Durga Puja 2015

Natun Gram in the Burdwan district of West Bengal. Amid hundreds of villages in Bengal, the culture here is somewhat unique. Many years ago, when the forest-covered settlements of Bengal were ruled by the then Nawab, Alivardi Khan, Bengal’s soul trembled repeatedly under the attacks of Maratha bandits. To resist these recurring Bargi invasions driven by greed for Bengal’s rich agricultural wealth, Alivardi resorted to deception. Ultimately, he had the Maratha Bargi chieftain, Bhaskar Pandit, assassinated by an undercover killer and imprisoned the Bargi bandits. During their captive life in Bengal, a few creative individuals among these Marathas began carving idols and figurines. Since stone like that in Maharashtra was not easily available in Bengal, they chose cheap, soft wood as their medium. As a result, Maratha features began to emerge in Bengal’s wooden dolls. Over time, very little change occurred in their stylistic form. Although primarily created as playthings for children, their color brilliance is intensely striking. The structure is triangular, and when held lying down in one’s lap, it closely resembles an Egyptian mummy. Just as the jackal is the god of death in Egypt, here, alongside humans, the image of that same jackal god seems to be reflected in the owls. Hence, colorful brishakashtha (sacrificial carved wooden posts) craftwork made its way into the pavilions. Just as brishakashtha stands as a memorial to the soul merged into the Supreme Soul, its bright ornamentation in vibrant colors marks the boundary between the individual soul and the Supreme Soul. At one time, these dolls traveled by river route from Burdwan to Nadia in the likeness of Gauranga (Chaitanya Mahaprabhu), and they also arrived along the Adi Ganga at Kalighat in Kolkata for sale. Back then, they were known as “Ahladi Benebou” (the pampered merchant’s bride). With time, playthings have changed as well. Leaving wooden toys behind, soft toys and foreign Barbie dolls have taken their place. Consequently, this ancient doll art of Bengal has faded into the shadows of oblivion. We wanted to bring the new generation face-to-face with this ancient heritage; hence, we wanted to take young children into this imaginative land of wooden dolls.