When one talks of Durga Puja in South Kolkata, the Tridhara Akalbodhon is an unmissable part of it. Taking a swift left turn from the main road, one walks on until they come to the almost triangular intersection of Manoharpukur Road. This gigantic pandal, one of the award-winning ones, has come up with the theme Chalo Phiri, looking back to the roots.
Moreover, curator Myna Mukherjee and artists Shilo Shiv Suleman and Gouranga Kuila has transformed the place to embody the beginning, the root, the Adi Shakti, from where everything stems up. And to represent the Kundalini form is an artistic installation that is absolutely unforgettable.
As you start approaching the pandal you will notice the trees are lit up and scarlet red cloths and threads pave the way. The huge gate with a Nandi on top welcomes all visitors, while the sloping path takes one to the centre of the pandal, where one can view the actual mandap.
The entire surrounding gives you a feel of walking across mountainous and cave-like paths with a Chamunda statue, Shiva statue, a real waterfall, Aghori Ganesh and the Kundalini Shakti greeting you all the way to and after the mandap. The entire pandal is black in colour and it has an interesting history.
Speaking to Indulge, Myna states, “The idea is to go back to the roots of the Adi Shakti or the concept of Durga as the mother Goddess. Not just from the Vaishnavite point of view but looking at her at the most primordial. You will see a Chamunda outside and an aghori Ganesh. As an art curator I thought this is really interesting because you will see this pandal is different. Its stripped of all colours to take it back to a prehistoric, written version of Hinduism, that looks at rock caves and from a civilization reawakening point of view. The Durga is also resembling Maa Tara from the Tantric Buddhist form. The installation, Dhwani, that we have here is brass and beaten glass, 12ft high and 7 ft in diameter, a version of the Kundalini shakti which is also an abstract version of the Goddess. It is made by the artist Shilo Shiv Suleman who works at the intersection of art and tech. The workmanship is done by a community of lohars from Jaipur.”
It is important to highlight that, like most installations today, Dhwani is an interactive installation. The name Dhwani means sound, which is nothing but vibrations or waves. In fact, when one does parikrama around the structure, it responds with the lights installed in it.
However, this feature is currently unavailable in the pandal due to the extreme crowd around it. Moreover, a close look at the string of lights which spiral around the serpentine structure would reveal the use of red and white lights, which Myna says “is the colours of the kundalini”. This might make the viewer wonder its connection with the fondness of red-white combination which sees an upsurge during Durga Puja.
When asked about the pandal being all black in colour, a subject to much debate she mentions, “Black has always been beautiful and the entire idea of dark being inauspicious in many ways is a post colonial idea which has come from a lot of Victorian morality. In fact, a lot of fertility goddesses in our symbology are dark. I think this came very naturally with the theme of Chalo Phiri embracing the dark was a big manifestation of that. And the idea of Durga being a manifestation of Kali also formed a part of that whole idea.”
Apart from extreme intricate craftsmanship which needs to be seen upfront to be admired in full glory, the idea of sustainability also holds prominence when talking about contemporary pandals and installation. Myna comments, “A lot of the figures in this pandal has been created with the idea that they will be re-used. They are made of clay and Styrofoam to do a lot of carvings. So, all of this is really meant to be sustainable over a large period of time. We hope we are able to take parts of it as installations to other Biennales or installation sites and preserve the beauty of the idols themselves.”
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