Durga Puja food: Symbols of faith and festivity

In the heart of Old Dhaka, Durga Puja food carries a legacy of traditions, which preserves an age-old connection between worship and nourishment.

She is the principal goddess in Hinduism and every year, the coming of the Bengali month of Sarat signals Devi Durga’s arrival at her father’s place on Earth. From Mount Kailash, she descends with her four children — Kartik, Ganesh, Lakshmi, and Saraswati — and this is celebrated through a ten-day festivity known as Durga Puja. The last five days are considered auspicious in terms of worship, and this is the time when souls fill with prayers and in every step, we find food complementing the observance.

Sacred simplicity

Mahalaya is a day chosen based on the Hindu almanack, and this marks the beginning of the Puja. Places like Shankhari Bazaar and Tanti Bazar in Old Dhaka lit up for the festivities in a fashion unique to the old town. The thick smoke of burning incense and dhakis beating the drum are two of Durga Puja’s familiar sights.

In the Hindu tradition, “bhog” is the offering to a deity during worship and in Bengal, and Old Dhaka in particular, this finds new meaning. The food offering to the deity is not the same as the one cooked in bulk for her devotees; this is a special preparation made in a much smaller quantity and later distributed among the attendees once rituals for the day are completed.

The niramish (vegetarian) offering is made to Durga on a thali. At the centre of the platter, a heap of “pushpanna” — a rice-based dish — is placed, and this is surrounded by aubergine fritters, mixed vegetables, chutney, and payesh.

As the days of the Puja progress from Mahasaptami to Ashtami and Navami, the celebrations reach their height. However, the offering to Maa Durga remains the same basic vegetarian dishes, devoid of any luxury.
Once the religious rituals are complete, the priest hands over the offering, a portion of which is now mixed with the food cooked for the people awaiting. This symbolic gesture ensures that none of Durga’s worshippers are deprived of her blessings.

Food for worshippers

Puja pandals are makeshift structures built for the veneration of the deities during Puja season. Here and at temple courtyards, devotees sit in long rows to enjoy the food served on banana leaves. Carrying large buckets in their hands, volunteers at Puja sites move through the aisles. As people in thousands enjoy the food, the air fills with laughter and chatter.

At the heart of this community meal is the khichuri (a dish made of moong daal and various types of rice), slow-cooked with ghee and spices.

Labra (a dish of mixed vegetables) accompanies the khichuri. The signature puja flavour is imbued in this puja staple through the tempering with panch phoron, a spice that is widely used in puja foods.
To add variation in taste, a chutney made from hog plum is added on the side. The meal ends with payesh, a rice pudding made sweet with sugar or, more commonly, jaggery.
Puja feast: A shared blessing
In Hindu households of Old Dhaka and the rest of the country, puja food is always simplistic in nature, which serves as a stark contrast to the extravagant food spreads the older part of this town is famed for.

The ninth day of the Puja, in particular, begins with a breakfast that comprises luchi and cholar dal. Sweets like payesh are also central to this morning meal. Lunch, too, maintains a vegetarian menu — beguni, phulkopi fry, alur dom, and the ubiquitous payesh — a blend of ritual with indulgence. As the sun sets, the tone of the Puja days shifts, as families welcome guests. For dinner, in addition to the vegetarian dishes, Durga’s worshippers sometimes turn to the flavours that define Old Dhaka.

As the day comes to an end, every kitchen becomes a site of connection for the people. At these gatherings, stories are re-told and lives shared — how people in the past had mastered the art of cooking and singlehandedly serving the entire neighbourhood, how bhog once tasted better, simply because it was cooked with stronger devotion for the mother goddess!  

Durga Puja food is living proof of how people’s beliefs still mould cultures. If we are to mention a single dish that connects Old Dhaka with Puja food, perhaps there is none. The food that is served is based on Hindu religious traditions rather than cultural practices, yet in Old Dhaka, through the sights and sounds, and through the food that is served, one gets a taste of Durga Puja that is unmatched and is a sight to remember, always!

Special thanks to Biplob Chakraborty, priest at the Dhakeshwari National Temple, Dhaka, Bangladesh, for explaining the food-related rituals of Durga Puja.

© Mannan Mashhur Zarif