Editorial photo #8926498 Religion and Belief
Durga Puja Festival 2022
The Antique Ceiling Lamps , at the Sovabazar Rajbari ahead Durga Puja Festival in Kolkata,India on September 29,2022. Bonedi Bari’s Durga Puja starts in 1757, a year that etched many a milestone for Bengal and in a larger perspective even India. For this was the year when the last Nawab of Bengal, Siraj-ud-daullah lost to the British army and Bengal lost its independence to the foreign rulers, who would go on to rule India in the next few centuries. It was in this very year, that the first family Durga Puja started in Kolkata, that of Sovabazar Rajbari by Raja Nabakrishna Deb. Maharaja Nabakrishna was popular among the British officials and he invited many dignitaries to this puja, including Lord Clive. It is said that Clive drove in his carriage all the way from his residence (he lived in the newly developed part of the city) to Sovabazar that was in the older part of Kolkata. This Durga Puja indeed set a trend and it became fashionable for upcoming merchant classes of Kolkata to start their own Durga Pujas. (Photo by Debajyoti Chakraborty/NurPhoto)
