Erosion of soil tradition as Durga idol makers skip red-light district

In Shah Rukh Khan-starrer Devdas, the character played by Aishwarya Rai visits a red-light district to fetch soil for the sculpting of a Durga idol. That it was a tradition to get soil from ‘nishiddho palli’ or red-light district for Durga Idol was a revelation to millions of people in India.
This crucial scene in the 2002 Sanjay Leela Bhansali highlighted a centuries-old tradition prevalent in Bengal and its neighbouring states. Traditionally, collecting ‘punya mati’ (sacred soil) from the doorsteps of a sex worker’s home was seen as essential for sculpting of Durga idols in Kolkata’s Kumartuli, the hub of idol-making in West Bengal.
However, the tradition of artisans visiting red-light areas, known as ‘nishiddho pallis’ in Bengali, to collect this soil is on the wane, and is now mostly followed by family pujas organised by descendants of zamindars.

Traditionally, collecting ‘punya mati’ (sacred soil) from the doorsteps of a sex worker’s home was seen as essential for sculpting of Durga idols in Kolkata’s Kumartuli (AFP)

The tradition was brought back to public consciousness this year after it was reported that sex workers of Sonagachi, Asia’s largest red-light district, had decided not to provide soil for Durga idols this year. This, it was reported, was in protest against the rape and murder of a trainee doctor in Kolkata’s RG Kar Medical College and Hospital.
Bishakha Laskar, secretary of Durbar Mahila Samanwaya Committee, which represents 40,000 sex workers in West Bengal, rejected the reports, and said that it had been five years since they had stopped providing soil for Durga idols. That had to do with their demands not being met by the government.
Bishakha Laskar acknowledged that the once-popular custom of seeking soil from sex workers was on the wane and would soon get relegated to folklore.
“Previously, artisans and idol makers from Kumartuli used to come to Sonagachi for soil. Now, they are hardly seen here. These days, shops that sell puja items are said to be selling such soil,” Laskar told India Today Digital.
She, however, said that the authenticity of soil from a red-light area being sold in shops is questionable.
“People these days prefer to buy it from shops to avoid the social stigma of visiting Sonagachi,” added Laskar.
This has led to commercialisation of the soil from the doorsteps of commercial sex workers.
Now, even local paan shops near Sonagachi sell soil, Raju Paul of Kumartuli Idols Exporter, which supplies idols to Dubai and other foreign countries, told India Today Digital.
“The price is negotiable and can range anywhere from Rs 30 to Rs 100 a pouch,” he said.

A handful of erstwhile rajbaris and zamindar households across north Kolkata have held on to this age-old practice (AFP)

The fact that soil from red-light areas is being sold defeats the very purpose why it is used in the first place. The soil should be begged from sex workers and received as a blessing.
“Traditionally, idol makers used to politely beg and take the soil from the hands of sex workers. The whole custom has lost its meaning now with artisans purchasing soil from shops,” Laskar of Sonagachi said.
But why is soil from a sex worker’s doorsteps considered ‘punya mati’ (pure soil)?
It is believed that when a man steps into a prostitute’s quarters, he leaves behind his virtue and purity outside, making the soil at the doorstep pure, explains history research scholar Kaushik Nandi.
Though said to be a centuries-old tradition, when and how did it start?
There are several theories, including one that it was started by Lord Ram at the time of Akalbodhan (Akal means untimely, and bodhan means awakening).
The conventional time of Durga Puja is during spring. It is called Basanti Puja.
The custom of celebrating this festival in autumn was initiated by Lord Ram to seek the blessings of Goddess Durga before the war with Ravana. Legend has it that Lord Ram used the soil from the home of Ambalika, a prostitute, for his Durga idol.
“Therefore, the soil from a red light area is indispensable for making the idol. There is mention in Hindu scriptures as well. It is said that Mahishasuramardini (the slayer of demon Mahisasur) should be built using the soil from a prostitute’s house during Akalbodhan,” Kaushik Nandi of Raiganj University, told India Today Digital.
Nandi said that as per the Puranas, when sage Vishwamitra was performing severe penance for greater spiritual powers, Indra, the king of Gods, resolved to disrupt his meditation.
“He sent Menaka, an apsara (celestial nymph), to distract the meditating sage. Menaka was successful in getting Vishvamitra sexually attracted to her, thus disrupting his meditation. But when Vishwamitra came to know of her real intentions, he cursed her,” said Nandi.
That curse is related to the worship of sex workers and the soil from their quarters.
“Akala Mahamaya (Durga) is worshipped in nine forms. This ninth form is the cursed Menaka, who represents sex workers and is worshipped last after Ashtakanya. Thus, those who are relegated to the corner of society throughout the year, are worshipped then,” he said.
Some artisans do travel all the way from Bihar and Jharkhand to collect soil from Sonagachi after Rath Yatra, considered an auspicious day on which several puja organisers start making idols, she said.
In the oldest Durga Puja in Bihar’s Purnea, the idol is crafted by sculptors who come from Kolkata’s Kumartuli.
“Each year, these artisans travel to Purnea, bringing with them the customary clay from sex workers’ quarters,” Pradipto Bhattacharjee, secretary of Purnea’s Bhatta Durga Bari Puja Samiti, told India Today Digital.
While the tradition is no longer followed in community pujas of West Bengal, only a handful of erstwhile rajbaris and zamindar households across north Kolkata have held on to this age-old practice.
Goutam Basu Mallick, a member of the Basu Mallick family, which has been performing Durga puja since 1831, acknowledged that some rituals have been abandoned with the passage of time.
“There are around 100 family pujas in Kolkata and most of the ‘ek chala’ idols are made by a family of artisans through generations. The tradition of the family artisan going to a prostitute’s home is not followed now. There is a potters’ syndicate who usually distribute the soil to rajbaris,” said Mallick.
All family pujas follow the ‘ek chala’ tradition where Goddess Durga and her family are all intricately depicted in one frame, often referred to as ‘chal chitra’.

Sonagachi, the biggest red light district of Asia, in Kolkata holds its own Durga Puja now. (AFP)

Raju Paul of Kumartuli Idols Exporter said the custom has now become obsolete and none of the artisans from the current generation visit any red-light areas to collect ‘punya mati’.
“We haven’t received any such request from the puja committee for the past 30 years. But, some bonedi (zamindar) family pujas, which have been held for over 100 years, mix soil brought from a red-light area in the first batch of clay at the very beginning of sculpting of the idol,” Paul said.
Explaining the reason why the tradition is still followed in family pujas, a member of the renowned Girish Mukherjee family explained that in ‘barowari’ (community) pujas, the ‘ghot’ (pot), which is representative of the deity, is worshipped, and not the idol itself.
The Girish Bhawan puja, now in its 193rd year, was started in Kolkata by eminent lawyer Girish Mukherjee, a close associate of Pandit Ishwar Chandra Vidyasagar.
“The first clay used for the Durga idol is mixed with soil brought from a prostitute’s home. It is mixed with mud from the banks of the Ganga, cow dung and cow urine. This tradition has been followed by us since 1831,” Krishna Dwaipayan Mukherjee, one of the descendants of Girish Mukherjee, told India Today Digital.
In a society where sex workers have remained pushed to a corner, this age-old tradition was one of the threads loosely connecting them to the mainstream. Once a year, artisans would visit red-light areas and beg the sex workers for soil. However, with the new generation of artisans ignorant of the age-old tradition and sex workers refusing to provide soil, the custom will only live on in stories and films like Devdas.