19th October 1980
am-to Shibnibash with Subir and friends by Jeep, S is 27 kilometres north of Krishnanagar. The actual place is reached by going down to the river Ghurni by a small road. Then take a boat across. Once across a few yards ahead are three temples. All from about the same period (Mr Singho Roy told me that originally there were 108 temples now only 3 left standing). Subir also told me that there is a chapter in Ananda Mangal which compares Shibnibash to Kasi (Benares) and I think that Rajib Lochan ripped off these descriptions because Mr Das also told me that Ishwari Patoni is a boatman in Bharatachandra's poem but is there given the surname Ishwari Prashad the Patoni or boatman.
a) Middle temple-charchali 4 sides to the roof. Shiv temple constructed in 1684, Houses a Shiv linga and nothing else. Fairly large Shiv linga. Mr Mohit Roy's book discusses this temple.
b) Side one-further away from the dirt track is different style, houses an extremely large Shiv linga. I was told by Mr Shingho Roy that both temples and the linga are the largest in North India. Linga made of highly polished black stone. Also in the temple a pair of clay images (Gaur and Nitai, followers of Chaitanya) painted yellow, old with old malas, no hair, on the same base, they had been left there by somebody, they didn't actually belong to the temple. Subir told me that whereas it is possible to touch the Shiv lingas one is generally not allowed to touch Radha-Krishna images. Interesting in regard to arca.
c) Side two-on left hand side of the dirt track had a front porch with a flat roof inside Radha-Krishna. Krishna is seated cross legged in a sort of rishi pose. Radha was standing. The Krishna image was about 4' sitting and Radha about the same height standing (i.e. she was much smaller). Both had bamboo leaf eyes. The Krishna was of the same kind of polished black stone as the lingam but it was painted with red colour on the hands and feet and on the face. Interestingly the design of red on the face strongly resembles the Kali faces and the broad red lines for the eyebrows. K has 2 arms, Radha in bronze/brass or copper. To the right against a back wall was a small image of Saraswati (standard clay with shinghashon-dias-and swan). On the left hand side on the same as Krishna and Radha is an image (clay?) of Gopal-Krishna set in shrine (wooden type). Dirty looking image (I asked if it was cement and was told it was clay and quite old). In front of all of these were small lingas (one of crystal/glass) and some indistinguishable objects. Underneath the dias a small Ganesh of clay. One of the blokes I was asking said that one of the indistinguishable images was of Kali but I'm not sure. On the left of the dias a Jagannath image with full face, lips smiling, clothed in a robe.
There was a small verandah around the shrine of the second temple and on the left side was a brighlty coloured roth for rothjatra and on the right side a Shiv linga. I also noticed bits of broken clay fragments (of pots?) hanging by strings from the wall to the left of the Shiv linga and also on the outside of the temple on the same side as housed the linga. Maybe votive offerings.
Shibnibash rajbari is now in ruins only a few pieces remain. Just before the rajbari area we went past a small Dp ceremony with folk type images. It was the same arrangement as the one being done outside the school mentioned above. The brahmin priest in charge was also the one in charge of the temples.
The temples were rennovated in the 1960s by the Birla family. They're now a pinky colour on the outside. Originally they used to be of terracotta Subir tells me but they were so severely damaged that now the sides are fairly plain except for the entrances which still have the decorative lines. Very much a reduction of what used to be there.
pm. Rajbari. By 3pm a lot of the pandals were being dismantled and the images were on their way to immersion in trucks.
The rajbari immersion took place to the south of the rajbari in a lake at about 5pm. Mr. Saurishchandra Roy was there to supervise. At 4pm all the puja articles had been cleared away and the puja was over (the ceremony I heard of was one in which the women collected sindhur from the images and kept it at home). Drums sounded as the image was tied onto poles and was taken outside. The image was then taken out by a gate to the dalan's left and speedily carried by men to the water's edge and immersed. Teh image was immersed backwards. As the image came to the waterside women gave out their ululations. Drums were sounding all the way through. The whole thing was over quite quickly. On the train back to Cal a father and son boarded the train carrying trophies from the image-some shola decorations and a kid Ganesh's mace. Large crowds had come to the water's edge for the rajbari one and another image was waiting at another entrance to the pond till the rajbari image had been immersed.
Subir tells me that there is another Roy family in Krishnanagar who have exactly the same image as the rajbari one. Also after Dp a lamp is lit on the spot where it was held and Lakshmi puja is held on the same spot.
Most family pujas were immersed today but that in Cal comprised only @300 of the 973 images actually made. Tuesday was the day selected for the immersion of the large pandal images.
21st October 1980 - Calcutta, Nafar Kundu Road
22nd October 1980 - Kumartuli and Kalighat
27th October 1980 - Kalighat and Patuapara
29th October 1980 - Asu Datta's house
30th October 1980 - Tarakeswara, Radhanagar, Gopalnagar, Krishnanagar
31st October 1980 - Tarakeshwara and Kolimbar village