India nominates Durga Puja for Unesco tag

KOLKATA: Durga Puja, which is celebrated in many states in India and Bangladesh with its epicentre in Kolkata, is India’s official nomination for Unesco’s 2020 list of cultural institutions around the world. Sangeet Natak Akademi, an autonomous body under the Union ministry of culture, announced the development on its website on Monday.

The Unesco Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage aims at preserving, promoting and highlighting intangible cultural heritages of various countries. Durga Puja’s entry into the list would reinforce Bengal’s position on the global culture stage.

The presentation for the nomination, highlighting the history, socio-cultural context and inclusiveness was prepared by Tapati Guha Thakurta, a history professor with the Centre for Study in Social Sciences, Calcutta. Guha Thakurta and her team prepared the elaborate dossier for the ministry of culture. The state government gave a letter of endorsement.


“Durga Puja is the best instance of the public performance of religion and art. It witnesses a celebration of craftsmanship, cross-cultural transactions and cross-community revelry... Its dynamism lies in it being a constantly mutating event — in its fusion of tradition with changing tastes and popular cultures, and in the adaptation of the iconographies of Durga and the styles of her temporary abodes to cater to new regimes,” reads a note on the Akademi website.

Durga Puja encompasses a 10-day worship of Goddess Durga who appears in her divine incarnation as ‘Mahishasuramardini’. Many families have been organizing Durga Puja for over 200 years. Barowari or community Pujas are organized by clubs in neighbourhoods across the city.

Tourism department officials said the Durga Puja carnival on Red Road, a brainchild of chief minister Mamata Banerjee, has made it synonymous with Kolkata globally.

“The festival secures its secular identity, embedding it in the contemporary global cultures of touring, spectacle, and entertainment,” said Guha Thakurta.

Some of the other Unesco Heritage Sites in India are the Taj Mahal, churches and convents of Goa, Sunderbans mangroves, Humayun’s Tomb in Delhi and Darjeeling Himalayan Railway.

Chairman of the West Bengal Heritage Commission Suvaprasanna said, “I am proud to be a citizen of West Bengal. There is no other festival in the world where so many people participate and which has so many aspects. This should inspire us to make it more attractive so that more people from around the world come here and we get an opportunity to showcase our culture.”