja. Tantra has balidan and is not for family puja (in fact, family people are afraid of doing it). Tantra-bolidan, 5 ms (no Ganga jol used), one 'Tantra-Chakra' called 'Bhairavi-chakra' ( 2 or 3 tantrics and Bhoirobi (Shakti) have certain practices). Buddhist tantra made Kp easy-that of Rajasthan not so old (6th c onwards). Inglaj now in Pakistan a pitha. Rana family of Rajasthan Rana Khumba believed he was blessed by Kali. Bhowani temple in amber fort. Rana K presented with a sword from Bhowani and with this sword Rana K will be victorious @ 6th c. Pandals of Krishnanagar: Dhopa para (washerman's area) 101 years 1879 Chasha para (one of the oldest) 250 years 1730 Golapoti para (more than 60 years) 1920 Hatar para (celebrating 75 years) 1905 Anandamayi Tola-area where kumars are. It is south of Rajbari and extends below the A temple. this area and rajbari constituted the old, original Krishnanagar. There is a Mali para just before it where people make the chalis (these are not people of Nadia but I forgot from where. The person who makes the rajbari chalchitra for Dp is a primary school teacher with a diploma in art from Dacca University not therefore a patua. Kali bari: 2 images of Kali. To south of the 2nd Kali a small Shiv linga in shrine.Galapoti made by businessman. It is a dalan without house plus a large assembly room about 250 years old. pm Shrine of Soni puja (today is a Saturday) a small crowd standing outside in the darkness. People giving small boxes of sweets, puja over, the sani are returned, they were numbered and placed in front of the image. This image is 10 years old and is repainted annually (I think in the month of Bhadra). Dakis come from villages and the drumming is spare time bread-earner. Some farmers, some muchis (leather workers). Santoshima comes from S.India and is an old deity and there are a lot of images of her from South India. Today a lot of the images had not been delivered (rajbari one for instance) while others were being finished off with decorations. There is quite a lot of discrepancy between the images. Some have lion above a tiger. Some have anthropomorphic demon, some have an elephant head. Subir told me that there is a story behind lion and tiger. This puja is one in which the dhakis play a significant part. In fact it is a tradition to have 108 dhakis (drummers). W went (S + N) to Ananadamayi temple but I wasn't able to take photos because I had no permission. The image is like the one in the Kali pandal. To the left is a clay Shib. It looks as though it is of clay (in fact cf Bengal Gazeteers-Nadia mentions it as clay). However, at the Kali bari they told me that it is of stone. One thing that struck me today is that the entire original sq. rajbari is made in Muslim style. S told me that if in those days one wanted to build a palace in Muslim style one had to seek the permission of the Mughal emperor. So Rudra Roy got permission from the emperor of the time (Or was it RR's father?). Also that during Raja K's time it is quite possible that K did Dp and Jp etc just to annoy the Muslim ruler Siraj ud Dawla and to announce the new mood of anti-Muslim pro-British feeling. I have been told (by Deb Dutta) that one colleague of his on the newspaper Juganta says that the Chasha para Jp was older that the rajbari one, though done on small scale. 16th November 1980 - Krishnanagar 17th November 1980 - Krishnanagar 19th November 1980 - Calcutta + Dutta family 20th November 1980 - Kumartuli 21st November 1980 - Calcutta State Archaeological Museum 22nd November 1980 - Krishnanagar + Nabadwip 23rd November 1980 - Krishnanagar + Shantipur 26th November 1980 - Mecheda + Tamluk 30th November 1980 - Krishnanagar |