Durga Puja.
Mother Durga has been worshiping in West Bengal for hundreds of years and has different traditions and beliefs of worship in different areas of the state. Mother Durga is worshiped as ‘Kodakhai Durga’ in Raghunathganj in Murshidabad district of West Bengal. This 600 year old Durga Puja is an example of communal harmony. In the Durga Puja here, Muslim women offer the mother and also share their hands in their decoration.
Legend has it that about 600 years ago, the mother gave a message to a member of a Muslim community of the area in a dream. When hungry, she wanted to eat something from them. The tradition of this puja started from there. After that, the family of Sharatchandra Bandyopadhyay, a zamindar of Bahura village of Raghunathganj, started the puja.
Zamindar Sharatchandra Bandyopadhyay’s family started worshiping
The original residence of this Bandyopadhyay family was in Manigram of Sagardighi. He came to Raghunathganj long ago for family reasons. It is said that at one time, the bandits used to organize Durga Puja in the forest of that area.
Once, Sharatchandra Bandyopadhyay saw this puja passing by. Later that night, the goddess appeared in a dream and ordered to worship at her house. Along with this, Devi also ordered that she will first get food from a Muslim family in that village.
Muslim woman offers mother to Nadu
It is said that a Muslim widow of Raghunathganj used to run a rice mill. Sharatchandrababu first proposed this in front of him, but his economic condition was not good. It is said that the same night, the goddess ordered her in a dream that she should bring at least a little bit of rice in the form of indulgence.
The next morning, they went to the forest. Somehow, he collected a little rice from there, made Nadu with him and offered Goddess Durga. All this started from here. Even today, there is a tradition of offering Nadu to the rice mill along with everything else in this puja. Along with this, rice, jackfruit and Ganga Hilsa.
Muslim women decorate Maa Durga
At that time, in that area of Murshidabad, rice was called ‘Koda’ and from that whip, this goddess was named ‘Kodakhai Durga’. However, this approach is not acceptable. Many people say that once there was a terrible flood in that village. At that time, the goddess gave a message to a Muslim family in a dream that he wants to offer bhurur rice in worship. Another name for Bhurur rice is Kaun. It is believed that since then, there is a tradition of worshiping with Kaan rice here.
Muslim women decorate Durga with conch and polka dots. There are many stories, but there is an example of harmony during worship in Bengal. Here the Muslim women of the region decorate Goddess Durga with conch and polka dots. Along with this, worship here is not complete here without their presence. However, just as there is no evening aarti in this puja, similarly there is no tradition of offering Anjali. There is no religious discrimination.