While Bengali Club’s Durga Puja, which began in 1914, is widely regarded as the city’s oldest public celebration of the festival, community elders recall a Durga Puja event that is, in fact, older and has links with the British Residency.
According to a popular belief among the Bengali community, the ‘first’ celebration was not accompanied by grandeur or fanfare. Then, rituals were performed to an image of Goddess Durga on a calendar. This story has travelled through generations.
It is believed that a member of the Bengali community, who had settled in Lucknow during the colonial era, quietly organised the city’s first Durga Puja at the Residency around 19o9. The ritual was a private affair, attended only by a handful of people, and symbolised the community’s devotion far from home.
Manindra Nath Pal, 94, who’s the senior most member of the Club now, said the memory of these accounts was vivid in him. “Even before the Club’s Puja celebration was started by Atul Krishna Sinha, a railway engineer from Bengal, a ‘talukdar’ (revenue officer) from our community initiated the first Puja here with a paper calendar. Since it was private, very few people attended it,” he recalled.
The tradition slowly grew from private spaces to more organised celebrations. Oral history confirms that after the Residency, the puja events were organised at several houses. “Our family elders told us the Puja was later performed twice at each Hewett Road and Nazar Bagh and once at Sundar Bagh before 1914. Then, the puja was restricted for outsiders, before it finally became a ‘sarbojanin puja’ (public festival) in 1914,” said Pal.
{{/usCountry}}The tradition slowly grew from private spaces to more organised celebrations. Oral history confirms that after the Residency, the puja events were organised at several houses. “Our family elders told us the Puja was later performed twice at each Hewett Road and Nazar Bagh and once at Sundar Bagh before 1914. Then, the puja was restricted for outsiders, before it finally became a ‘sarbojanin puja’ (public festival) in 1914,” said Pal.
{{/usCountry}}Arun Banerjee, the president of Bengali Club, said, “It marked the beginning of a cultural renaissance for Bengalis in Lucknow. At a time when the Bengali diaspora was growing due to postings in railways, education, and administration, the Puja became a spiritual anchor and a celebration of identity.” Now in its 111th year, the Club’s Durga Puja continues to honour its roots while embracing change.
The Club’s officiating general secretary, Trisha Sinha, is the great-granddaughter of the late Sinha.