{"id":118,"date":"2014-09-24T21:18:18","date_gmt":"2014-09-24T15:48:18","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/?p=118"},"modified":"2015-06-14T13:45:48","modified_gmt":"2015-06-14T08:15:48","slug":"mahalaya","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/?p=118","title":{"rendered":"Mahalaya"},"content":{"rendered":"

The countdown to Durga Puja is well underway by\u00a0Mahalaya, \u00a0which is observed seven days before (September 23rd for 2014). \u00a0It’s on Mahalaya that preparations for Durga Puja reach their final stages, and it’s believed that on this day Durga, the goddess of supreme power,\u00a0descends to earth. \u00a0One older custom still observed by some is the painting of Durga’s eyes on this day,\u00a0as a symbol of her invocation and impending presence.<\/p>\n

On Mahalaya, my husband Stan and I paid an early morning visit \u00a0to the Shovabazar Rajbari. \u00a0Dilipda’s Durga sculptural tableauxl had been painted and dressed, but final details, such as hair and weapons or\u00a0instruments that the gods and goddess hold in their hands, have not yet been added. \u00a0While we were there, we encountered Sri Krishna Deb, the community organizer for the Shovabazar’s pandal presentation. \u00a0Sri Deb graciously invited us to attend the community’s Mahalaya celebrations that evening!<\/p>\n

When we returned in the evening, the celebration was getting\u00a0underway with a beautiful ceremony in which\u00a0many small oil-filled clay dishes were lit.<\/p>\n

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After the lamps were lit,\u00a0Sri Deb rang the puja bell. \u00a0Far in the distance (center of the \u00a0photograph) you can see a priest sitting on the ground and\u00a0performing the evening’s rites.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Then began a lovely musical program including members throughout the Shovabazar community, beginning with the youngest\u00a0members, and progressing to the most accomplished dancers and musicians.<\/p>\n

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\"IMG_2218\"<\/a>Invoking Durga through dance!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The countdown to Durga Puja is well underway by\u00a0Mahalaya, \u00a0which is observed seven days before (September 23rd for 2014). \u00a0It’s on Mahalaya that preparations for Durga Puja reach their final stages, and it’s believed that on this day Durga, the goddess of supreme power,\u00a0descends to earth. \u00a0One older custom still observed by some is the … Continue reading Mahalaya<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":270,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[18,14,39,20,26,22,24,21,45,43,46,100,13],"class_list":["post-118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-clay","tag-httpwww-cynthiasiegel-com","tag-dilipda","tag-durga-puja","tag-fulbright-nehru","tag-idol-makers","tag-kolkata","tag-kumartuli","tag-mahalaya","tag-shovabazar-rajbari","tag-sri-krishna-deb","tag-unfired-clay-sculpture","tag-west-bengal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=118"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":700,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/118\/revisions\/700"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/cynthiasiegel.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}