00:00At Katak's Balubazaar Duga Puja, the hands that shape the goddess's clay idol also perform her worship.
00:08Binod Bihari Balubazaar is the only puja mandap in Katak where one family does everything from making the idol to
00:15conducting the worship.
00:17For the Banerjee family, these responsibilities have passed from one generation to the next.
00:22The goddess's familiar form and the rituals followed here preserve a tradition set to span more than five centuries.
00:30According to the shrine's account, Chaitanya Mahaprabhu installed a sacred vessel and began Duga worship here in 1508 while travelling
00:40to Puri.
00:41Before leaving, he is said to have asked the Banerjee family accompanying him from Bengal to continue the annual autumn
00:48worship.
00:49The family originally from Nawabdeep began worshipping a clay image of the ten-armed Durga in 1514.
00:59More than 500 years have passed but the method of worship at Binod Bihari Mandap remains the same as they
01:05were then.
01:07The preparations begin well before Durga Puja.
01:11Around Rath Yatra, natural materials are gathered for the colours that will adorn the goddess.
01:16Tamarind seeds, wood apple gum, powdered corn shell, hibiscus and turmeric are among the ingredients.
01:24These are processed, dried and ground as required to prepare the colours.
01:29No synthetic paint is used on the clay idol.
01:32The family's work continues from shaping and colouring the image to performing its worship.
01:37Local devotees regard the goddess as a living divine presence.
01:44No artificial colours are used on the goddess's idol.
01:47Here the emphasis is on worship with devotion rather than outward grandeur.
01:52A silver tableau made with approximately 350 kg of silver was introduced at the Mandap in 2002.
02:01On Ashtami, thousands of devotees observing religious vows gather for worship.
02:07Among Kattak's Kuja Mandaps, Binod Bihari Balubazaar is affectionately regarded as the elder sister.
02:14Each autumn, the Banerjee family takes up its inherited duties once again.
02:19And before the goddess they have shaped with their own hands, the idol makers become the priests, carrying the tradition
02:26into another year.
02:36See you soon.
