Mother Durga has no colours

It is that time of the year again. It is the autumnal break and it is not just the change of seasons. It is Durga puja. Fifteen days of holidays in some parts of India and a time of celeberation across most it. This Saturday evening the Goddess Durga was and welcomed. She has now arrived. Eventful days lie ahead and in many parts of the country there were pujas on Sunday, followed by cultural programmes. For, the famous Durga puja, a fabulous festival associated with West Bengal and Kolkata, is also celebrated across many parts of India in differing forms. It is exceedingly popular in Assam, Tripura and Orissa, Bihar and Jharkhand while it is celeberated with pomp and glory in Delhi and Mumbai. It is also a famous festival of Nepal. It is, thus, the time of the year when we felicitate each other with the worship of the mother of the universe, the power behind creation, preservation, and destruction, the supreme force behind all. We pay tribute to her who rides a lion and protects her devotees from the evils of the world while removing their miseries. She, of many forms and incarnations, she, a blaze of blinding light, she, who causes the earth to shake when she displays her power; we salute her.

The festival, dedicated to Goddess Durga, venerated by most Indians, is a time-honoured tradition. It is therefore, with regret that we note that in West Bengal there have been some departures from tradition. It is with sadness that we learn that some puja committees in this state have chosen blue and white for their colour code, when the colours are red according to tradition, the colour associated with Mother Durga.  This is regrettable because this change of colour has been said to be not simply an aesthetic choice but possibly having something to do with politics. It is  claimed by some parties  to be a result of an order of the government, having something to do with the colour red associated with the previous communist regime in West Bengal. If so, then the order is not called for. The colour red in Durga worship has nothing to do with communism just as the  swastika in Indian religions has nothing to do with  Nazism. These are ancient symbols which transcend comtemporary ideologies, with the swastika, for example, being a symbol of peace. Besides,  religion should not a battlefield for politics. The Goddess, who fights evil and represents good, is above contemporary politics and should not be pulled into it. This is not to suggest that we stand for rigidity in religious celebrations. Durga puja is a time when many Indians, especially in West Bengal, let their hair down. It is a  time for gaiety and should remain so.