Kolkata’s Durga Puja now in UNESCO’s heritage list

West Bengal: Durga Puja in Kolkata has been inscribed on the UNESCO's 'Intangible Heritage list'. “Durga Puja in Kolkata has just been inscribed on the #IntangibleHeritage list,” UNESCO said in a tweet.

Durga Puja is an annual festival celebrated in September or October, most notably in West Bengal's Kolkata, also in other parts of India. It marks the ten-day worship of the Hindu mother-goddess Durga. 

In the months preceding the festival, small artisanal workshops sculpt images of Durga and her family using clay pulled from the Ganga River. The worship of the goddess then begins on the inaugural day of Mahalaya, when eyes are painted onto the clay images to bring the goddess to life. It ends on the tenth day, when the images are immersed in the river from where the clay came. 

Thus, the festival has also come to signify ‘home-coming’ or a seasonal return to one’s roots. 

Durga Puja is seen as the best instance of the public performance of religion and art, and as a thriving ground for collaborative artists and designers. The festival is characterized by large-scale installations and pavilions in urban areas, as well as by traditional Bengali drumming and veneration of the goddess. 

During the event, the divides of class, religion and ethnicities collapse as crowds of spectators walk around to admire the installations.