Shubho Durga Puja: Every Pandal Is a Masterpiece by Bengal's Artisans

Somewhere in Kolkata tonight, a dhaki is tuning his drum. A family is walking its fourth kilometre of the evening, and a child is looking up at a ceiling of ten thousand lights. Durga Puja is here.

From all of us at Daroonjinish: Shubho Durga Puja and Shubho Sharodiya. Our team is in Kolkata this week for the Pujas, and we wanted to bring a little of the city home to you. Every photograph in this story was taken by our founder, Poonam Sheth, while pandal-hopping through the city.

A Festival the World Calls Heritage

On 15 December 2021, at its 16th session in Paris, UNESCO inscribed Durga Puja in Kolkata on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. It was the first festival from Asia to be given this honour.

What UNESCO recognised was not only a festival of faith. It recognised a living tradition of heritage craftsmanship: the clay images shaped by hand in small artisan workshops, the drummers, the decorators, the lighting artists and the designers who together turn a whole city into an open-air gallery for ten days every year.

UNESCO-recognised heritage craftsmanship. Every pandal and every idol you see in this story is handwork, made by the artisans of West Bengal.

Every Pandal Begins With a Pair of Hands

A pandal is a temporary temple. It stands for a few days and is then taken down. And yet many are built over months by carpenters, bamboo workers, painters, sculptors, tailors, electricians and lighting artists, most of them from the towns and villages of Bengal.

Look up inside the pandals in these photographs and you will see what that means: domed ceilings carved into rows of petals, chandeliers that seem to float, walls that look like stone and are in fact shaped by hand from wood, fibre, cloth and paint. Nothing here is printed off a machine. Every curve was cut, fixed and finished by someone.

This craft is also a livelihood for a great many families. A study commissioned by the British Council with the West Bengal Department of Tourism, and carried out by Queen Mary University of London and IIT Kharagpur, valued the creative economy around Durga Puja in West Bengal at about ₹32,377 crore in 2019. Behind that number are lakhs of working hands.

From Ganga Clay to Goddess

Most of the idols you see across Kolkata begin their lives in Kumortuli, the old potters' quarter on the banks of the Hooghly in north Kolkata. Here, families of idol-makers have practised the craft for generations, usually learning it from a father or grandfather.

• The kathamo: first, a frame of bamboo and wood is built and tied together. Straw is bound over it to give the body its rough shape.
• The clay: layers of river clay from the Ganga, mixed with rice husk, are pressed on by hand, smoothed and left to dry, often through the last of the monsoon rains.
• The colour: the idol is painted, dressed in sarees and adorned with ornaments.
• Chokkhudaan: the eyes are painted last, usually by a master artisan. Many families still keep this step for the most auspicious moment.

Look at the curved panel behind the goddess in the photograph above. That painted arch is the chalchitra, a traditional backdrop that frames Maa Durga and her children together under one arch. Some pandals still keep this classic style, while others give each figure its own stage. Both are a choice of the artist.

Daker Saaj: Ornaments Made of a Plant

The glowing white and gold ornaments on many idols are called daker saaj. The name is often traced to the days when fine silver foil for the goddess's ornaments came from Germany by dak, the post. Over time, Bengal's own sholapith took its place.

Shola is the soft white pith of a marsh plant, carved by hand into crowns, jewellery and flowers. The craft is kept alive mainly by the Malakar community, with one of its best known clusters in Bonkapasi in Purba Bardhaman. Every petal and filigree you see is cut with a simple knife.

When Bengal's Folk Art Becomes the Pandal

Some of the most beautiful pandals this year are not built in gold at all. They are built in colour. Painted reliefs, giant dolls and rows of hand-painted figures bring the style of Bengal's village folk art, its scroll painters and its toy-makers, into the heart of the city.

These are the pandals that remind us why we started Daroonjinish. The same hands that paint a scroll, carve a sholapith crown or weave a sabai grass basket are the hands that make Bengal what it is. All of it is creativity, and all of it is handwork.

Shakha, Pola and Sindoor Khela

On Bijoya Dashami, the last day, married women gather to offer sindoor to Maa Durga before she leaves for Kailash, and then smear it on one another's foreheads and cheeks. This is Sindoor Khela, and on almost every wrist you will see the white shakha and red pola.

Our own Gohona collection of hand-crafted silver shakha and pola was made for exactly these moments. Each piece is finished by hand by artisans, and every one carries the story of Bengal on the wrist.

Carry a Little of Bengal Home

When you visit a pandal this year, take a moment to look past the lights and think of the hands behind them. And if you would like to bring that craft into your home, everything at Daroonjinish is handmade by the artisans of West Bengal:

• Sabai grass baskets for puja flowers, prasad and gifting
• Sabai grass table mats for your Bijoya dinner table
• Handwoven basket bags for pandal-hopping in style
• Gohona silver shakha and pola

Quick Answers

Is Durga Puja a UNESCO heritage?
Yes. "Durga Puja in Kolkata" was inscribed on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity on 15 December 2021.

Who makes the Durga Puja pandals and idols?
Artisans of West Bengal: idol-makers of Kumortuli and other potters' communities, sholapith carvers, carpenters, bamboo workers, painters, tailors and lighting artists. Almost all of it is handwork.

What is daker saaj?
The white and gold ornaments of the goddess, traditionally made of foil and today mostly hand-carved from sholapith by the Malakar artisans of Bengal.

Shubho Durga Puja, and Shubho Bijoya in advance. May Maa Durga bless your home with strength, joy and beauty.

With love from Kolkata,
Team Daroonjinish

All photographs by Poonam Sheth, Kolkata, Durga Puja 2026.