Shubho Bijoya

Bikash and Dorothy

NEUROSURGERY CONSULTANTS, P.A.

BIKASH BOSE, M.D., F.A.C.A., F.I.C.S., F.A.H.A.

C-79 Omega Drive

Newark, DE 19713

302-738-9145

Best Wishes From ...

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Invitation for Puja 2014

Sarba Mangala Mangalye shive Sarbartha Shadike Sharanye Stryambake Gouri Narayani Namohastu Te

Bengali Association of Delaware Valley

Cordially invites you, your family, and friends to our

Durga Puja Celebration

October 3rd, 4th & 5th, 2014

&

Lakshmi Puja

Wednesday, October 8th, 2014

at

Hindu Temple (Auditorium) 760 Yorklyn Road,Hockessin, DE

Phone: 302-235-7020

Cover Page Art by: Atreya Saha

Cover Page Design by: Anirban Roy

2 BADV Durgotsav 2014

From

Tom Sheehan

7454 Lancaster Pike, Hockessin, DE 19707. Ph: 3022391065

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DURGA PUJA 2014DURGA PUJA 2014DURGA PUJA 2014

Friday, 3rd October 2014

5:30 PM – 7:00 PM: Puja (Shashti)

7:00 PM – 8:00 PM: Dinner

8:00 PM – 10:30 PM: Musical program by Saheb Chatterjee & his band

Saturday, 4th October 2014

11:00 AM – 1:30 PM: Puja (Saptami & Aasthami)

1:30 PM – 3:00 PM: Prasad & Lunch

3:00 PM – 4:00 PM: Dhunuchi Nach (no fire) Competition on stage

5:00- 7:30 PM – Local Performances

Dance -Mahua chakraborty & Group

Dance - Asmi De

Dance – Sahana

Dance – Sreoshi & Group

Play – Bangla School

Songs – Joy Goswami & Group

Play – Kaushik Roy Choudhury & Group

7:30-8:30 PM – Dinner

8:30- 10:30 PM – Musical program by Taal Entertainment (Shweta Ranade & Abhijit

Pachegaokar)

Sunday, 5th October 2014

11:00 AM – 1:30 PM: Puja (Sandhi Pujo, Nabami Pujo, Kumari Pujo, Dasami Puja & Bisarjan)

1:30 PM – 2:30 PM: Prasad & Lunch

2:30 PM – 3:30 PM: Sindur Khela

3:30 PM – 4:15 PM: Magic Show

4:15 PM – 6:00 PM: Local Performances

Songs – Animit Bhattacharya

Songs – Debopama Bagchi

Shrutinatok – Pradip Saha & Paramita Saha

Popular Hindi numbers from 60's-2000s –

Anindya & Payal Buxy

Dance program – Sushmita Gupta & Group

4 BADV Durgotsav 2014

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This festival is celebrated in the eastern region of India, i.e. Cal-cutta by the Bengalis. The festival runs for 5 days but people start preparation seven days in advance. People celebrate it with great galore. This is the time of the year when families buy new clothes; make special sweets to share with their friends and neighbors and chalk out plans to celebrate the four days. Many neighborhoods have drama, dance and singing performances ongoing during this period. Both children and adults in different neighborhoods of the city participate and competitions are held.

Durga Puja is not only a religious festival but also a great social event these days. Sales in the market are at its peak before and during the festival. Puja pandals are built in every neighbor hood in the street corners. These pandals are made with bamboo poles, cloth, and planks of wood and are stunning structures. Each year the pandals have a theme, which are elaborate works of planning and architecture. In the evenings families go out, sight-seeing these pandals in different areas of the city. The crowd on the street is present till 2 to 3 AM in the morning vis-iting each pandals wearing their traditional fashionable clothes.

Mythological Background

The story goes like this: Mahishasura the king of demons was granted a boon by Lord Shiva after years of austerities that no man or deity could ever kill him. This gave the demon king tremendous power and he went on a rampage of terrorizing the inhabitants of heaven. He was filled with an immense urge to conquer all and rule the world and usurped the throne of the deity's.

The Gods scared of Mahishasura went to Lord Shiva (who granted the boon), Lord Brahma and Lord Vishnu for help. The three Gods combined their divine energy and created a feminine form of a glaring light. From the light emerged a Devi Durga, a beautiful women with ten arms riding a lion. Durga Puja is the worship of the mother. It is the worship of "Shakti" or the Divine power. The Gods gave her a symbol of their strength before she set off to kill Mahishasura. She got ten weapons, discus from Lord Vishnu, trident form Lord Shi-va, conch shell from Varuna, Agni's flaming dart, Vayu's bow; Surya's quiver and arrow; Yama's iron rod; In-dra's thunderbolt; Kubera's club and a garland of snakes from Shesha and a lion as a charger from Himala-yas.

After acquiring the divine power in her ten hands Durga set forth to kill the demon king. Mahishasura when attacked in the form of a buffalo, Devi Durga beheaded the buffalo and the demon king appeared in his orig-inal form. Durga then pierced his chest with the trident and relieved his tyranny from the world. She is known as “Durgatinashini Durga”, our mother goddess who destroys the evil, protects her devotees and maintains prosperity on earth. It is believed the Devi had appeared in different times with different names to abolish evil but that is another story.

Another version of this story is that we believe that this was the time when Durga (daughter of the earth)

Durga Puja

6 BADV Durgotsav 2014

came to her parents house with her kids Ganesha, Laxmi, Karthik, and Saraswati for her annual visits. Dur-ga stays for Shashti, Saptami, Ashtami and Nabami. She leaves for her husband’s home on Vijaya Dasami. Many of the idols put up in the pandals on the streets depict this.

There is a believe that Durga travels to earth on modes like the elephant, a horse, palanquin, boat all signi-fy luck and omen which influence the life of the earth. This is indicated in the scriptures. The elephant sig-nifies prosperity and good harvest while journey on a horseback indicates drought, a palanquin spells wide spread epidemic and the boat suggests flood and misery.

The History & Origin of Durga Puja

Durga Puja - the ceremonial worship of the mother goddess, is one of the most important festivals of India. Apart from being a religious festival for the Hindus, it is also an occasion for reunion and rejuvenation, and a celebration of traditional culture and customs. While the rituals entails ten days of fast, feast and wor-ship, the last four days - Saptami, Ashtami, Navami and Dashami - are celebrated with much gaiety and grandeur in India and abroad, especially in Bengal, where the ten-armed goddess riding the lion is wor-shipped with great passion and devotion.

Durga Puja Mythology: Rama's 'Akal Bodhan'

Durga Puja is celebrated every year in the Hindu month of Ashwin (September-October) and commemo-rates Prince Rama's invocation of the goddess before going to war with the demon king Ravana. This au-tumnal ritual was different from the conventional Durga Puja, which is usually celebrated in the spring-time. So, this Puja is also known as 'akal-bodhan' or out-of-season ('akal') worship ('bodhan'). Thus goes the story of Lord Rama, who first worshipped the 'Mahishasura Mardini' or the slayer of the buffalo-demon, by offering 108 blue lotuses and lighting 108 lamps, at this time of the year.

The First Durga Puja in Bengal

The first grand worship of Goddess Durga in recorded history is said to have been celebrated in the late 1500s. Folklores say the landlords or zamindar of Dinajpur and Malda initiated the first Durga Puja in Ben-gal. According to another source, Raja Kangshanarayan of Taherpur or Bhabananda Mazumdar of Nadiya organized the first Sharadiya or Autumn Durga Puja in Bengal in c 1606.

The 'Baro-Yaari' Puja and Beginning of Mass Celebration

The origin of the community puja can be credited to the twelve friends of Guptipara in Hoogly, West Ben-gal, who collaborated and collected contributions from local residents to conduct the first community puja called the 'baro-yaari' puja or the 'twelve-pal' puja in 1790. The baro-yaari puja was brought to Kolkata in 1832 by Raja Harinath of Cossimbazar, who performed the Durga Puja at his ancestral home in Murshida-bad from 1824 to 1831, notes Somendra Chandra Nandy in 'Durga Puja: A Rational Approach' published in The Statesman Festival, 1991.

Origin of 'Sarbajanin Durga Puja' or Community Celebration

"The baro-yaari puja gave way to the sarbajanin or community puja in 1910, when the Sanatan Dharmotsa-hini Sabha organized the first truly community puja in Baghbazar in Kolkata with full public contribution, public control and public participation. Now the dominant mode of Bengali Durga Puja is the 'public' ver-sion," write M. D. Muthukumaraswamy and Molly Kaushal in Folklore, Public Sphere, and Civil Society. The institution of the community Durga Puja in the 18th and the 19th century Bengal contributed vigorously to

BADV Durgotsav 2014 7

the development of Hindu Bengali culture.

British Involvement in Durga Puja

The research paper further indicates that "high level British officials regularly attend Durga Pujas organized by influential Bengalis and British soldiers actually participate in the pujas, have prasad, and even salute the deity, but 'the most amazing act of worship was performed by the East India Company itself: in 1765 it offered a thanksgiving Puja, no doubt as a politic act to appease its Hindu subjects, on obtaining the Diwani of Bengal'. (Sukanta Chaudhuri, ed. Calcutta: the Living City, Vol. 1: The Past) And it is reported that even the Company auditor-general John Chips organized Durga Puja at his Birbhum office. In fact, the full official participation of the British in the Durga Puja continued till 1840, when a law was promulgated by the gov-ernment banning such participation."

Durga Puja Comes to Delhi

In 1911, with the shifting of the capital of British India to Delhi, many Bengalis migrated to the city to work in government offices. The first Durga Puja in Delhi was held in c. 1910, when it was performed by ritually consecrating the 'mangal kalash,' symbolizing the deity. This Durga Puja, which celebrates its centennial in 2009, is also known as the Kashmere Gate Durga Puja currently organized by the Delhi Durga Puja Samiti in the lawns of Bengali Senior Secondary School, Alipur Road, Delhi.

Evolution of the 'Pratima' and the 'Pandal'

The traditional icon of the goddess worshiped during the Durga Puja is in line with the iconography deline-ated in the scriptures. In Durga, the Gods bestowed their powers to co-create a beautiful goddess with ten arms, each carrying their most lethal weapon. The tableau of Durga also features her four children - Kartikeya, Ganesha, Saraswati and Lakshmi. Traditional clay image of Durga or pratima made of clay with all five gods and goddesses under one structure is known as 'ek-chala' ('ek' = one, 'chala' = cover).

There are two kinds of embellishments that are used on clay - sholar saaj and daker saaj. In the former, the pratima is traditionally decorated with the white core of the shola reed which grows within marshlands. As the devotees grew wealthier, beaten silver (rangta) was used. The silver used to be imported from Germa-ny and was delivered by post (dak). Hence the name daker saaj.

The huge temporary canopies - held by a framework of bamboo poles and draped with colorful fabric - that house the icons are called 'pandals'. Modern pandals are innovative, artistic and decorative at the same time, offering a visual spectacle for the numerous visitors who go 'pandal-hopping' during the four days of Durga Puja.

Ackowldgements: Article by Subhamoy Das—http://hinduism.about.com/od/durgapuja/a/durga_puja_history.htm

An article on Durga Puja—http://mama.indstate.edu/users/swasati/durga_puja.htm

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A–q¡¢p q¡p­a q¡p­a h¡lh¡l HLV¡ Lb¡C hm­R, ""B¢j HLh¡l Jh¡s£­a ¢N­u Y¥¢L aMe h¤¢sV¡l jS¡

h¡l Llh, jS¡ h¡l Llh...z''

******************************

BADV Durgotsav 2014 13

With Best Wishes

for

2014 Durga Puja

&

Diwali

from

Pratap, Urmila Singh

and family

Mimi Dutta & Family

wishes all a very

joyous Durga Puja &

Shubho Bijoya

14 BADV Durgotsav 2014

BADV Durgotsav 2014 15

“Helping Clients Make Smart Choices”

Hardik Shah, CFP®, ChFC Ketul Mody, CFP® Financial Advisor Financial Advisor

Personal Financial Services:

Insurance Strategies Investment Services

College Funding Retirement Strategies

Estate Planning

111 Continental Drive. Suite 306 Newark, DE 19713

302.438.0409 Ketul.Mody@dsfg.com www.dsfg.com

Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through Securian Financial Services, Inc., Member FINRA/SIPC. Diamond State Financial Group is independently owned and operated. 529882 07.2012

16 BADV Durgotsav 2014

Face to Face with Ma Durga’s “Vahan” in Gir Forest

Ranjan Mukherjee

The king of beasts evokes a sense of awe and majesty. I grew up watching movies of tawny, full-

maned lions hunting zebra and antelope in the grasslands. To most people, lions are symbolic of Africa.

However, in one forest on another continent, the Asian lion has made its last stand. And so on a trip to

India in January, I decided to visit the Gir forest in the state of Gujrat in Western India to see the Asian

lions.

I traveled by car from Ahmedabad and stayed in a hotel on the outskirts of the jungle. The even-

ing was spent talking to the inhabitants of the local villages and making arrangements for a safari the

following day. Very early in the morning I entered the jungle in an open Jeep with a driver and a forest

guide. Nobody was armed. It was still dark with a gentle cool breeze. Scent travels far under such condi-

tions, ideal for lions to locate their prey. There was no sound except that of the engine and the inde-

scribable cacophony of the jungle at night. Every rustle would set our hearts racing. Gradually, the inky

darkness yielded to a glorious dawn. Shafts of golden sunlight filtered through the canopy and lit up

patches of the forest floor covered with dry brown leaves. Our ears and eyes were straining to catch

sound or sight of the elusive lions. After some driving on jungle tracks, we heard muffled roars in the

distance. We stopped and listened, trying to gauge the direction and distance of the lions. Suddenly the

driver whispered “lion” and pointed to the right. My heart nearly missed a beat. There, about 30 feet

from us, a male lion broke through the cover and walked unhurriedly and purposefully towards a wa-

terhole on a track parallel to us. We followed at a respectful distance. He drank, lay down and looked

straight at me alternately yawning and blinking. He seemed to be enjoying posing for us. I took many

pictures, one of them hangs framed in my study. I could not believe my good fortune in being able to

see a full-grown lion in its natural habitat. We spent several hours driving through the forest.

Beside the lion, I saw spotted deer, wild boar, nilgai, monkeys and many beautiful pea-

cocks. I left with wonderful memories and much food for thought. It gradually dawned

on me why the lion was chosen as Ma Durga’s “vahan” in her battle against Mahishashur.

It is big, strong and strikes fear in all animals, perfect companion in a war against evil.

Once upon a time they roamed in large numbers across a vast swathe of Europe

BADV Durgotsav 2014 17

and Asia, especially northern India. But now hunting and habitat destruction have great-

ly reduced their numbers. Even during the waning days of the Mughal Empire, there are

documents of royal lion hunts. Gir is the last stronghold of the Asian lion. Now, there are

only about 200 of these animals left. The small number and lack of genetic diversity

makes their survival perilous. I hope their habitat can be preserved and even expanded

so that future generations can hear the roar of the Asian lion and be mesmerized as I

was.

Ranjan Mukherjee

September 2014

The Asian lion at a waterhole in Gir forest.

18 BADV Durgotsav 2014

Best Wishes for Durga Puja

From

Neil Dhar & Kathryn Sallnow

In loving memory of

Late Mrs. Krishnajyoti Dhar

BADV Durgotsav 2014 19

www.okura.us

John Fournakis 4377 Kirkwood Plaza Kirkwood Highway

Wilmington, DE 19808 (302) 999-9901

www.HarrisJewelers.net

Place your confidence in the Ring Leaders.

Contribution by Ridi Saha

20 BADV Durgotsav 2014

Wishing all the very best for

2014 Durga Puja

From

The Dhar family of

Parsippany, NJ

In remembrance of

Late Mrs. Krishnajyoti Dhar

Bangla writing by Adrika Gunin

BADV Durgotsav 2014 21

Dra

win

g b

y Sh

reya

Bo

se, A

ge: 6

yrs

22 BADV Durgotsav 2014

BADV Durgotsav 2014 23

OUR DURGA

Asmita De

I love Durga puja because we all get to celebrate together. Durga puja is about respecting and praying

to Maa Durga. Some people bring sweets & flowers. It lasts for three days.

Everybody likes the sound of the Dhak and the Kasor Ghanta. Everyday people do shows. They do

singing, dancing and plays. The kids and the adults work very hard for their shows. They rehearse for

months before the puja. A band from kolkata comes every year.

There is something called Kumari puja, little girls do it and they are prayed as a God for a few hours. I

once became a kumari when I was six.

The kids like to play in the little room in the back. I play with my friends Risha, Rai, Adrika, Mimi, An-

nie, Manisha and Nivriti. Sometimes we play in the hallway and the balcony.

Sketch by Abhishek De

Woman like to shop in the stalls

or talk. Men like to talk to but

when the band comes they are

all dancing. We all eat Indian

food like rice and dal and khichuri

tarkari and payesh.The kids like

to eat pizza.

Durga puja in Delaware is really

different than Durga puja in Kol-

kata. The one in kolkata has a

Ferous wheel.Food stall are out-

side and has a huge temple called

pandal. When I went to a pandal

the status of Maa Durga was so

tall that my dad had to pick me

up.

I enjoy Durga Puja every year.

Maa Durga I hope you come back

again next year.

24 BADV Durgotsav 2014

Art

wo

rk b

y: D

ish

an

Bh

att

ach

ary

a

8 y

ears

With best wishes

for Durga Puja

&

Diwali

From Deepika, Mihir,

Jai & Shree Thacker

Sharodiya

Shubhechha

from

Sandhya,Bishakha,

Keshav, Lola

and

Somnath

Choudhuri

BADV Durgotsav 2014 25

Shubh Durga Puja

701 Philadelphia Pike, Wilmington. 302-762-6552

1720 Naamans Rd., Wilmington. 302-529-0540

3224 Philadelphia Pike, Claymont. 302-793-1530

1702 Faulkland Rd., Wilmington. 302-999-8077

102 Louvers’ Way, Newark. 302-738-6111

With Best Compliments from:

PATEL Family

26 BADV Durgotsav 2014

BADV Durgotsav 2014 27

Quick-Mart

Jack Patel 101-103 S. Maryland Ave.

Wilmington Delaware 19804 302-777-6779 302-383-4424

Best Wishes for

2014 Durga Puja & Diwali

From

Hockessin Wine & Spirits

633 Yorklyn Road Hockessin, DE 19707

302-239-6009 www.hockessinwine.com

28 BADV Durgotsav 2014

BADV Board of Trustees, Executive

Committee members and the Puja

sub-committee members express

their sincere thanks to all members

and friends of BADV and to Hindu

Temple of Delaware for their help in

organizing this year’s Durga puja.

Thank You