There is presently a massively popular nine-day festival building up to its crescendo in Kolkata. The festival is named variously, "Durgā-Pūjā ("The Worship of the Durgā"), Nava-Rātra, or Nava-Rātrī ("Nine Nights"). The festival has brought massive crowds this year from numerous states to what is already counted as among the most populous, dense cities on the planet. Indeed, the long-distance trains from as far as Delhi (about 1000 miles away) have been more or less fully booked from at least one month ago, according to a friend who was subsequently unable to join us. And one of my local Kolkata friends told me that she will not be attending the festival simply because the crowds will produce such a pressurized environment that it becomes a major endeavor to simply walk ten feet from anywhere you are standing at a given moment. Of course, this is likely to be true only to be the case "at the center of the action." But then, where is that center?
As it turns out, the "center" is actually a plurality of sites, numerous "pandals," or temporary temples, set up throughout the city of some 12 million residents. These pandals have been going up for months now, some of the larger ones since late July or early August. Almost all of those I've seen so far have been constructed from a bamboo skeleton, overlaid with clothes of various colors nailed to wooden frames, or fired clay.
These pandals can be seen peppering the various neighborhoods of Kolkata, sometimes taking over the whole space of a small park.
There are internal platforms, and deities. Lots of deities.
They are colorful, diversely styled, and will be occupied, at the height of the festival, by an important icon, Durgā-Mā. Durgā has been translated variously, as either "Fortress" or "Prison," depending upon the attitude a tradition holds toward her. More literally, her name means "hard-go"; this may refer to the passing away of the difficult weather that comes as a great relief at this time of year, or some other image of Time. And of course, the fall is almost universally famous as a Time of harvest, often depicted by a stalk of barley held in the hand of Virgo.
Virgo's significance should be given its due. For one, the Sun has been in the constellation for a couple weeks now. And the festival commenced with the new moon, or when the moon passed near the sun already in Virgo. In this way, Virgo is a constellation that rises with the Sun every morning at this time of year. But just as significant, another constellation, Taurus, is simultaneously receding on the Western horizon. It is thus significant that the most popular icon of Durgā depicts her slaying a "bull demon," Mahiśāsura. And what is more, she is perched upon a Lion while doing so. Of course, Leo is situated directly between Taurus and Virgo, on the Side of Virgo. All this would seem to indicate that the icon, far from being the capricious invention of some whimsical imagination, is an attempt to capitulate the season in a way that reflects events unfolding in the cosmos above.
As Virgo, the Youthful Goddess, behind Leo, rises in the East, Taurus Sets in the West.
Unfortunately, the activities of the stars can hardly be seen in Kolkata at this time. The sky here retains an almost constant haze from the tropical high humidity of the Monsoon season. As such, very few stars can be seen, except in glimmers here and there. And without this wonderful nocturnal display, it perhaps becomes a little bit difficult for the unschooled layman to appreciate the role the stars play in giving significance to his beloved icon. For how long has the lay Hindu contemplated the deity in clay, straw, and paint, while ignoring the stellar sources of these images?
