Chandannagar-Ian Le Community

In the last eighteen episodes of Community Building, the writer had explored different aspects of Community Building both within & beyond the frontier. While delving into the details, it was important to primp the quintessential Community of its kind. Born to an articulate family in the tinsel town of Chandannagar, the writer has the blessings of inhabiting in a sagacious community – a community which is coasted.

Chandannagar-Ian Le Community –

Chandannagar – “The City of Liberty”, located on the banks of the river Hooghly in the princely district of Hooghly of West Bengal State, encompasses a total area of 21 square kilometres, alongwith a population of approximately 2.25 Lakhs. She (Chandannagar) has always attracted the people from all over the world due to her indescribable beauty. She has managed to maintain a distinct place not only in the map of India but also that of the world. Over a span of 300+ years she has a unique blend of culture and heritage which is unparallel in history.

An erstwhile French Dominance, Chandannagar & its communities were blessed to inherit the Rich Heritage, Cultures, and last but not least – is the discipline on the edge. This peer discipline of the Community members shall be delved in the latter part of this subject.

Along with inculcating the determined discipline, the Chandannagar’ians have also inherited the dedication towards the worship of “Mother Jagadhatri” during the “ninth day of the bright fortnight in the month of Kartik”, eventually almost a month preceding the “Durga Puja”. The rule to perform the special puja of the goddess on the ninth lunar day of the light fortnight in the Bengali month of Kartick has been mentioned in Krityatattarnab by Srinath Acharyachuramoni of the 15-16th century.

There are innumerable narratives about the beginning of the Jagadhatri Puja in Chandannagar. However, noted sociologists have concluded that the worship of Mother Jagadhatri was initiated way back in the 17^th. Century AD as a household shrine. According to eminent historian Ajit Kumar Mukhopadhyay – a notable household shrine is “in the southern part of Chandannagar adjoining the Bhadreswar Area is the ‘Nandy Para’, where Mr. Biharilal Nandy had commenced worshipping”. Several household worship followed since then.  

Picture Courtesy – Gour Nandy; Soumyadip Nandy & Tapas Nandy

Picture Courtesy – Gour Nandy; Soumyadip Nandy & Tapas Nandy.

Raja Krishna Chandra Roy, the Maharaja of Krishnanagar was allegedly captured by a Muslim ruler, and was released shortly after the Durga Puja. While sailing back to his native place Krishnanagar his boat was anchored at Chandannagar, where upon coming to know that Mother Jagadhatri is being worshipped in the town, began the worship of Jagadhatri which later turned to be a Community (Sarbojonin) Puja namely Chowlputty or “ADI MAA”.

Since its inception, the Jagadhatri Puja of Chandannagar is an iconic festival attracting thousands from across Bengal, India and abroad.  The Jagadhatri Puja has emerged as a piece of tradition in not only the historical sense, but also as an example of community work in safety, security, cleanliness, with an environment friendly aspect. The centuries old intangible heritage has surmounted the boundaries of a small town & has yielded tangible results in the truest sense of the word.

In cognizance to the spike in the popularity; eagerness amongst citizens to worship amidst their individual neighbourhood; augmenting the spread among communities in the adjoining Bhadreswar Town, a unilateral decision, to constitute a Nodal Agency – The Chandernagore Central Jagadhatri Puja Committee (CCJPC), was thus drawn in the year 1956.

• The CCJPC renders all possible assistance to its affiliated members in getting administrative and legal clearances for holding the pujas. The Central Jagadhatri Puja Committee, the Chandernagore Municipal Corporation, the local police administration, work in tandem to ensure a hazardless, environment-friendly and safe festival for all. It is ensured that every pandal has fire extinguishers, adequate water resources, proper electric connections and crowd management strategy in place.

• The police administration has to be ever alert to maintain the law & order situation.

• The municipal corporation has to ensure that the river is not polluted unnecessarily. After the immersion of each idol, the straw from the structure & other decorations floating on the water have to be collected and later sent to the vermicompost plants for waste disposal. 

Jagadhatri Puja in Chandannagar is celebrated with utmost gaiety for four days and the immersion procession on the fifth day is an extravaganza, which is acknowledged to be the second longest in the world, just after Rio de Janeiro’s – Rio festival. What is even more interesting is that Rio has a one-way route but in Chandannagar, the procession eventually encompasses a circle. It officially starts from Jyoti’r More in the Southern Part embarking towards North and back to Jyoti’r More again and then the immersion takes place at different ghats along the Hooghly River as per the guidelines of the CCJPC. 

The overwhelming accomplishment of the processions over the past several years, encouraged the honourable Chief Minister Ms. Mamata Banerjee to introduce the Kolkata Durga Puja Carnival in the year 2016. By the virtue of the Carnival, Kolkata’s Durga Puja has been awarded the “UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE” accreditation.  

This year the Jagadhatri Puja is poised to be celebrated from Thursday, 7^th. November, 2024 to Monday, 11^th. November, 2024.

Communities within the Community:

Fulcrum in Funding: – It had been a formidable challenge for the organisers & volunteers in organising funds for commemorating this Puja which over the decades has eventually established as a pomp. To cope up with the economic restraints keeping in view the geographical limitations, the organisers & volunteers had conceptualised several indigenous means to garner funds, which had proven to be self-sufficient.

One of such means was the providence of the “Lakshmi Bhand – an earthen concealed pot for accumulating money”. Those were provided to the community members with an urge to deposit money, and hand over the fillet pot to the organisers before the commencement of the puja. When such a practice gained enormous popularity because of its effectiveness, other organisers ventured into different mode of accumulating funds:

Barasat Chutarpara Jagadhatri Puja Committee – under the aegis of Arobinda Sangha, had introduced the “Britti” from the year 1969 – which is a year later of its incorporation in 1968. “Britti is a humble monthly subscription collected from the community members”; the amount depending on the financial capability of an individual. This system has proved to be impeccably apt, as the chances of losing the entire subscription due to certain family constraints like death, in the case of yearly payment options. Mr. Chanchal Mukherjee, the Convenor, and Mr. Protik Sanyal, the Secretary has voiced that more and more dwellers are now opting for the “Britti System” with the system been restructured yielding to be tranquil. The voluminous success has enthralled others to follow their footsteps.

Religious Harmony: – the five-day celebrations in this abode of peace personifies the rich cultural entity in diversity. Needless to mention that it is pre dominantly a Hindu Festival, but here since the inception the Puja Festival had overcome the shackles of religious persecutions.

Kundughat North Purbanchal Sarbojonin Jagadhatri Puja Committee – along the boundaries of Chandannagar and Chuchura is Kundughat – where Hindus and Muslims worship Maa Jagadhatri vide harmonious intermingling. For almost 47 years the people have been dwelling in harmony and stand strong as an example of unity in diversity. Among the 20 members of the puja committee, 12 are Muslims. They believe that humanity is bigger than religion.

When the Hindus of the locality were thinking of commencing the Jagadhatri Puja, it was the Muslims who came forward with the aspirations of participating unifiedly. Families belonging to both the religions started contributing towards the puja expenses, alongwith collecting subscriptions in togetherness. The Muslims too join hands felicitating the puja works. At the time of immersion, the Muslims and Hindus together lift the idol on their shoulders. That tradition continues even today.

To be continued……

Writer Suvro Sanyal

Mavericknews30 has launched a series of articles on community building, sharing insights and success stories. Stay tuned for the next article as we explore how to create stronger, more connected communities!

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