Md Rifat at 18:28, 15 August 2025

2025-08-15T18:28:55Z

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{{Short description|Public organisation of Durga Puja festival}}
{{Use Indian English|date=March 2024}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=March 2024}}

'''Barowari''' ({{langx|bn|বারোয়ারি}}) refers to the public organisation of a religious entity, mainly in [[West Bengal]], India. ''Barowari'' has significance associated with the [[Durga Puja]] festival, in which the Hindu Goddess [[Durga]] is worshipped; symbolising the victory of good over evil. The word "Barowari" comes from the [[Sanskrit language|Sanskrit]] words "bar", which means public, and [[Persian language|Persian]] word "wari", means For{{Citation needed|date=August 2021}}.

In regional language, ''Barowari'' is often followed by the word ''Puja'' (Barowari Puja) which is when friends and families gather and contribute to a spiritual event.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.durgapujas.com/history.htm |title=Welcome To Durgapujas.com & Puja Schedules |access-date=1 November 2010 |publisher=E-sol |location=Calcutta |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100911074936/http://durgapujas.com/history.htm |archive-date=11 September 2010}}</ref> In 1790, twelve brahmin friends in Guptipara, [[Hooghly (town)|Hooghly]] decided to institute a community Puja, and when the neighbours started to become suspicious, they started a Barowari Puja in Bengal, which gained much popularity among the neighbours. Eventually, this occasion gained popularity across Bengal.<ref>Citation needed?</ref> Initially, [[Durga Puja]] was an occasion for the rich [[Babu (title)|Babus]] of [[Kolkata]]. Later, individual initiatives declined as collective enterprises came to replace it.{{Citation needed|date=October 2020}}

In more recent times, the terminology 'barowari' is being replaced by 'sorbojanin' (meaning 'all-inclusive'). The Barowari festival is often organised to allow the participation of outsiders. The Barowari festival is held with funds raised from the public at large through donations or subscriptions.<ref>{{cite web |title=North Kolkata's Old 'Barowaari' Durga Pujas Are Now Turning To Theme |url=https://www.ndtv.com/kolkata-news/north-kolkatas-old-barowaari-durga-pujas-are-now-turning-to-theme-1751451 |website=www.ndtv.com |publisher=NDTV |access-date=29 July 2020}}</ref>

==Etymology==
The first publicly organised [[Durga Puja]] was held at [[Guptipara]], when several men were stopped from taking part in a household Durga Puja. Seven of them formed a committee and organised the Durga Puja. There is a difference of opinion about the year of worship – 1761 or 1790.<ref>[http://www.calcuttaweb.com/puja/index.shtml Calcutta Web] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070412212224/http://www.calcuttaweb.com/puja/index.shtml |date=12 April 2007 }}</ref><ref>[http://festivals.iloveindia.com/durga-puja/history-durga-puja.html Festivals – Durga Puja]</ref>

==History ==
[[File: Aatchala Bari - Barisha - Kolkata 2011-10-03 030278.JPG|thumb|The ''Aatchala Bari'' Durga puja of the [[Sabarna Roy Choudhury]] family, first held in 1610]] [[Durga Puja]] is possibly one of the oldest and the largest organised festivals of Western Bengal. There were numerous household Durga Pujas conducted in various parts of Bengal. Generally, such ''pujas'' allowed the general public to worship and the arrangements were taken care by the family who takes the initiative and spends money on it. The [[Sabarna Roy Choudhury]] family has been celebrating [[Durga Puja]] since 1610 in their ancestral home at [[Barisha, India|Barisha]].<ref>" Bangiya Sabarna Katha Kalishetra Kalikatah" by Bhabani Roy Choudhury, {{in lang|bn}}, Manna Publication. {{ISBN|81-87648-36-8}}</ref> [[File:Andul Dutta Chaudhury Durga Puja 1988.jpg|thumb|Andul Dutta Chaudhury Durga Puja 1988]]

[[File:Shobhabazar Rajbari Durga Puja.jpg|thumb|The Durga Idol of the [[Shobhabazar Rajbari|Shobhabazar Rajbar]].]]
[[Nabakrishna Deb]] started the Durga Puja in [[Shobhabazar]] Rajbari in 1757. He set a pattern for the puja, which became a fashion and status symbol among the upcoming merchant class of Kolkata. The number of Englishmen attending the family Durga Puja became an index of prestige. The [[nautch]] girls were mostly from [[Muslim]] ''[[gharana]]s''. The Englishmen attending the dance-parties dined on beef and ham from Wilson's Hotel and drank to their hearts' content.<ref>Jaya Chaliha and Bunny Gupta, "Durga Puja in Calcutta" in "Calcutta The Living City" Vol II, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, Oxford University Press, first published 1990, paperback edition 2005, pp 332–333. {{ISBN|0-19-563697-X}}</ref>

[[Rani Rashmoni]] used to celebrate Durga Puja at her [[Janbazar|residence]] with traditional pomp, including all-night {{Transliteration|bn|jatras}} (folk theatre), rather than by entertaining the Englishmen with whom she carried on a running feud. After she died in 1861, the sons-in-law took to celebrating Durga Puja in their respective premises.<ref>Chaliha, Jaya and Gupta, Bunny, "Durga Puja in Calcutta", in "Calcutta, the Living City", Vol. II, edited by Sukanta Chaudhuri, first published 1990, 2005 edition, pp. 334–335, Oxford University Press, {{ISBN|0-19-563697-X}}.</ref>

==Barowari Durga Puja==
The twentieth century witnessed the emergence of community Durga Puja which was also at times organised publicly. The first Barowari Durga Puja was organised in Kolkata by Bhowanipore Sanatan Dharmotsahini Sabha in 1909 at Balaram Bose Ghat Road, [[Bhowanipore]]. On this occasion, Sri Aurobindo published the famous Durga Stotra in his Bengali journal, [[Dharma]], issue one "Kartika" dated 1316 AD.

J.C. Nixon, in his "Account of the Revolutionary organizations in Bengal" noted: "Bhowanipore Party: owing to his striking personality, Jatindra Nath Mukharji was during this period gaining great popularity and esteem in anarchic circles. There is evidence for believing that the murderer of Babu Ashutosh Biswas, Public Prosecutor, on 10 February 1909, was a member of this party, while there is no doubt that Jatin Mukharji himself was one of the instigators of the murder of Khan Bahadur Shamsul Alam which took place on 21 February 1910."<ref>{{Cite book|last=Samanta|first=Amiya K.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=s4_aAAAAMAAJ|title=Terrorism in Bengal: General trend of the terrorist movement in Bengal from 1907-1939|date=1995|publisher=Government of West Bengal|language=en}}</ref>

Other Barowari Durga Puja that followed were the College Street Tamer Lane Sarbojanin Durga Utsav of 1915, [[Shyampukur|Shyampukur Adi Sarbojanin]] of 1911,<ref>{{cite web| url =http://www.madurga100.com/History.html| archive-url =https://web.archive.org/web/20110714020117/http://www.madurga100.com/History.html| url-status =dead| archive-date =14 July 2011| title =Shyampukur Adi Sarbojanin Durgotsab| access-date =1 November 2010| publisher =Committee, 22, Ramdhan Mitra Lane, Kolkata 700004 by Soumendra Nath Thakur}}</ref> Sikdar Bagan (in the [[Shyambazar]] neighbourhood) of 1913, Nebubagan, which in 1919 became [[Bagbazar]] sarbojanin, Simla Byam Samiti of 1926<ref>''Kolkata kaccha – Sekaler Durga Puja'', ''Ananda Bazar Patrika'', {{in lang|bn}}, 15 October 2007</ref> and [[Amherst Street (Kolkata)|Amherst Street]] Lohapatty Sarbojanin of 1943, which later became Maniktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty Durga Puja.

Presently, the Barowari Durga Pujas are celebrated in over 2,000 [[pandal]]s in Kolkata.<ref>{{cite web | url = http://www.thestatesman.net/page.news.php?clid=30&id=185669&usrsess=1
| title = Think Again:Crime and No Punishment| access-date = 13 January 2008 | last =Gandhi | first =Maneka | work =8th Day | publisher =The Statesman, 13 January 2008}} {{Dead link|date=October 2010|bot=H3llBot}}</ref>

==References==
{{Reflist}}
*Sarbojanin Dharma Prasarini Samity Durga Puja 1922 Bhowanipur

{{Culture of West Bengal}}
{{HinduFestivals}}
{{Tourist attractions in Kolkata}}

[[Category:Culture of Bengal]]
[[Category:Culture of West Bengal]]
[[Category:Durga Puja]]

Barowari - Revision history

Md Rifat at 18:28, 15 August 2025