'Supari' based Durga idol in cradle of 'Banarasi Paan'

Varanasi, Sep 27: The city which is world famous for the unrivaled 'Banarasi Paan' is all set to host a Durga idol fashioned from 'supari' -- the essential companion of the Paan.

An idol carved out solely from 'suparis' -- an essential companion of the infectious 'Banarasi Paan' -- is the mainstay of the 15 innovative Durga idols here carved out by idol-makers from Burdwan district of West Bengal.

''The idol costing Rs 50,000 has been fashioned out from over 200 kg of three different varieties of supari and would be installed on the 'Mahasaptami' day -- September 29 next -- at the puja pandal of Anamika club in the Sarai Govardhan locality of the city,'' said Naru Pal, the head of the idol-makers, who has been coming to Varanasi to showcase his art during Durga Puja for the last 12 years.

''Through this first of its kind idol, we have accomplished the object of providing an idol best suited for the cradle of Banarasi Paan,'' he added.

The supari based goddess is the innovative result of four month long hard work put in by the 40-odd Bengali artists. Spanning from a Durga idol worth Rs 25,000, made out totally from clay 'kulhads and diyas' to another idol, made for the first time, only out of wax at a cost of Rs 50,000 -- a distinctive array of goddess idols in novel style await to usher their blessings on the devotees of Shiva's Kashi.

While the 'kulhad' based idol, carved out from over 20,000 earthen 'diyas and kulhads' ordered from Kolkata, would be installed at a pandal in Sadar Bazar loaclity, the one carved out of yellow wax would be housed under an artificial waterfall arranged by the Chetsingh Sporting Club in Chetganj locality, Naru informed.

The other innovative idols include, those carved out from coloured stones, pebbles, besides artificial pearls and 'kirkiri' -- resplendant decoratives -- to be installed at Bhardwaji Tola.

The commonality about all innovative Durga idols is the use of clay for making the basic frame or background. ''We can never even dream of disturbing the conventional Bengalachal style, by totally replacing clay. The background of the idols will always remain clay based and any experiment can only be done on this conventional platform,'' maintained Naru.

UNI

Related Stories