Aizawl, Oct. 18: Durga Puja celebrations in the predominantly Christian state of Mizoram will be special this year.
The oldest and the largest Puja in the hilly state is 100 years old and the festivities are expected to be grander than ever before.
Started by a small group of Bengalis in 1904, the Puja is one of only four in the state capital of Aizawl. The other three are organised by the Assam Rifles and the Border Roads Organisation in their own campuses and the third by the Nepali community at the town?s Shiva temple.
The main Puja is arranged by Hindustan Club, which came into being in 1950. The estimated Hindu population of the state is at present 33,000, of whom approximately 11,000 live in Aizawl. A member of Hindustan Club said Durga Puja was organised in Mizoram even during the heyday of insurgency from 1966 to 1986.
S.S. Dutta, a former director of accounts and treasuries, wrote in the club souvenir that the first Durga Puja was organised by not more than four persons. From this small beginning, the annual celebration has grown into a major annual event.
One of the founder members of Hindustan Club, Lala H.C. Sarda, recalls that Durga Puja in Aizawl used to attract ?hardly 30-40 people? till the 1950s. ?That upto 3,000 people participate in the celebrations now indicates how much times have changed.?
The club?s president, P. Chakraborty, said: ?We respectfully remember the valuable service rendered by those who first initiated the Durga Puja in 1904. We are proud that the festival has been celebrated every year since since in spite of hundreds of constraints and difficulties.?
The idols are made by artisans from Calcutta and immersed in either the Twirial or Tlawng rivers. Jonathan, a Mizo youth, said the festivities had never been raucous. ?The festival period has always been peaceful, which is a measure of communal harmony in the state.?
