Durga Puja, Bengal’s autumn festival of devotion and spectacle, has travelled far beyond the ghats of Calcutta and the towns of the state.

This year, in Melbourne, it broke new ground. For the first time, a woman assumed the priestly role and performed the sacred rituals, lending the worship of the mother goddess a new and striking dimension on Sunday.

At Protiva Mernda Durgostav, a community celebration in Melbourne, the decision came out of necessity but grew into conviction.

Madhumati Chatterji, who has lived in Australia for several years, found herself without a priest when she and her friends decided to organise a puja in their neighbourhood.

Chatterji said that with professional priests booked out across the city during the festive season, she turned to a senior priest in Calcutta who trained her over Zoom.

“The long hours of online instruction prepared me for the mantras, the invocations, and the complex rhythms of ‘Matri Aradhana (the worship of the mother)’,” she said over the phone.

When the puja finally began, the sight of a woman reciting Sanskrit shlokas (hymns), blowing the conch shell and invoking Durga stunned many of the worshippers.

“The sight of a woman leading the Durga Puja feels like Shakti herself taking charge of her own worship,” said Swastika Ganguly, a Melbourne resident who attended the celebrations.

Chatterji’s decision went beyond filling a gap. It was an act of reclamation. She and her friends had chosen an idol from Kumartuli in Calcutta, carried it to Melbourne, and built an entire puja around inclusivity.

The change also resonated with younger generations of the diaspora. Many of them, unfamiliar with the rigidities of the priesthood back home, found the presence of a woman priest more natural and inspiring.

“We grew up hearing that Durga embodies strength and courage. To see a woman perform the rituals in her name makes that idea real,” said a young attendee.

An organiser said that the transformation is not without resistance.

“Conservative voices within the community argue that the priesthood must remain the domain of men, citing tradition and ritual purity. Others fear that breaking such conventions risks offending devotees,” said the organiser.

“Yet in practice, the rituals conducted by women priests have drawn overwhelming appreciation and created an atmosphere of inclusion. From Calcutta to London, from New Jersey to Melbourne, this shift is slowly gathering momentum,” the organiser added.