Blast from the past: Zamindar family Puja gives taste of a bygone era

BALURGHAT: Gun firing in open air during Sandhipujo is a decade-long tradition of this Zamindar Barir Durga Puja — almost since the British era in India.

The Puja, popularly known as Baidul Zamindar Barir Durga Puja, is held at the Chowdhury's ancestral premises in Baidul.

The puja was first started under the patronage of zamindar late Prasanna Lal Chowdhury in 1811. He had six sons and each family has one licenced gun as legal property, which is used in Durga Puja every year.

The Puja is organised rotationally by the family members of six sons once in every six years. Chowdhury family is celebrating the 108th year this Puja uninterruptedly, particularly even in the age of big-budget themed Pujas in South Dinajpur. This puja still remains a crowd-puller along with many revelers visting it for a taste of its unique heritage.

Asking about the tradition of gun firing, Prasanna Lal's grandson Mrityunjay Chowdhury who stays in Baidul, said: "The custom of gun firing started from early fifties as I learnt from my uncle late Kshitish Chandra Chowdhur. The area as I learnt from him was dominated by robbers and goons then. They had frequently targeted rich zamindars and landlords of the area. We were their soft target due to lack of proper security measures back then.

As a result, the rich people were forced to keep licenced firearms to keep goons and robbers at bay. Our forefathers had started the tradition of gun firing during Sandhipujo to send a stern message publicly that they can protect themselves from those anti-social elements. The person who fired the gun in the air during the Puja had to take blessings from Maa Durga, so that he can protect his family from unwanted incidents throughout the year. My father late Baidyanath Chowdhury, who was the youngest son of my grandfather told me that the six brothers had purchased one Belgium made double bore riffle along with four one-shutter India made riffle for self-defence."

Baidul is about 9.5 km from Balurghat and located on the banks of Atreyee River. According to the sources, there are about 21 family pujas across the district. "We are proud maintaining our ancestral tradition. The puja days are family reunion for us too as many of them are scattered in different parts of the country and foreign as well," said Mainak Chowdhury, who is another successor and great-grandson of Prasanna Lal Chowdhury.