Evoking Durga 

Tapan Jana, from Midnapore district, travels across south India in the weeks leading up to Navaratri, making Durga idols for Bengali associations in various districts. Traditionally, the soil used for the idol is procured from the banks of the river Hooghly (called Ganga Maati), mixed with mud from different spots to represent inclusiveness in divinity.
“But when we make idols outside Bengal, we cannot follow that ritual strictly always, because each average-size idol would require around five sacks of mud and transporting that from Bengal would hike the cost,” explains Tapan, who makes seven idols in Kerala during the season before proceeding to Punjab to prepare the idol for Kali Pujo, which falls on the day before Deepawali.

“I use small portions of Ganga maati, which I mix with locally procured clay and some plaster of Paris to smear on the hay skeleton of the idol to shape it up.”

 
The Durga idol is usually readied on Mahalaya, the day before Navaratri begins, with the final ritual being the Chokku Daan — the drawing of the eyes. This symbolises the awakening of the divine spirit, and evokes the arrival of the Goddess.

“I have never been in Kolkata during Durga Pujo all these years,” has been making idols for the Trivandrum Bengali Association for 22 years.

“Every year, my travels for making idols start in July and end somewhere near the end of October. But I am always at one Pujo pandal or another on the festival days.”