“From Farewell to Renewal: The Immersion of Durga and the Resurrection of Bhandani”, My Ind Makers, October 04, 2025
“When the joyous resonance of “Durga Ma Ki Jai” fades into silence and the goddess is immersed in the sacred rivers on ‘Dashami’, an aching emptiness descends across the hearts of Bengalis. For most, Durga Puja culminates in this bittersweet moment – the celebration of victory dissolving into the sorrow of farewell. Yet, in the heartlands of North Bengal – in Jalpaiguri, Alipurduar, Cooch Behar and Dooars – this grief does not linger. Instead, a remarkable tradition unfolds. On ‘Ekadashi’, just one day after Dashami, a new goddess emerges – “Devi Bhandani”, the blessed mother of the Rajbongshi community. For them, farewell is not the end, but the beginning of renewal.
Bhandani: The Village Goddess of Simplicity
Unlike the familiar Durga of Bengal’s grand autumnal festival, Bhandani is not the ‘Mahishasurmardini’, the ten-armed slayer of demons. Instead, she is depicted as an ordinary woman with two hands, tender and approachable, yet carrying divine grace. Her mount is not on the lion but the ‘tiger’, a reflection of the once-prevalent Royal Bengal tigers of Baikanthapur forest.
Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartikeya and Ganesha accompany Bhandani. But her iconography omits the violent imagery of demon-slaying. Here, she is not the warrior goddess but the nurturing guardian of crops, forests and households. As an elder of the Rajbongshi community once explained in an oral account…….”
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