Bengaluru: When two Muslim men let Biharis use their premises to celebrate Durga Puja

BENGALURU: This year, Biharis in Bengaluru will be celebrating 40 years of Durga Puja in the city. Incidentally, the credit for beginning of the annual celebrations here goes to two Muslim entrepreneurs, VM Ibrahim and VM Barkatullah Saheb, who owned a foam factory in RT Nagar back in the 70s.

The idea of Biharis celebrating the festival with fervour in Bengaluru was born in 1979 when a few members from the community met in the city. But there was a problem: the venue. Community member Shiv Shankar Prasad, who worked as a technical director at Barkatullah’s factory, decided to seek help from his employer. "As soon as Barkatullah sir got to know about it, he asked the Bihari community members to organise puja on land available on his factory premises. He even got the hall cleaned for us to perform puja," recalls Prasad, a senior member of Siddhartha Sanskritik Samiti and the one who started Bihari Durga Puja Mahotsava with his friends Sita Sharan Sharma, Radhey Shyam Mishra and others.


"As he belonged to another religion, he would sit away from the place where the puja was held. But he always made sure we didn’t face any problem," says Ram Kewal Singh, who has taken part in every Bihari community Durga Puja in the city since 1979.

"Rightfully, Barkatullah also inaugurated the Bihar Bhawan building in RT Nagar in 1987," adds Krishna Kumar Singh, president of the samiti.

While the puja venue was later shifted, Biharis of Bengaluru have turned their Durga Puja into a symbol of unity among religions by opening it to people from all communities. In fact, the samiti members even address themselves as “Kannadiga Biharis”.

"During 1970s and 80s, the city had very few idol makers. We had to travel to Kolkata to bring idols by train," says Arvind Sharma, a spokesperson from the samiti.

In the 70s, most community members were migrant workers or Hindi teachers in government schools, but today the samiti has about 1,000 life-long members representing various professions, including business, IT and teaching.


There are two main Durga Pujas organised by the Bihari community in the city, one at Vinayaka Cultural Centre, RT Nagar and another at Princess Shrine, Palace Grounds. The main part of the celebrations begins from the sixth day of Navratri (October 15).

Harmony mahotsava

Setting an example of unity, peace and harmony among religions and communities, Provident Harmony Apartment Owners Association in Thanisandra will celebrate Durga Puja in a unique way. The apartment has about 500 families from all castes and communities and the association has decided to celebrate Durga Puja, Ayudha Puja, Navaratri, Bathukamma and Golu. “But the question before the association was how to involve Muslim and Christians in the celebrations. So, we decided to hold Kumari Puja on Mahanavami (October 18) involving 15 girls, including a 9-year-old Muslim girl and a few Christian girls,” said Ramachandran Nair VM, president, Provident Harmony Apartment Owners Association.

The association draws inspiration from Swami Vivekananda who worshipped a Muslim boatman’s daughter as part of Kumari Puja when he was in Kashmir.