The idol sculptors of Kumartuli

The idol sculptors of Kumartuli

The potters' neighborhood in Kumartuli, in the north of Calcutta,is the fulcrum of the religious life of the Hindus. The sculptorsthere carry on a very old tradition: the crafting of effigies of thedivinities for the end-of-year religious celebrations, the pujas.

A Photo story by Bruno Perousse / LightMediation

2634-04: INDE, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA) QUARTIER DE KUMARTULI, ATELIER DE FABRICATION DES STATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE ET NOVEMBRE

Contact - Thierry Tinacci - LightMediation Photo Agency - +33 (0)6 61 80 57 21 email: [email protected]

2634-01: INDE, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DES SCULPTEURS DE KUMARTULI,COMMERCE D'OBJETS DE DECORATION POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE

2634-02: INDE, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DES SCULPTEURS DE KUMARTULI,MANUTENTIONNAIRES EMPLOYES POUR LES TRANSPORTS DES STATUES DE DIVINITES

2634-03: INDE, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA) QUARTIER DE KUMARTULI, ATELIER DE FABRICATIONDES STATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE ET

2634-04: INDE, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA) QUARTIER DE KUMARTULI, ATELIER DE FABRICATION DESSTATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE ET NOVEMBRE














2634-51: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DE SOBHA BAZAR, MITOYEN DU QUARTIER DE KUMARTULI OU SONT SITUES LES ATELIERS DE FABRICATION DESSTATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE ET NOVEMBRE. UNE STATUE DE LA DEESSE DURGA A ETE INSTALLEE SOUS LE PANDAL (UNE STRUCTURE

PROVISOIRE) POUR ETRE PRESENTEE AU PUBLIC PENDANT LES QUATRE JOURS DES FESTIVITES




2634-20: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DEKUMARTULI, LIEU DE FABRICATION DES STATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES


2634-22: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DEKUMARTULI, LIEU DE FABRICATION DES STATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES



2634-26: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DE KUMARTULI, LIEU DE FABRICATION DES STATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS)D'OCTOBRE ET NOVEMBRE. LE DERNIER JOUR DE LA DURGA PUJA, LES STATUES DE LA DEESSE DURGA SONT IMMERGEES DANS LA RIVIERE HOOGLY, AFFLUENT DU GANGE







2634-64: INDE, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DES SCULPTEURS DE KUMARTULI,COMMERCE D'OBJETS DE DECORATION POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE












2634-41: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DEULTADANGA. FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE ET NOVEMBRE. PANDAL DE

2634-42: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DE SOBHABAZAR, MITOYEN DU QUARTIER DE KUMARTULI OU SONT SITUES LES ATELIERS DE

2634-43: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DEKALIGHAT. FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE ET NOVEMBRE. UNE STATUE DE LA

2634-44: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER SUD. FETESRELIGIEUSES (PUJAS) D'OCTOBRE ET NOVEMBRE. UNE STATUE DE LA DEESSE DURGA A ETE

2634-45: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DEKUMARTULI OU SONT SITUES LES ATELIERS DE FABRICATION DES STATUES DE DIVINITES




2634-58: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DE KUMARTULI, OU SONT FABRIQUEES LES STATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES (PUJAS)D'OCTOBRE ET NOVEMBRE. TERMINEES, LES STATUES SONT TRANSPORTEES DANS LES FAMILLES OU VERS LES PANDALS, LE LIEU D'EXPOSITION PENDANT LES FESTIVITES







2634-55: INDE, ETAT DU BENGALE OCCIDENTAL, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA), QUARTIER DEKUMARTULI, OU SONT FABRIQUEES LES STATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES








2634-62: INDE, KOLKATA (CALCUTTA) QUARTIER DE KUMARTULI, OU SONT SITUES LESATELIERS DE FABRICATION DES STATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES


2634-65: QUARTIER DES SCULPTEURS DE KUMARTULI, EXTRACTION DE LA TERRE GLAISESERVANT A LA REALISATION DES STRATUES DE DIVINITES POUR LES FETES RELIGIEUSES


The idolsculptors ofKumartuli

"Bolo Durga mai ki jai", "Glory be toMother Durga". With these words, theimmense statue of the goddess with tenarms tips over into the purifying waters ofthe Hooghly River. Immobile, she bobs ashort while, then, carried along by thestrong current, she will join hundreds ofother Durga offered to the upstreamstretch of the river. On the steps of theghat, the crowd becomes dense.Processions from all the neighborhoods ofCalcutta converge in exuberant groups,intoxicated by the music and the incense.The heat is stifling, only just tempered bya breeze from the river. Some groupscarry their statue in their arms, but themost voluminous arrive in trucks and arequickly unloaded. At each instant, thebearers risk losing their footing. On thestairs leading down to the riverbank, theirlegs give way on the steps made slipperywith squashed flowers. It's a gigantesque confused mass. "Durga,Durga", the woman in trances weep asthey caress the divinity's face, like a lovedone they are about to lose. The lastprayers, the last offerings and the lastwreaths of jasmine: the moment has cometo part with the effigy. On the sacredriver's banks, they twirl her three timesbefore the great plunge and her finaljourney, buoyed by the waves.

They console themselves with "aaschhebochhor abar hobe", "it will happen againnext year", and they leave, singing anddancing with renewed vigor to the sound

of the drums and flutes, under the vigilanteye of the police keeping watch over thefestival at its height. The sky is sultry above this tributary of theGanges and darkness starts to fall overCalcutta.

It's late in the afternoon of Dashami, thelast of the five days of the Durga Puja, thefestival of offerings and adoration of Durgain commemoration of her victory over thedemons. The immersion ceremony bringsto an end the most important of the Hindufestivities that take place in eastern India.It is timed to coincide with the new moonin the month of Ashvina (the sixth monthin the Bengali calendar, whichcorresponds to September or October).Observed throughout the country, it is inthe capital of West Bengal where this pujais the most lavishly celebrated.

The next morning, the riverbanks display ascene of desolation. Dozens of statueshave washed up on the muddy shores.They no longer have the vividness of theday before; the faces are eroding, themembers dislocated. A hand rises out ofthe water, like a periscope out of nowhere.Further away, you can see the head of thelion that Durga traditionally straddles.Chains of wilted flowers cling to a trident.

Soon nothing will remain. The effigies,made of gray clay from the river, will returnto their origin. A symbol of eternalrenewal, they disappear into the riverbed,the very spot where they were born: onthe banks of the river, where thecraftsmen come to get the clay needed tomake the idols. Very rich and supple clay,cut up into fat slabs and taken inhandcarts a few streets away to the

potters' neighborhood of Kumartuli.

The village of the Kumars

In the north of the city, Kumartuli is aspeck of dust compared to the whole ofCalcutta and its fifteen million inhabitants.A modest neighborhood far from thewealthy suburbs where air-conditionedshopping malls and luxury car dealershave sprung up, symbols of economicdevelopment: just a few narrow andcrowded lanes, squeezed between theHoogly river and the working class streetsof the Shoba Bazar. The place gets its name from the Kumars,the caste of potters established there forcenturies because of its proximity to theriver where they get the raw materials fortheir creations, originally cooking utensils.250 to 300 traditional sculptors live here.As time passed, they started to specializein the making of the idols used in all thereligious festivals.

It's evident that the neighborhood has notbeen subject to any town planning. Fromthe few tarmac lanes diverge many dirtalleys, passageways and dead-endswhich quickly become impassable in astorm. Sheds, narrow corridors and grimycubbyholes crammed on top of each otherand joined by bamboo ladders serve asboth housing and workshops. Tangles ofrusty scaffolding, old cracked statues lyingin the corners, a few grocery stores andmany shops specializing in theaccessories that ornament the goddessescomplete the scene.

We have a hard time believing that fromthese dark, cramped and poorly ventilatedspaces come the statues that sometimes

measure three meters high. Nonetheless,from generation to generation, the artistshere mass-produce the effigies of thegods. Often sitting right on the floor andsimply dressed in a dhoti, the traditionalcotton loincloth, they untiringly repeat thesame gestures of this ancestral art to putlife into the idols.

The birth of a Durga

First, an armature of recuperated woodand bamboo prefigures the general shapeof the intended sculpture. On thisskeleton, bunches of straw giveconsistency to the arms, legs and body.Then comes the application of the clay inthree layers, the last done with finer clayfree of any impurities. Under the experthands, the bodies and faces arefashioned.

After the drying and application of a finalcoating, the painters go into action. Mostoften the base coat is green, yellow orpink, the favorite colors. The parts of thebody that will be clothed are not painted.For the face and hands, the brushstroke isprecise, the lines assured. No detail islacking, all meticulously painted. Thecomplexions are bright, the lips very red,pastels have no part in it. After the paint,they put on hair, more than life-like, hatsand dress the statues in colorful,shimmering saris. Then come the diverseornaments, jewelry, gems, fakes ofcourse, and the multiple accessories. ForDurga, with her ten arms, there is noshortage: the bow and arrow, the conchshell, the trident, the sword and shieldamongst others, the Hindu canons of theday are respected.

The work is split up: to each his specialty,

according to his capabilities. To thebeginner goes the thankless task ofcutting all day long the pieces of bamboofor the armatures, the most skillful artistskeeping for themselves the drawing of theeyes, the operation called "chokhhudaan". Once completed, the most beautifuleffigies are veritable works of art that willsell for a fortune.

Languid in springtime, Kumartuli sees itsactivities increase with the approach of thebig religious festivals in autumn. Forweeks the orders come in from throughoutIndia and also from abroad where Bengaliexpatriate communities still celebrateDurga. A part of the 12,000 statues madeeach year will be sent off to more than 90countries. The workshops fill up; trucksand carts, surrounded by a multitude ofcoolies, unload by the hundreds statues tobe completed. In the sheds, the smallestrecess is filled. The workshops are nolonger big enough. They may pile themup, arrange them, regroup them, but to noavail: space is lacking and soon an armyof gods and goddesses invades thestreets, the squares, the intersections. Bythe end of summer, rows of identical idolslay siege to the village, the entire Hindupantheon like soldiers before the finalbattle. Battalions of Durgas face the linesof Karthik goddesses, rows of Lakshmisseem ready to confront a squadron ofGanesh, the god with an elephant's headand potbelly, while in each corner, greenand grimacing demons, alreadyconquered, lie abandoned. At night, themagic spreads over the neighborhoodnow empty of the workers who have leftfor a few hours of rest. The scant street

lighting lengthens the frightful shadows ofthese ghostly troops who threaten the latepasser-by.

In a few days everything will be back tonormal. But now the holiday approaches,the nervous bosses add the last finishingtouches and the tension peaks. The lastcoat of varnish has barely dried whenalready lines of trucks wait in theneighboring streets. The customers arethere to take delivery of the masterpieces.Teams of carriers pass each other, hurlabuse, the weakest getting out of thenarrow passageways just in time. It needsto be seen, the loading of a statueweighing a few hundred kilos onto theback of a Tata, without the aid of a craneor a forklift.

The pandals

The idols are dispatched, carried off bythe families who purchased them ordivided up into the pandals, a sort of bigtop made of wood and fabrics, built toexhibit the divinities throughout theholiday. More then 2000 of theseshort-lived, garishly colored structures withpolystyrene décors, sometimes quitekitsch, are erected in Calcutta,commissioned by companies, banks,cooperatives and neighborhoodassociations. They rival each other inimagination and creativity to build the mostaudacious pandal. The neighborhood orcompany's reputation depends on it and itcould be the occasion to win one of theprizes awarded to the most grandiosepandals. Most often, they are the life-sizereproduction of Hindu temples, but youcan also see boats, pagodas, castles. Notheme is neglected; Egyptian or Nepalese

motifs are highly prized. More innovative,some have taken on environmentalist andclimatic themes. In 2007, theneighborhood of Salt Lake City even hada few difficulties with J.K. Rowling'slawyers for having built withoutauthorization a gigantic copy of theHogwarts School of Witchcraft andWizardry from the Harry Potter books. Religious holidays par excellence, thepujas are also the occasion for big,popular festivities. A great event in theirsocial life, it is the time when people visiteach other, give gifts (often clothing) andprepare special dishes at home. Thenewspapers publish circuits of the mostmajestic pandals that adorn the streets ofCalcutta and throughout the day and alarge part of the night families joyfullyjostle about to admire the masterpieces.For hours on end, an unbroken queuetramps before the statues, under thewatchful eye of the priests busy collectingthe offerings. Around the pandals, lavishlylit up at night, the funfair sets up with itsantiquated manually operatedmerry-go-rounds, its street peddlers andits eateries smelling of fried onion curry.

In Kumartuli, the workers' time off will beshort. In three weeks, the Bengalis willcelebrate the puja of Kali and the effigiesof Durga will give way to rows of thegoddess sticking out her tongue, with theenemies' decapitated heads hangingaround her neck. She herself will then bereplaced by Lakshmi, Vishnu's wife. Eternal renewal...

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The idol sculptors of Kumartuli