Meeting Durga Ma on Two Continents

Awaiting the Hindu Mother Goddess – Durga Ma

An Evergreen Story from Kriti Mukherjee who now lives in India

The celebration for Durga Ma’s arrival was an integral part of my childhood in India right till very recently when we moved to the US. In our Hindu household, we would wake up at the unearthly hour of 4 a.m. to hear the chants of ‘Mahalaya’ in the radio. The pundit who in his chants told us the story of Ma Durga’s creation and purpose in Sanskrit, would break down with emotion every now and then, and so did many of us.

The story would be told in a period of an hour or so after which we could formally begin the day of the ‘Pujas’.  Somehow, as if by magic, the day would start to unfold with something in the air that could be attributed only to her coming and our hearts filling with joy.

In the US we celebrated her arrival sometimes only after she had left. US, the place of opportunities, also transpired to be the place of convenience for most of us. The entire working class whole-heartedly agreed that weekends was the time to welcome her,  even if she came on a weekday.

It’s understandable because they worked shoulder to shoulder with communities who did not even know her or sometimes even thought her appearance to be mildly peculiar. I am back in India now and of the many things that I cherish is the fact that I can be a true celebrant again: brace inconvenience, fast till I see her face, pray wholeheartedly while repeating the hardest words in Sanskrit after the priest, get intoxicated with the sound of the Dhak (drums) and then go home with the determination of living in her shadow till the day I die.

 

Durga Ma and I

She may be mythical to many but I have not yet learned to control the free flow of tears when I look at her killing the demon with the spear,  in a trance -like environment created by the sound and movement of the Dhakis, traditional drummers.

To me she is a modern day working girl – our Ma Durga! Created with the fire of the Trimurti, she works diligently to kill Asura  – the ‘demonized’ image of everyday evils that we need to deal with in our lives. In a world where women’s subjugation still is an agenda to be dealt with, it is mesmerizing to see multitudes of strong powerful men bowing their heads to the divine Ma.

Corporate honchos, murderers, laborers, rich business tycoons, the paternal heads of families, wrestlers and thieves come together in complete awe and reverence to pay their respect to her! Seated on her lion, she looks down at all the men and their women reassuringly while a bloody spear pierces through the very heart of the demon, killing him.

Durga Ma: The Long Goodbye

And after the fifth day of her vacation is over, faces fall, hearts sink and a sense of insecurity at her leaving us to fend for ourselves sets in. Even her eyes soften, her smile weakens, her eyes droop but her children in this world try to cheer her up while shouting out strong chants of ‘Aashche bochor abar hobe’ (we shall celebrate your coming again next year). They are actually only trying to reassure themselves.

Chanting devotees carry her to a water-body and immerse her so she can dissolve in the water and return to the abode of Shiva, her celestial husband. The Dhakis and the men who carry her seem drunk even without a drop of alcohol in them. Her going away, the sound of the Dhak to signify that, her face, the chants brings about a surreal feeling all over.

This is all really ritual – and everything only signifies real situations in life, teaches us how to deal with them – there are deep, endless lessons to learn from it – but her ritualistic going away makes me cry buckets of tears. I can hardly face the world the day she leaves me with that mammoth lump in my throat.

The next day, however, is another day – much like any other day. Life resumes and we return to being clever human beings doing anything that makes our lives great in this world. By the time she has been gone a fortnight, her lessons are kind of gone too I think. That is how tough the world is!

I sometimes wonder whether her coming back every month would better the situation and make us worthy of her love – my heart and mind do not seem too confident and I have to bow my head in shame again.

Related Articles:

Chatty Divas – NRI Dilemma – IST or EST?
Chatty Divas – Food for Thought
The Chatty Divas – Intro