"The Basanti Puja was held at such a time that there were recurring deadly smallpox epidemics in Bengal - referred to as ‘basonto Rog' in Bengali - each spring, which would leave lots of people fighting for their lives and of course, unable to participate or help in the puja..."

You can see and hear it now: the priest performing the first oblations of the night, the thick dense aromatic fog of the slow burning coconut husk dhunachis, the rumbling of the Bengali dhaks (Bengali drums played on one side), the ululating yells from saree/kurta and skinny jeans clad women, the delicate and energetic dance by young women and men, and a crowd yelling all at once: “bolo Durga Mai ki! Joi!” - all unorchestrated, all very chaotic, but somehow in complete holy union and harmony and (almost) at the same time across the UK to mark the start of the Navami Arati. It’s Durga Puja of course!

Every autumn, thousands of British Bengalis clog up UK roads to embark on their UK pandal tour to celebrate the quintessentially Bengali celebration of good over evil, and this year, with under one month to go now (Shashti, or the sixth day, starts on 22 October 2020 and Dashami, or the tenth day, ends on 26 October 2020), under ‘normal’ circumstances, many Durga Puja committees and devotees would be hoping to celebrate with even more joy and fanfare than they did in 2019. Alas, we are in the middle of a global Covid-19 pandemic, and with a possible second wave on our doorstep - it’s unlikely that we will be able to celebrate Durga Puja in the usual and very loud, drum beating with yells, manner that we British Bengalis are used to. There is of course a very good reason for this. On 22 September 2020, the Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, announced further national restrictions to be applied to the UK population in response to the rising rate of Covid-19 infections in the UK. The UK Government in relation to places of worship announced that no more than 6 people from different households should meet at a place of worship, whilst maintaining social distancing requirements, the wearing of face masks, and restrictions on live devotional singing and the playing of instruments - all of which has the force of law and could lead to fines for organisers and/or worshippers. So please do ensure that you fully understand the guidance prior to making any plans.

Given that there are likely to be many British Bengalis who, despite perhaps not being able to visit their usual Durga Puja pandal, would like to understand how they can celebrate Durga Puja privately in their homes. We caught up with Tanay Mukherjee, our friendly British Bengali priest seeking guidance on how worshippers could celebrate in their homes, a glimpse of what it’s like to be in the priesthood, how he got into the profession, and how he sees the future of Durga Puja in the UK.

Given the Prime Minister’s latest announcement on 22 September 2020 announcing 10pm ‘curfews’, and the ‘rule of six’. It looks unlikely that we will be able enjoy Durga Puja this year in the ‘normal’, chaotic - but absolutely charming way in temples and halls. How would you advise devotees to conduct their private celebrations at home?

That’s a really relevant question given the current situation. I know that many people are struggling in this period, from a physical as well as mental health perspective, and from a financial perspective also. I pray that everyone I have served so far has great health and stay comfortable and as happy as they can be during this difficult time. I also hope my advice can help given that it looks very unlikely that we will be able to celebrate together in person this year.

To answer your question though, let’s start with a bit of history. The actual proper Durga Puja is celebrated in the month of Chaitra, during the season of Basanta (spring in Bengali), March/April time and known as Basanti Puja. Mythology states that Lord Rama invoked Goddess Durga in the month of Ashwin, during the season of Sharat (autumn in Bengali), an uncustomary time to invoke Durga and referred to as Akhol Bhadan, to gain strength to defeat Ravana. Ever since the Sharat-Kalin (held in autumn in Bengali) Durga Puja has been celebrated much more widely than the Basanti Durga Puja.

Evidential documents state that the origins of Durga Puja started in various 16th Century Zamindar (landlord in Bengali) palaces, a period when there was a unified Bengal (i.e. parts of modern day Assam, Bangladesh, and West Bengal). The Basanti Puja was held at such a time that there were recurring deadly smallpox epidemics in Bengal - referred to as ‘basonto rog’ in Bengali - each spring, which would leave lots of people fighting for their lives and of course, unable to participate or help in the puja. Going off tangent a bit, but it’s probably the reason why the prasad associated with Durga Puja is food that is easy to digest, i.e. kichadi - it’s the food often given to people who have fallen ill, right? Anyway, as a result - the Akhol Bhadhan celebration gained popularity over a period of time as people were disease free and able to participate and help in the puja during autumn. From images of the time, it can be inferred that during Basanti Puja it was common to have deities of Durga and her children in the Ekchala form, i.e. as one complete piece, binding the whole family under one framework in the Zamindari palaces. With the move to the Akhol Bhadhan celebration, and more popularly practiced Barowari/Sharbojonin puja (a community celebration and not a private puja), all the deities were separated into their individual pieces, inviting community celebrations.

It seems as though history may be repeating itself. We had full national lockdown pretty much throughout the world during the Basanti Durga Puja, and these restrictions have continued into the Sharat-Kalin Durga Puja too. So I can see it is important for worshippers to understand how they can celebrate and observe Durga Puja privately, in their homes. Durga Puja is actually part of Navratri; which means that the proper way to worship the Goddess is over the full 9 nights. Us Bengalis tend to put more focus on the last five nights and openly celebrate these nights because according to Hindu Bengali scripture, this is when Goddess Durga is believed to descend to Earth and visit us. Considering the exceptional situation this year due to the Government enforced rules and restrictions, I would say that for these last five days, you don’t have to do anything too elaborate in your methods of worship when at home. I recommend you keep it simple such as printing out a photograph of Maa Durga, if you don’t already have one, and offer food and water twice a day; and offer prayers of course. The prayers themselves do not have to be specific as the symbolism is most important in private worship vs. what I do, which is performing elaborate rituals, particularly when I am performing on behalf of a community and requires a lot more technical input and application of the shastras (religious scripture). It is also always good practice to observe a vegetarian diet during this time.

Should you prefer Durga Puja specific prayers, you can recite the Devi Mahatmya (also referred to as the Chandi Patha) over these five days. Here’s a link that may be useful. However, please be aware that this is quite technical and translated from Sanskrit.

How about Ghot Puja, do you recommend that devotees perform Ghot Puja?

In terms of Ghot Puja, the short answer is, yes it can be conducted privately, at home. However, it is quite technical and you must understand and know how to perform the commissioning/installation of Devi Ghot beforehand. For this reason, a Ghot Puja may not be accessible for every devotee.

We’ve heard that once you start Durga Puja at home, legend has it that you must continue this practice every year. Is this technically correct?

This is correct. If you start Durga Puja, then you must continue the practice each year. This is because the symbolism of Durga Puja is that once you invite the goddess into your home, the goddess would like to return each year. So, technically, you should invite Maa Durga back to your home each year. However, my personal view is that you should only do this if your personal circumstances allow for it. Do not financially ruin yourself, especially in the current climate, in order to conduct Durga Puja to the same standard as previous years if it is not viable for you to do so. A simple, private, ceremony at home will suffice.

Are you aware of how some of the committees will be celebrating Durga Puja this year?

I think because of the relatively fluid situation, puja committees up and down the country are trying to secure some form of ceremony. Given the most recent announcements, it is likely that any celebration will be limited. I’m not sure whether devotees will be able to enter any premises, it looks unlikely. For example, a committee West of London is planning to conduct their puja at the residence of one of the committee members and that particular residence will, essentially, be the venue for the committee’s puja over the 5 days. They won’t have a murthi of Maa Durga but will be commissioning a Ghot instead. A Durga Puja committee in North London is likely to host Durga Puja for one day instead of five, but this is still being decided upon. There is another committee that has been established for a while and will be releasing slots for worshippers to attend in a Covid-19 secure manner in groups of six and will be streaming their puja live on Facebook. Again, the above plans are yet to be finalised and you should contact your local Durga Puja committee and/or visit their website/social media pages for up to date information.

Personally, I have an idea for how committees can potentially get together and still do a puja in the committee like previous years. Each Committee could have a pro-rata system to allow a permitted number of people to attend the puja. It doesn’t have to be elaborate, you could cook a simple bhog that could be boxed up and given to members that attend. Committee can make Anjali announcements on Facebook, with timings so that devotees can participate from home. They would only need flowers to take part, which can then be placed on their temple/mandir at home or under a tree. It’s just an idea and will require cross referencing to law to see if it would be possible.

Focusing on you a bit more personally now, what is it like being a priest in the fast moving world of the west?

As a part of my schooling, I spent 6 valuable years in Ramakrishna Mission Vidyapith in Deoghar, India. It is a fully residential school where I grew up and learned how to perform pujas from the age of 13, trained by the best monks of the order. So my basic training in puja has a solid foundation which required a lot of understanding of the logic and science behind the whole process and framework.

I migrated to the UK in 2004 and initially I was only an observer at UK pujas. I thought about performing Durga Puja but didn’t see any avenues to start performing. Additionally, I was focused on my career and settlement plans here. Then I was introduced into the UK puja network by Shri Nirmal Mukherjee (he’s been a well renowned priest for 40 years now) and it was he who explained that there is a shortage of priests and encouraged me to join the British Bengali priesthood and play my part.

I self-trained, studied comprehensively and consulted with technical specialists in India before I even started. I have been performing Durga Puja for 12 years now and It’s a practice so I am still perfecting my skill through all the experiences I am gaining in this journey. As a whole, I find British Bengalis flexible at points and understanding. In the UK it is not possible to repeat and perform exactly to the letter of scripture and most have accepted this. I do, however, often get feedback on some aspects of my processes and how they do not align to what they have seen in the past. The issue is that the Hindu pantheon is vast and varied. Hindu Dharma is a philosophy based religion at its core with scientific explanations based on the four Vedas. it is so vast that priests of many different schools have interpreted the philosophy and developed their own practices and processes in performing rights/pujas, often according to their convenience. The basic ‘framework’ remains the same, but there can be variations between two Hindu priests. Not everyone appreciates this aspect. I follow the authentic Hindu Bengali way, and is possibly why Bengali people like to avail my service. In the UK there aren't really any professional British Bengali salaried priests, working in a temple or any organisation and this has created a huge demand. We all work on a ‘freelance’ basis. Anyway, when I perform, I always state upfront that my practice and processes may differ from what you have seen in the past but is always in the spirit of the scripture. I also encourage committees to share requests/preferences with me beforehand which I try and accommodate where possible.

Practices have developed and been adapted to culture but there remains a very male centric ethos even in the printed scriptures. For example, in the Puja Vidhi books it often cites that you must recite “Om” if you are male and that this should be qualified for women to: “Namaha”. In my practice I do not differentiate. There is also a lot of anxiety around puja and making sure everything is performed absolutely perfectly. People are still fasting even when they are not 100% well. I am a follower of Swami Vivekananda and he stated: before doing puja you should be fit and healthy. So don’t fall sick before fasting. You need to have the energy to pray on behalf of the society. So take care of yourself first and then take care of society. I believe that it is one of the most important messages that the society should follow.

One major surprise for me, despite my earlier mentions of flexibility, is how backward minded people can be here in the UK and I fear these dated ideologies have spread to the minds of younger generations. There’s a bit of a God fearing vs God loving mindset here in the UK and I like to consider myself as a bit of a forward thinking priest. I'm battling traditions in the West that I would have thought would have died away 100s of years ago. It’s quite bizarre actually. For example, opinions I get from a few people on who can take part in puja is really weird sometimes. There are of course non-negotiables, i.e. eating meat during puja etc. But, things like call of nature at the Haven and menstrual periods are simply other natural biological processes in the body, which I have no objections to. However, many people do observe these as obstructions to which I do not find much logic in. I can say that there is a lot of hypocrisy around observing Hindu religion across the world. There are people who are ok to worship a menstruating goddess at the Guwahati Kamakhya temple which is one of the Shakti Peethas, an important pilgrimage site for Hindus and a celebration of womanhood and fertility, yet disallow women on their period from attending a worship. I do not find much logic behind this.

I have quite a simple message: if you want to pray, pray and nothing should stop you. You should be intently respectful but natural processes, which you cannot control, should not prevent you from worshipping the God. You can pray anywhere: Temple, garden, home, etc. I believe God is within yourself. If you pray from the core of your heart, your prayer will be answered. Most importantly you should believe in yourself. You should also allow flexibility in terms of performing ritual, if it is not too sensitive. The UK with its multicultural ethos means a wide range of items are available now which are needed to perform puja. However, there are occasions where we need to adapt. For example, it’s not possible to get Tulsi leaves easily, unless you grow your own at home, or make a request to the local temple, if there is one. In these circumstances, I advise on the use of fresh Basil leaves as a substitute. Another example I can think of is, instead of offering a dhoti to a male God, if it is not easily available near you, you may offer a towel instead.

What has it been like conducting Puja in the UK?

To be honest, it’s been an eye opener. I have refined my practice and gained the experience I was seeking, leading worship for congregations consisting of thousands of devotees. These opportunities have been fantastic for me and I hope to continue to be able to play my part in these opportunities in the future. However, there are other aspects that I have noticed, as an observer also. In the last 12 years I’ve noticed that people who start Durga Puja committees think about everything, every detail - decorations, entertainment, cultural programmes, the type of prasad that should be served, timings - just every single thing. But, when it comes to the single most important aspect of Durga puja, in my opinion, the actual puja - this is thought of, often and unfortunately, last. As a consequence, every single year I receive multiple phone calls from new Durga Puja committees at the eleventh hour. On the contrary, there are Durga Puja committees that give the utmost importance to the actual puja part of Durga Puja and get me involved very early on. However, there are many that do not. In some aspects, it’s becoming a bit of a sales event. I understand that: funds must be raised to run the event, but there’s a fine balance to strike and not all get the balance right.

How did you get into the priesthood?

My parents have been followers of the Ramakrishna Mission and at a young age I visited their headquarters, the Belur Math, temple in Kolkata, on a regular basis. I liked it and at the age of 11, I was admitted into the world’s oldest Ramakrishna Mission residential school, which was established in 1922, in Jarkhand, India. I trained there for four years and practised the performance of puja on a daily basis. Post school, I participated in the Saraswati Puja at my college in Bangalore too as a priest.

During my earlier training years in school, I liked the processes involved in puja performance. At the Mission, my main goal was to understand the various different processes for different pujas. I loved taking part in the Mangala Arati slot which started at 4am every morning. Although not on a daily basis, I often wanted to perform during this slot for a few reasons: I learned about the perfection required for the prashad preparation. For example, we had to prepare oranges for the prashad and not only did we have to peel them but we also had to remove every single fibre to ensure Thakur’s (God in Bengali) throat was not grated and was left untouched. It was technically challenging, but I just loved the whole process, the singing, the bhajans; I love music and used to lead our music group in school - so there was also a feel good aspect to the whole puja part for me.

I developed a love for the priesthood, the process, the ambience, the journey to enlightenment - everything and I rushed my parents to hold my Upanayana (sacred thread) ceremony so that I could start performing pujas as a Brahmin. Random fact that I just remembered: did you know that Swami Vivekananda (the leader of the Mission) was not a Brahmin? Yes, true. I don’t think there is a requirement to be of Brahmin caste to become a spiritual leader and worshipper of God. Swami Vivekananda is remembered for being a great reformer of Hinduism and I am of course a follower. I recommend reading his works to understand his philosophy of a more modern Hinduism that, amongst many aspects of prejudice, gives equal status to women.

Ok, back to the priesthood - I am not the type to go to temple every single day nor the type to meditate in front of the murthi (deity in Bengali) for hours upon end. I do go to temple when it was required and I also meditate for around 15 minutes every day for peace of mind and better mental health. For me, my practice is about keeping it manageable and realistic, yet fruitful.

How do you see the current youth connecting with religion in the future and the future of your profession?

I see it evolving and as a priest I think we need to be a bit flexible especially with younger worshippers who may be somewhat disconnected and struggling to reconcile the British way of life with the ancient and often mythological aspects of our religion and practices. First up, especially in Bengali religious ceremonies, there is greater emphasis on performance over philosophy. I think this means that often younger worshippers find it hard to engage with what they are seeing a priest perform because they do not understand the philosophy and science of what is happening. In fact, and with all due respect, I have often seen that it's likely their parents don’t understand either. I think we are at a crossroads and priests, especially Bengali priests who are few and far between and in very high demand as a result, need to lead on this aspect. We need to come together to formulate a strategy to ensure that future Durga Puja committees have sufficient knowledge and skills to be able to host what is observed as the biggest festival of the Bengali calendar.

It’s quite demanding and it’s all based, essentially, on volunteers. At the moment I can see that there is a lot of emphasis in getting kids to join in on the performing arts aspect of Durga Puja. That’s fantastic, but what about event management - which I have seen as an observer, can get quite demanding and does require skill in execution. I mean committees need to be clued up in so many skills areas. When you look closely, they should be organised like any other company with a organisational structure:

• Chief Executive Officer: creating and leading followers and enthusing trust that your committee is adhering to Durga Puja principles and ethical considerations.

• Chief Financial Officer : financial management to ensure costs and sponsorship decisions are sound and ensure future viability of the committee, ‘business development’ to ensure funding requirements are met.

• Chief Operating Officer: event/project management, logistics, crowd management, any health and safety features such as Covid-19.

• Head of marketing: marketing/communication plans/social media management to ensure the congregation are engaged and messages are passed to them efficiently and quickly.

• Head of catering...the list is endless!

As younger worshippers replace current committees due to the passage of time, I think they will have these skills. But will they have the confidence, know how, drive, and time? At the end of the day, Bengalis want tradition from childhood nostalgia to be re-enacted which is very positive which I think gives room for growth. But there needs to be a future strategy for securing the future of Durga Puja. It needs committees to own the strategy, I feel. A lot to ask of volunteers I know, but I feel like this needs to be done.

In relation to my skill set, performance of rites and the puja, I provide a full range of Hindu Bengali priest services in the UK and abroad. I also provide training to various people who show interest to become Hindu Bengali priests and I feel this is very encouraging. I think we have a plan in that aspect.

Any final thoughts?

Yes, there’s a saying amongst Bengalis: if you have 5 Bengalis together, a Durga Puja committee could spontaneously form at any time! I hope this continues to ring true for many years.

Bolo Durga Mai ki, joi!