Feast from the East

An intrinsic part of Durga puja festivities, food is also a big draw at most pandals, writes Sangeeta Sen

It’s that time of the year again when the city of Kolkata comes to life with the beating of the dhaak (traditional Bengali puja drum), the cultural extravaganza, and elaborate feasts organised in huge pandals in honour of the Mahadevi Goddess Durga — identified as the divine shakti who slayed the demon Mahishasura and ultimately, restored the cosmic harmony and balance. Also, as part of the traditional celebrations, devotional Agamani folk songs, composed by the 17th-century folk singer Ramprasad Sen, are sung for welcoming the arrival of Goddess Durga who is identified as the daughter returning to her home.

Yet, however, the most fascinating aspect of Durga Puja was the agrarian essence of the festival that I came across at the elderly lady gardener’s village at Bishnupur, Kolkata. As part of the early morning Saptami (seventh day) puja rituals, my family and I mingled with the large audience gathered on the banks of the pukur (village pond) located in front of the Durga temple and, interestingly enough, amidst the chanting of Vedic hymns, beating of the dhaak drums and the striking sounds of the kartal (traditional Bengali music instrument), I watched the chief priest anointing the bundle of nine different plants — mainly kola gaach (a cut out banana tree trunk); halud (turmeric plant); kachu gaach (colocassia plant); mankachu gaach (giant Taro plant) and the leaves of trees jayanti gaach (Sesban tree); bel gaach (Wood apple tree); daalim gaach (pomegranate tree) and Ashok gaach (Ashok tree) — tied together with nine sacred yellow threads and wrapped in a white, red border saree — with the holy waters of the dakshinavarthi shankh (a sacred conch shell) and eight small kolshis (traditional Bengali clay vessels).

Subsequently, this holy bundle was placed next to Lord Ganesha in the local puja pandal and the chief priest commenced the puja with the simple noibeddo food offerings of rice, khoi (traditional Bengali puffed rice), thali plates of pomegranate, bel fruit and banana slices, coconut, milk, honey and sweets to the goddess along with the chanting of several Vedic hymns from the sacred Devi Mahatmya, Chandipaath texts.

In my euphoria to know more about this unique puja ritual, the cheerful lady gardener said, while offering us sal plates of puja prasads of sweets like Khoi moa (soft balls of hot sand-fried puffed rice called khoi bound by melted akher gur (sugarcane jaggery), Narkel Naru (small, dark brown laddoos of grated coconut and jaggery) and chopped seasonal fruits: “This is Nabapattrika puja of nine different sacred plants. We perform this puja for invoking the blessings of our Debi of prokriti (nature) for providing us with a successful agricultural harvest.”

With the passage of time, the perception of Durga Puja as a harvest festival has gained popularity and, interestingly enough, the age-old tradition of celebrating the bountiful agricultural harvest by making authentic vegetarian delicacies with all the local agricultural produce still continues in many households across Bengal.

The prasad distribution is followed by a simple vegetarian meal made with home-grown agricultural crops.

The most common fare includes plates of steamed white Gobindo Bhog rice (a variety of fragrant short-grained rice that was popular in the 17th century in Bengal) topped with a spoonful of ghee (clarified butter made with cow milk) along with fried vegetables like Begun bhaja (deep-fried brinjals); Beshon bhaja (vegetables like cauliflower florets, pumpkin slices and slices of parwal or pointed gourd fried in besan (chickpea flour batter); Lal Shaakh Bhaja (a stir-fried mixture of chopped red Amaranth or laal saag leaves, tempered with kalo jeera or nigella seeds, dried red chillies and garnished with fried peanuts); mixed vegetable dal (a slightly sweet dal of moong beans or yellow lentils and sautéed vegetables like cauliflower florets, chopped carrots and peas, cooked with spices like turmeric, cumin seeds and cashews) and Shukto (a traditional Bengali bitter dish of mixed vegetables of sliced bitter gourd, eggplant, green banana, potatoes, sweet potatoes, drumsticks and radish, cooked with poppy-mustard seed paste, tempered with the traditional Bengali five spices or paanch phoron and garnished with fried bori (traditional dried lentil dumplings of rural Bengal).

As for sweets, there was the traditional Chaaler Payesh (a type of thick, creamy rice kheer cooked with the aromatic short-grained Gobindo Bhog rice, milk and palm jaggery).

Furthermore, on Ashtami (the eighth day of Durga Puja), continuing with the tradition of making traditional vegetarian delights, in praise of an abundant harvest, there’s a special vegetarian community lunch of dishes made with cereal grains like rice, pulses, local crops, fruits and nuts — mainly the classic smooth-textured Khichdi with Labda (traditional curry of mixed vegetables like cubed pumpkin, brinjal slices, chopped potatoes, chopped carrots and spinach, seasoned with the paanch phoron or Bengali five spice mix).

Alternatively, there’s an elaborate vegetarian meal combination comprising delicacies like Zamindar era-inspired sweet pulao, rather Basanti Pulao, popular in Bengal in the 17th century — it is traditionally made with Gobindo Bhog rice cooked with dried fruits, saffron, turmeric, sugar and generous amounts of desi ghee; Chaanar Kofta (a spiced creamy, white gravy of paneer or cottage cheese dumplings) and sweets like Rajbhog (a type of sugar-dipped sweet made with crumbled paneer).