Rituals have taken a hit in this season of pandemic. So have the priests who perform them.

Fear of infection has dissuaded many from allowing priests into the house. “We have a Shiva temple at home. Through Sravan, we have daily puja and aarti performed by a priest. And on a Sunday, 11 priests perform a day-long puja and all friends and extended family are invited. There’s no chance of any of that this year,” a member of the Kejriwal family of New Alipore said.

Instead, the residents have been gathering in the temple to offer panchamrit to the lord themselves.

Since the priest stays in the locality, the monetary offerings made individually to the lord are being collected and sent to him, along with the month’s dakshina of Rs 5,000. But this family is an exception in their generosity.

Most priests are in dire straits. “There were so many wedding dates between March and June. But 99 per cent of weddings got cancelled. A few of us got work in the 1 per cent that happened,” Vidya Bhushan Ojha, a priest, said.

There are about 200,000 priests in the state, he said. All have been sitting at home in “peak season”.

“A popular priest earns Rs 1-1.5 lakh from weddings in this period. In Sravan, we are called to conduct Rudraabhishek. There are about 100-150 guests. So, the dakshina, too, is handsome. Now, even if anyone performs a puja, we get just what the members of the house offer,” Ojha said.

“We had no work during Chaitra Navratri (March 25 to April 2) or Ashad Navratri (June 22 to June 29). Now, Sravan is passing us by. The situation is such that you can’t pressure the yajman (patron),” Vijay Upadhyay, a priest from Baguiati, said.

Upadhyay has appealed on Facebook to resume rituals. He is lucky that some patrons trust him enough and have asked him to perform puja at his house in their name. “They have offered me the same money as they did when I did the puja in their presence. But not everyone is as trusting.”

Priests who visit Calcutta in the peak season from Uttar Pradesh or Bihar were losing out, he said. “Multiple priests are needed for many of the grand rituals. Now, people are doing with just one… if they hold the ritual at all,” Upadhyay said.

The situation is no different in temples. “Initially, we opened for just half an hour to perform the daily puja. Now, even if we open for longer hours, we have to follow distancing rules; so, pujas in individual names have to be staggered,” Netai Chakraborty, president of Vaidik Pandit Purohit Mahamilan, said.

He runs the Maniktala Nabagraha Tol Mandir. “Hands have to be sanitised before pushapanjali. Even then, we have stopped giving out flowers to avoid infection. Worshippers have to collect flowers from baskets and deposit them in baskets, not before the deity. Only whole fruits are being given as prasad. We missed the Ganesh-Laxmi puja of Poila Baisakh. Attendance on Akshay Tritiya was minimal. The temple’s earnings have sunk to one-fourth.”

A few residents like Aritra Sen of Salt Lake have devised a way to balance faith and fear of the virus. “Our household temple is on the attic. Our priest goes there directly, performs puja and only after he leaves do we go and have prasad. Flowers are mostly from the rooftop garden,” he said.

His block will hold khuti puja, too, in August. “So, our Durga Puja priest will not lose on that count,” he said.