Theme pujas dominate this year's Dura Puja festival

Kolkata, Oct 19: This year's Durga Puja pandals are stressing on themes that explore subjects ranging from India's rich heritage to more contemporary women's empowerment, aided by digital 3D mapping technology.

At Bosepukur-Talbagan Sarbojonin in south Kolkata the achievement of women like long-distance swimmer Arati Saha are being projected.

"We will be making 3D projection about the exploits of women achievers like swimmer Arati Saha on the white screen of a pandal decked up with terracota work," Subhendu Ghosh, the spokesman for Bosepukur Talbagan, told PTI.

Ghosh said that the idol was made like 'ekchala' Durga, in which Durga and her four children are mounted on a single frame, but the base looked like a kantha stitch textured saree with hands of women engraved on the wall surrounding the sculpture signifying 'stree-shakti;.

The theme of women's empowerment was implemented with 12 types of terracota work and intricate handicraft by women SHGs from interior districts, he said.

A little distance away at Singhi Park a grand temple has come up belonging to the Shakti cult where Ma Durga is worshipped in her Kali avatar.

"We have sought to give a new twist to Stree Shakti by transplanting the Shila Devi’s temple from Rajasthan with the 'Shila' kept in the main pandal along with the conventional Durga idol," Bhaskar Nandi, Joint Secretary of Singhi Park Durga Puja Committee," said.

Nandi said that the temple's exteriors had been imaginatively recaptured. "We have recreated the 16th century edifice built by Maharaja Man Singh of Amber Fort."

In nearby Suhrid Sangha, the desert pyramid and the Sphinx have come up amidst houses on the congested Basanta Roy Road.

"We have sought to give a message on women's empowerment by making our "parar meye" Rituparna Sengupta as the brand ambassador as women truely embody the spirit of Durgashakti," cultural secretary of Suhrid Sangha Sushanto Biswas said.

The idol has a mix of Egyptian and Bengali touch. In another award-winning puja nearby, Bhowanipur 75 Palli, the organisers have settled for the theme "Juta Abishkar' (discovery of shoe) by Tagore.

PTI