The story of the goddess slaying the demon is portrayed without words, and just through physical intensity.
Hyderabad:Panchami feels like a threshold, the last evening before Durga Puja begins in earnest. The crowd begins to linger longer and in Nizampet, the seventh year of the Prabashi Association’s Durgotsav has chosen to frame this moment and this year’s puja in the language of Grameen Bangla, a theme that comes from the terracotta temples and villages of Bengal. Mats and madur have been brought from districts across the state, stitched into a backdrop where the idol stands as if in a rural courtyard.
The decision to foreground Bengal’s villages is meaningful in more than one way. Terracotta art has ritual meaning and in Hyderabad, it becomes a way for a displaced community to feel closer to its soil. “We wanted to recreate the look and feel of a Bengal village, with no plastic, only the textures that people remember from childhood,” said general secretary Anirban Saha, who has lived in the city for nearly two decades. That sense of recall extends beyond the pandal walls. The organisers invited a 15-member Chou troupe from Purulia to perform Mahisasurmardini, a dance that UNESCO has listed as intangible cultural heritage.
When the performance began, the stage erupted in colour and rhythm. Dancers in towering masks and elaborate headgear moved with a force that felt closer to combat. The story of the goddess slaying the demon is portrayed without words, and just through physical intensity. Children leaned forward to watch the masks, while older members of the community nodded to the familiarity of a form many had last seen in their hometowns.
Chou is unforgiving in its demands. The masks are heavy, the movements closer to martial drills and the music depends on the beat of dhamsa and dhol. “It is a form that requires enormous stamina. Only those who can endure its intensity can perform it,” explained Uttam Kumar Mahato, one of the senior dancers. The masks and costumes are still handmade by artisans in Purulia who keep the craft that is inseparable from the performance alive. Watching it on a Hyderabad stage, surrounded by families who may never have travelled to those districts, collapses the distance between origin and audience.
The performers themselves sense the bridge. “We always thought Durga Puja of this scale belonged to Kolkata, but here in Hyderabad, we feel the same warmth. It doesn’t feel like we are away from Bengal,” Kumar said. His words are in concurrence with the intent behind the festival.
The Chau group brought with it on Saturday, Panchami Night, the memory of the rural art form, while the pandal’s terracotta frame pushes that memory into a community space where both elders and children can find connection. But more importantly, it reminds the city’s Bengalis that even from a distance, they can keep home within sight.
