Sounds and sights of Navaratri

         

The nine days of Navaratri celebrations mean prayers, traditional dance, music and decorations by the many communities that reside here, giving the city a different look

Multiculturalism comes to the fore in our city when Navaratri celebrations get underway. The nine-day festivities that most communities celebrate in their unique style find them melding with each other at different points. Navaratri (Festival of Nine Nights) or popular as the Durga Puja and Dussehra, is celebrated with pomp and gaiety across the country, especially in West Bengal where cities and villages take on a festive atmosphere and routine life almost comes to a standstill during these festival days.

The bomma kolu or the terracotta dolls, typical of the Tamil community make an attractive form of worship. People throng homes that showcase the dolls procured and made for the occasion. The Bengali, Oriya and the Biharis of the city put up the idol of Durga the Goddess who is a symbol of the victory of good over evil. They worship with prayers, songs and dances around the idol placed in temporary pandal or canopy. Traditional food is often served and communal feast is common.

The centre of festivities is the pandal where ceremonies- rituals, music and dance- take place. Each community erect pandals that are richly painted and decorated. 

          

 

Expert artisans work for months to create huge images of Durga and other gods and goddesses. These clay sculptures are dressed up brightly and decked with flower garlands and jewellery. Little details are attended too, like the hair of the goddess and her eyes. The painting of the eyes is the intricate and requires skill. An auspicious time is chosen to do so. The ‘aarti’ is the highlight of the prayers. The colours of the occasion are so attractive and individualistic to each pandal that visiting the many is common. The farewell, which is on Vijayadashmi, or the tenth day is sombre. The festival comes to a close with the idol paraded through the streets and immersed in the nearby rivers. The pandals are dismantled only to spring up the next year with new fervour. 

Keeping with tradition

The Bengali Samaj in Kochi has been actively celebrating Durga Puja since 1967, and this year again the buzzword is tradition. With Durga’s idol ready and rituals underway, the Bengali community is sparing no expense in showcasing the best of their culture this festival season “For us Puja is divided into the rituals and the cultural activities. On the cultural front, we put on performances of Rabindranath Tagore’s dance-dramas, children’s plays, hindi song concerts and more, as well as showcase some aspects of Kerala, on whose soil we celebrate,” says Abhinaba Das, president of the Bengali Samaj in Kochi. He goes on to explain that the cultural programmes may be tweaked according to the wishes of the organisers, but the rituals are a centuries-old tradition which are not tampered with. He adds, “We ensure the rituals are done right, and the idol-makers and priests arrive from Kolkata. The women from the 70-odd families that are part of the Samaj prepare puja bhog starting from dawn. The pujas occur in the morning and anjali is given to the idol, following which bhog is served to all those who are present. It is after all a sarvajani puja, and all are welcome to our celebrations, Bengalis or not,” he adds. 

For the Viswakarma Cultural Association, a 2,200 strong community of gardeners from West Bengal and Orissa, this is the time when they set down their shovels and pruners and pick up chisels to craft idols of deities including Durga, Saraswati and Lakshmi. “We are all settled in Kochi and have taken up gardening but this time of the year we spend working on idols. Apart from the traditional pujas, we will also have cultural programmes where our families participate, before the idol immersion on the ninth day,” says Narayan Patra, president of the association. “Every year, we try and make the idols a little better, and this time we have improved the quality of materials used and made them taller. This year our Durga idol is around 13 feet tall. 

Dandiya and Garba

The city’s vibrant Gujarati community adds to the Navaratri celebrations with their traditional Dandiya and Garba dance nights that continue during the nine days of the festival. Venues on Gujarati Road, New Road, Palace Road in Mattancherry, with their ancient temples, are where the dances are held. The Gujarati school venue and the maidan adjacent to the Ram temple too are venues. 

Preparations for the dance begin in advance with girls and boys, men and women organising their traditional costumes. This is a busy time for the lone dhol player who has been playing the traditional dhol in the area for the past several years. Along with his stentorian notes compete fancy disco music and songs composed for the occasion that keep the youngsters dancing late into the night. The Garba is a slow traditional dance, while Dandiya, played with sticks has morphed to incorporate fast music and foot tapping numbers. All Dandiya programmes begin and close with dance as offering to the Goddess.

            

 

Dandiya fever has slowly caught up with the local Malayalis too. RB centre in Tripunithura run by Anargha Raj, held a workshop on Garba and Dandiya, for the first time, to great response. Except for one North Indian entry the rest were Malayalis. The centre is to hold another workshop after the spirited response and requests for more.

Sing through the nights

It is nine nights of celebration, music and dance. At the special pandals, the temporary temples come alive every evening during this festival and after the rituals the people who gather there feast, sing and dance till late into the night. If it is the traditional Garba, Raas, Dandiya, bhajans and devotional songs for the North Indian communities, down South there is more of classical dance and music. The celebrations are not confined to the pandals set up for the festival as it spills over to homes, sangeetha sabhas, temples and homes. People attend the ceremonies in their own community pandals, it is time for family members to get together and invite guests to their homes to take a look at the elaborate bomma kolu or arrangement of dolls. The guests are served hot sundal (chickpeas) and sweets even as women take turns to sing. Navaratri is a social event where music and dance takes centre stage along with all the ceremonies, pujas and traditions. There’s a charm to these nine nights when the strains of the violin, the beats of the dholak and mellifluous singing wafts through the night wind.