Fish Bhog And 108 Blue Lotuses: In Midnapore, Durga Comes Home On A Scroll For A 200-Year-Old Family Puja
Midnapore’s Chakraborty family prepares to welcome Durga on a painted scroll, preserving centuries-old rituals, fish offerings and the affection of a daughter’s homecoming.
Published : October 3, 2026 at 3:39 PM IST
Midnapore: At the Chakraborty home in Midnapore’s Mia Bazar, Maa Durga is served fish before she leaves for Kailash. And the offering has a long story behind passed down the generations. It is believed that when Durga returns, Shiva asks what she ate at her parental home. As a routine, She narrates about the modest food she is offered that includes special fish curry with rice and sometimes panta bhat. It is this belief that the Midnapore Durga Puja gets much of its character.
With the festival approaching, the Chakrabortys are preparing to receive the Goddess again. Relatives who live elsewhere return for the occasion, joining those at home in the worship and its many responsibilities. Their Durga is painted on a scroll nearly six feet tall. No clay idol is made for this puja, which the family says has continued for more than 200 years.
Known as Pat-er Durga, the painted image of the lion-riding Goddess occupies the place around which the household’s celebrations unfold from Shasthi to Dashami. Generations have prayed before this form of Simhavahini. The scroll, the offerings and the rites associated with it are familiar to family members who grew up watching their elders conduct the puja.
Nabendu Chakraborty says he has heard that Rakhal Chakraborty started the worship years ago. "We remember the traditions that Rakhal as the royal priest of King Virat started and continued. Since making idols was not permitted during the Zamindari era, he introduced worship of Durga on a painted scroll," he reminisces.
Nandan Chakraborty, an elderly member of the household, recalls a slightly different account. “We identify ourselves as descendants of Rakhal Chakraborty. I have heard that the puja was being performed even before his time,” he says. These recollections accompany the rituals that the family continues to observe each year.
The Goddess is welcomed on Shasthi, when Bodhan, her ceremonial awakening, takes place. Saptami begins early, with water collected from seven different wells for the consecration of the sacred pitcher, or ghat. It is then brought into the place of worship following the customary rites and accompanied by traditional musical instruments.
Older family accounts describe a much grander procession. Elephants and horses once accompanied the bringing of the pitcher, with dhak and dhol announcing its passage, says Nabendu as does Siddhartha Chakraborty, who recalls hearing stories of how elephants formed part of the ceremony. "Today, the animals are gone, but the family still observes the procession with music," he states.
Once the Goddess has been welcomed, attention turns to the offerings. Fruits and vegetarian food are presented first. Nabendu says non-vegetarian dishes are offered after the Baran, or welcoming ritual. Rohu curry and roasted fish are among the preparations placed before Maa Durga during her stay.
For Nandan, the reason is bound up with the family’s understanding of her visit. Durga has come to her natal home, where she must be fed before returning to her husband. He recounts the belief that Shiva will ask about her meals when she reaches Kailash. "She should be able to say that her family, though poor, sent her away after serving simple food such as fish curry with rice or fermented rice," explains Nandan.
The account has stayed with the household, giving the fish offering a place in its worship. Across the puja days, vegetarian and non-vegetarian dishes are served according to the inherited custom.
On Ashtami, the family worships Durga with 108 blue lotuses. The Mahayajna, a sacred fire ceremony, continues from Saptami through Navami. People from neighbouring areas also come to the house to witness the ceremony and the other rituals. For Navami’s worship, the bhog consists of vegetarian rice-based dishes.
Some practices have changed over the years. Animal sacrifice, once part of the puja, has been stopped. An ash gourd, or chalkumro, is now sacrificed symbolically in observance of the earlier custom. The family has retained the worship on the scroll and the sequence of ceremonies through which it welcomes, feeds and bids farewell to the Goddess.
On Dashami, roasted ridge gourd, known as jhinge, and lata and shol fish are offered before her departure. The relatives gathered for the festival then prepare for immersion. Family members themselves carry Pat-er Durga, setting out with the beating of dhak and dhol towards Amatala Ghat on the Kangsabati River, also called the Kansai.
The procession brings the household’s days of worship to an end. Family members who spend much of the year apart have these few days together, with the puja setting the rhythm of their reunion.
As this year's Durga Puja draws near, there is work to be done at the Chakraborty home and a daughter to be welcomed. She will arrive in the painted form the family has worshipped for generations.
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