Santiniketan, Oct. 11: A Durga Puja started by the late artist, Badhan Das, in Santiniketan in 2001 has become a tourist attraction because of tribal cultural programmes, folk songs and handcrafts.

People from all over Bengal and Jharkhand visit the Puja, locally known as Badhan Das's Puja or Hiralini Durgotsov, which is organised in the Khoai area of Santiniketan.

Das, who was a teacher at the Government College of Art and Craft in Calcutta, had bought land in Santiniketan near the Sonajhuri forest in 1990 to open a studio. After 10 years, he decided to organise a Durga Puja in the compound of his house involving tribal people from neighbouring villages such as Banerpukurdanga and Ballabhpur.

The speciality of Das's Durga Puja is its idols. There are five separate idols made of terracotta, bamboo, wood, earth and iron.

Das died on December 11, 2002, at the age of 58 after organising the Puja for two years. His sister Chitra and her artist husband Asish Ghosh live in the house now and organise the Puja. Asish said the idols of terra cotta and wood were made by Das. The remaining three were made by Asish and his students. This year, the idol made of bamboo was worshipped.

"Tribal people are the lifeblood of this puja. Every year, various tribal cultural troupes, including some from Jharkhand, along with local bauls, perform here. They never take money. Local tribal people help with their labour on all four days of Puja. In keeping with Badhanda's wishes, we do not immerse the idols. The five idols are worshipped by turn every year," said Asish, who is also an artist and a former student of the Government College of Art and Craft.

Asked about the popularity of the Puja, Asish said: "Every year, people from Calcutta and many areas of Birbhum and other districts visit this Puja. We are really happy as people are coming to see our effort and talking about the ideas."

Nivedita Chattaraj, a former school teacher from Ranchi, said she was amazed that how "refreshingly different" this Puja was from the urban pujas seen in Calcutta.

"We did not know about this Puja. We found out from the local people and visited the pandal. It is a really different kind of taste. We will certainly come back, maybe next Puja," she said.

Debasish Saha, the joint president of the Bolpur Hoteliers' Association, said the inflow of tourists during Puja to the region had increased significantly over the past few years. "This year, 80 per cent of hotels are fully booked. It is a fact that Badhan Das's puja is the main draw," he said.