300-Year-Old Durgapur Durga Puja Faces Uncertainty Over Ancient Manuscript Rituals

ETV Bharat / offbeat

300-Year-Old Durgapur Durga Puja Faces Uncertainty Over Ancient Manuscript Rituals

Organisers of Amrai village’s 300-year-old Durga Puja struggle to sustain traditions, as future priests cannot read the ancient Sanskrit-Pali palm manuscript

Durgapur: Organisers of a more than 300-year-old Durga Puja in Amrai village of Durgapur, West Bengal, are facing a predicament in the context of the continuation of the Puja in its traditional format.

It is not that they are uninterested in continuing one of the oldest Pujas according to the tradition, but the problem pertains to reading the 1,700 verses of mantras for Chandi Puja that are written on palm leaf in Sanskrit and Pali. The Tola Pandit clan that has performed the Puja for generations can read Pali, but non