Kali Puja

Template:Infobox holiday Kali Puja (ISO: Template:Transliteration), also known as Shyama Puja or Mahanisha Puja, is a festival originating from the Indian subcontinent, dedicated to the Hindu goddess Kali. It is celebrated on the new moon day (Dipannita Amavasya) of the Hindu calendar month of Ashwayuja (according to the amanta tradition) or Kartika (according to the purnimanta tradition). The festival is especially popular in the regions of Barasat, Naihati, Kolkata, Basirhat and Tamluk in West Bengal, Bhagalpur in Bihar's Anga, and other places like Jharkhand, Odisha, Assam, and Tripura. Along with the neighbouring country of Bangladesh.

History

Descriptions of Kali in Sanskrit texts from the late medieval period point to her growing popularity alongside other goddesses.Template:Sfn She appears in the vernacular genre of mangalkavya in the 17th century, and the Kalikamangalkavya describes worship to Kali.Template:Sfn

Kali Puja is a major festival in West Bengal.Template:Sfn Kali Puja became widespread in the eighteenth century through patrons.Template:Sfn In Bengal during the 18th century, King Krishnachandra of Nadia also made this puja wide spread. Kali Puja saw a surge in popularity in the 19th century, coinciding with the rise in prominence of the Kali devotee Sri Ramakrishna among Bengalis. This period marked a significant shift, as affluent landowners began to sponsor the festival extensively, leading to grander and more elaborate celebrations.Template:Sfn

Significance

Kali Puja is a reminder for devotees that they depend on Kali, who can be either compassionate or wrathful, and thus their life is fragile.Template:Sfn

Worship in Bengal

File:Artisan making an idol of goddess Kali, kumortuli, 2017.jpg

Artisan making an idol of goddess Kali at Kumortuli, Kolkata

File:Goddesses kali mata.jpg

Kali Puja celebration at amherst street in Kolkata

Kali Puja takes place on the same night as Diwali.Template:Sfn

During Kali Puja worshippers honor the goddess Kali in their homes in the form of clay sculptures and in pandals (temporary shrines or open pavilions). She is worshipped at night with tantric rites and mantras. She is prescribed offerings of red hibiscus flowers, sweets, rice, and lentils. It is prescribed that a worshipper should meditate throughout the night until dawn.Template:Sfn Homes and pandals may also practice rites in the Brahmanical (mainstream Hindu-style, non-Tantric) tradition with ritual dressing of Kali in her form as Adya Shakti Kali and no animals are sacrificed. She is offered food and sweets made of rice, lentils, and fruits.Template:Sfn

However, in Tantric tradition, animals are ritually sacrificed on Kali Puja day and offered to the goddess. A celebration of Kali Puja in Kolkata is held in a large cremation ground (Kali is believed to dwell in cremation grounds). Barasat-Madhyamgram, Tamluk, Ranaghat, Barrackpore, Naihati, Basirhat, areas of South Bengal and Siliguri, Dhupguri, Dinhata, Coochbehar area of North Bengal is well known for their majestic pandals, lightings and Idols. Meanwhile Barasat's Kali Puja celebration is the largest in the entire West Bengal. Durga Puja of Kolkata is often said synonymously with Kali Puja of Barasat. The region experiences Lacs of footfalls during the days of the festival. People from different regions gather to witness the majestic pandals.

The pandals also house images of Kali's consort, Shiva, two famous Bengali Kali devotees named Ramakrishna and Bamakhepa, along with scenes from mythology of Kali and her various forms, including images of the Mahavidyas, sometimes considered as the "ten Kalis." The Mahavidyas is a group of ten Tantric goddesses headed by Kali.Template:Sfn People visit these pandals throughout the night. Kali Puja is also the time for magic shows, theater, and fireworks. Recent custom has incorporated wine consumption.Template:Sfn

In the Kalighat Temple in Kolkata, Kali is worshipped as Lakshmi on this day. The temple is visited by thousands of devotees who give offerings to the goddess. Another famous temple dedicated to Kali in Kolkata is Dakshineswar Kali Temple, where Sri Rāmakrishna performed rites.Template:Efn

Kali Puja in Bhagalpur

Kali Puja is a significant festival in the Anga region of Bihar, particularly in Bhagalpur. It is also celebrated in other regions of Bihar like Munger, Katihar and Purnea.

File:Kali Puja in Bhagalpur (Parbatti).jpg

Parbatti Budhiya Kali

Bhagalpur's Kali Puja is a cultural vibrance with hundreds of Kali Puja Pandals throughout the district. Bhagalpur city has grand celebrations decked up with lights and pandals and a fervulent procession (which resembles the Carnival). The procession is not a new trend here, but a tradition that is followed as trend these days by many. After the puja, around 80-90 idols decks up in a line starting from the Station chowk to Kali visarjan ghat, and the procession with tableau from different puja committees, vibrant Aarti and lightings makes the city joyous and at the same time emotional.

File:Kali Puja in Bhagalpur.jpg

Bhagalpur Kali Puja (Champanagar)

The traditional procession has completed its 71years in 2024. But, it is not the only procession, another procession with around 35-40 idols are taken from the Nathnagar area to Champa nadi ghat. Nonetheless, Bihpur of Bhagalpur has its own grand visarjan with 22 feet idols taken on the shoulders. The Bengali communities and Bari (Private) pujas do their ritual processions earlier than the bigger ones.

File:Bama Kali, Babalpur, Bhagalpur.jpg

32feet Bama Kali of Bahbalpur, Bhagalpur

The largest traditional idol of Bhagalpur is of Bahbalpur Puja committee which is around 32feet. Other big Kali idols include Parbatti Budhiya Kali (22feet), Maheshpur Badi Kali(25feet), Jarlahi (25 feet), Budhanath's Bama Kali (21 feet), etc.

Other celebrations

File:Kalighater Kali.JPG

A Kali Puja pandal with a replica of the Kalighat Kali Temple icon.

Although the widely popular annual Kali Puja celebration, also known as the Dipanwita Kali Puja, is celebrated on the new moon day of the month of Kartika, Kali is also worshipped in other new moon days too. Three other major Kali Puja observations are Ratanti Kali Puja, Phalaharini Kali Puja and Kaushiki Amavasya Kali Puja. Kaushiki amavasya Kali Puja is greatly associated with the goddess Tara of Tarapith as it is considered the day when Devi Tara appeared on earth and blessed sadhak Bamakhepa, also according to the legends on this day the doors of both the "Naraka" and the "swarga" open for some time, while Ratanti puja is celebrated on Magha Krishna Chaturdashi and Phalaharini puja is celebrated on Jyeshta Amavashya of Bengali calendar. The Phalaharini Kali Puja is especially important in the life of the saint Ramakrishna and his wife Sarada Devi, since on this day in 1872, Ramakrishna worshipped Sarada Devi as the goddess Shodashi.Template:Sfn In many Bengali and Assamese households, Kali is worshipped daily.Template:Sfn

File:Garha fatak(Jabalpur) Mahakali during dussehra chal samaroh.png

Garha fatak Jabalpur Mahakali idol(of Navratri) during dussehra chal samaroh

Shyama Sangeet

Generally all music dedicated to goddess Mother Kali is called 'Shyama Sangeet' in Bengali. Two famous singers of this Bengali Shyama Sangeet are Pannalal Bhattacharya and Dhananjay Bhattacharya. Pannalal Bhattacharya's elder brother Prafulla Bhattacharya and middle brother Dhananjay Bhattacharya were the first music teachers of saint artist Pannalal Bhattacharya. Dhananjay Bhattacharya stopped singing devotional songs after finding devotional spirit in his brother Pannalal. However, after the demise of Pannalal Bhattacharya, he contributed again in Bengali music with many devotional songs by his sweet, melodious voice.

References

Citations

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Works cited

• Shaktiranga Bangabhumi{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Ananda Publishers Pvt Ltd(1991). ISBN 81-7215-022-9
• The Camphor Flame: Popular Hinduism and Society in India{{#if:Fuller|, Fuller}. Princeton University Press(2004). ISBN 978-0-691-12048-5
• Holy Mother Shri Sarada Devi{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Shri Ramakrishna Ashrama(1955)
• Kali: The Black Goddess of Dakshineswar{{#if:Harding|, Harding}. Motilal Banarsidass Publishers(1998). ISBN 978-81-208-1450-9
• Tantric Visions of the Divine Feminine: The Ten Mahavidyas{{#if:Kinsley|, Kinsley}. University of California Press(1997). ISBN 978-0-520-91772-9
• Offering Flowers, Feeding Skulls: Popular Goddess Worship in West Bengal{{#if:McDaniel|, McDaniel}. Oxford University Press(2004). ISBN 978-0-19-534713-5
• Mother of My Heart, Daughter of My Dreams: Kali and Uma in the Devotional Poetry of Bengal{{#if:McDermott|, McDermott}. Oxford University Press(2001). ISBN 978-0-19-803071-3
• Encountering Kali: In the Margins, at the Center, in the West{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. University of California Press(2003). ISBN 978-0-520-23240-2

Further reading

• Revelry, Rivalry, and Longing for the Goddesses of Bengal: The Fortunes of Hindu Festivals{{#if:McDermott|, McDermott}. Columbia University Press(2011). ISBN 978-0-231-12919-0
• Kali Puja{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. 1st World Publishing(1999). ISBN 1-887472-64-9

External links

• Template:Commons category-inline
• Kali Puja Template:Webarchive celebrated in India and Bangladesh