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Jagaddhatri Pooja at Chandernagore, West Bengal

 

MAA JAGADDHATRI pooja. This is similar to Durga Pooja and big pandals

are put up for this and images installed. This is from Ashtami to

Dasami. It was from 21st to 23rd November this year.

The images are the same in all pandals and this pooja is held only in

Chandernagore, a town that was earlier a French territory. I do not

have a photograph as I was almost beaten up for taking photographs

when I saw the pooja some years back.

 

I am giving below the excerpts from a book.

 

The Jagaddhatri Pooja

 

The formal difference between Durga and Jagaddhatri occurs in 'Maya

Tantra' (2nd & 4th Section) and Jagaddhatri is mentioned with

reference to Durga in Krishnananda's

' Tantrasara.' The ruling to perform the special puja of the goddess

on the ninth lunar day of the light fortnight in the month of Kartick

has been referred to in 'Smritiratnahar' by Brihaspati Roymukut and

in 'Kritya Tattarnab' by Srinath Acharya Churamoni of the 15th-16th

century.

 

The ancient history of Jagaddhatri Puja in Chandernagore is unknown

even today. It is heard that Indranarayan Chowdhuri introduced the

Jagaddhatri Puja in Chandernagore in the manner of King

Krishnachandra of Krishnanagore. The time of the beginning of the

Jagaddhatri Puja in Krishnanagore was 1762. It was the last year of

the reign of Nawab Mirkashem. Indranarayan Chowdhuri died in 1756. So

Indranarayan Chowdhuri could by no means introduce the Jagaddhatri

Puja in Chandernagore in 1763. The beginning of the Jagaddhatri Puja

in Chandernagore probably dates back earlier than 1750. Indranarayan

performed the Jagaddhatri Puja at his own house in Chandernagore, at

that time Krishna Chandra used to come to borrow money from

Indranarayan. Perhaps Krishna Chandra was attracted to the greatness

of Jagaddhatri at this time.

 

In 1780 Bengal Gazette of James August Hickey was the first newspaper

of this country. The newspaper was silent about the Jagaddhatri Puja.

Anyway, 'Friends of India' published a report on the community

Jagaddhatri Puja in 1820. The date of the community Jagaddhatri Puja

in Chandernagore was 1790. In those days Robert Clive called

Loxmigonj of Chandernagore the 'Granary of Bengal'. The Jagaddhatri

Puja at Chaulpotty (Rice Market) in Loxmigonj is probably the

historic example of the ancient community Jagaddhatri Puja. The

Jagaddhatri Puja of Chandernagore bridges the past and the present. A

spontaneous universal merry making contributes to the success of the

Jagaddhatri Puja of Chandernagore.

 

The fourhanded goddess is carried by the lion every where, an

elephant lies at the feet of the lion. The idol has an old fashioned

shaping, i.e., the face cutting is of a longish pattern; it has large

eyes spread upto the ears and the four hands display conch, discus,

shaft and bow respectively. The exterior colour of the goddess is

that of the rising sun. The snake is her sacred thread. She is seated

on a lotus. The potter's technique of building the idol is

commendable indeed. The maximum height of the idol is twenty two

feet. One of the main attractions of the Jagaddhatri idol of

Chandernagore is the ornamental decoration of the goddess with sola

and the beautiful canvas of mats with paintings at the back of the

image. The idol of the goddess assumes a unique beauty with the

beautiful cloth, veil, ornaments and crown made with pith by the

florist artistes of this place and Katoa. The wonder of illumination

is after all a primeval glory of Chandernagore .

 

From the book DISCOVER CHANDERNAGORE

by Dr. Ajit Kumar Mukhopadhay & Kalyan Chakrabortty

 

May MAA JAGADDHATRI bless us all.

 

Jai MAA