16th September 1980
a.m. Kumartuli. Watched the buying of images from Prodip's. He averaged the images at @ Rs60. 60 images, Rs 2000 spent altogether (on top of which was work). Cloth and shola decorations. Shola is water reed (pith as in pith helmet).
Also watched some heads being made. The face from mould. entel and balu mati. Then the back part is of tush-mati which is entel mixed with rice husks (khosa).
Akal Bodan image will be made by Prodip this week.
p.m. Kalighat. The shola image and Saraswati are finished (S-Rs 3000, Durga more). These images are sent regularly to Germany every year. The old images are kept in a museum.
Biskarma iamges were being finished. 3 being made each in totally different styles.
I went off with Profulla junior to Ramlal Bazar which is south Calcutta and is like a village. There were quite a few murti houses here with quite large Durga images in production. Biskarmas in mould form too. In P's house was a Manasa image which was worshipped daily and especially on one day every year. It was a fairly large clay image. To the image's left a Ganesha in mould (small). An unpainted Kali was also in the room. Worship was done by P's brother's (?) wife and lasted 15/20 mins for the daily, the annual one lasting @3 hours.
We then went to a place where Bogola (a goddess) was kept. A small shrine attended by a woman. Bogola had a yellow dress. One of her feet was on a small lotus. She sat on an asura and grabbed the tongue of another asura to her left. Fairly large image and chalchitra. To the image's left Trimurti image in clay.
Another shrine 2 images (Radha & Krishna) in Ashta-dhatu-8 metals. Another shrine-Sitala on a horse. Quite a large image. it was 7 years old and had been made by profulla. To the image's right-Manasa. To the left Radha Krishna. To the extreme right Kali. At first Profulla called it Rakha Kali but then Shyamakali. Shiva lay diagonally and Kali had a skirt. Later in a murti house P said that Kali images with the jackal (4 armed Kali, tongue) were Shyamakali. All images 7 years old. No painting done to Sitala image. Sitala's image was the largest (10'?). Pradip told me that the largest traditional Durga image was 15'.
Another shrine was of a 1 year old Manasa image. 2 or 3 small Ganesha images and one Saraswati image lay at the feet of the Manasa image.
Bogola is a manifestation of Durga. Profulla described her as an angsa of Durga.
The Chandi (not Chandi mangal) is recited from 4 a.m. Wed 8th Oct (called Mahalaya) for six (?) days-14th Oct. Each session lasts @ 6 hours (?).
Pradip's definitions of the chalchitra don't seem to bear much relevance amongst the Bangladeshi kumars.
All the kumars in the Ramlal Bazar area are from Bangladesh.
Some moulds (some for Saraswati) outside Profulla's house. About 2/3' long.
There are other kumars in the Kalighat area.
19th September 1980 - Ramlal Bazar
20th September 1980 - Kumartuli, Nimtala and Dum Dum para
21st September 1980 - Rajbari and Kalighat
24th September 1980 - Kumartuli
26th September 1980 - Victoria Memorial
27th September 1980 - Kalighat
29th September 1980 - Kalighat
30th September 1980 - Kumartuli and Kalighat