The Brij area is busy celebrating the festival of Durga Puja, with the Bengali devotees of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu living here dwelling in the prayers of Goddess Durga. Statues of Mahishasur Mardini have been installed in 18 different locations including Mathura, Vrindavan, Ramanreti, Govardhan, Radhakund, etc. as per Bengali tradition. Lanes reverberate with the melodious sounds of dhaak, shankh, nagadas, and bells during the sandhi puja.
The Goddess’s statue is being installed at Lal Darwaza for 121 years now, apart from here as well, it is tradition in many areas for the Bengalis to install the statue for years. More than 35 thousand Bengalis live in Brij, who are associated with the devotion of Chaitanya Mahaprabhu, but they keep their traditions alive with the celebrations of Sharadiya Durga Puja. And therefore, the statues are made out of soil from Sonagachi and the Yamuna. The statues have been made using eco-friendly material by Kolkata’s sculptor, Subodeep Pal and his team of 8. So that after the visarjan, the statue dissolve in water with ease.
Special care has been taken of Bengal’s cultural heritage in the statues’ making. There is a Bengali touch in the delicate parts of the statues like the glowing face, sharp eyes, mouth, lips, fingers, arms, weapons, and hair. While the statues have been coloured using water colours, the hair, weapons, crowns, and jewellery have been brought from Kolkata to be donned by the Goddess.
A 10-feet high statue has been installed in Kalindi Dham.
