On the outskirts of the city, on Baruipore Amtala Road, there is a village, Dhopgachhi. The name is distortion of Dhabal Ghazi, a seer who, as per oral history, was as fair as a ‘sahib’, so the name. With all likelihood, he was an albino. The mazaar of Ghazi Sahib is on the road itself. To accommodate the shrine, the road there takes sharp bends, making us belive that the Ghazi Sahib died well before construction of the road in British era, and they did not want to disturb or demolish the shrine. The shrine includes a temple of Lord Panchananda, a pagan God believed to be the son of Lord Shiva and a tribal woman. Lord Panchananda is a popular God of South 24 Parganas. You can see His temples right from Kidderpore to Baba Bara Kachhari in Bawali. There a tree represents the God. For those of us who had read The Hungry Tide by Amitava Ghosh and therefore had learnt about the pagan Goddess Bonbibi, puja of the Goddess is held at the village on Akkhin Day, i.e. the day next to Poush Samkranti. Individual houses bring images of Goddess Bonbibi, the only goddess in Hindu pantheon to have shoes on Her feet. She is garlanded, and placed at the base of a giant bamboo plantation. Images come in different shapes and sizes. People are under no compulsion of eating veg on that day. They start their day by worshipping ‘Bara’ God at the morning, and by offering agarbattis and sweets at the mazar in the evening, with attending the Bonbibi Puja in noon. Images are placed at the base of the tree. People throw batasaa on the air. They fall on soil and people eat that for Prasad. Older ladies burn dhuna on their heads. Brother of Bonbibi, Shah Jangli accompanies the Goddess. Around dusk, more than a hundred images further arrive, on human headtops, from a nearby village called Bamangachhi, a distortion of Bamon Ghazi, a dwarf perhaps, who was reportedly brother of Dhabal Ghazi. The siblings have two contiguous villages named after themselves. The show is organized by Radhaballavpur Bibima Sporting Club. Direction: Get onto Amtala Baruipore Road, either from Amtala on Diamond Harbour Rod or from Baruipore. Get down at Kalyanpore Gram Panchayat Office. Take the narrow road opposite it, a feeder road of Amtala Baruipore Road. Walk a little and you reach the destination.
Posted on: Tue, 23 Dec 2014 12:46:29 +0000
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