Related Topics

Bihan Mela
2023 MAY   1
Bumchu festival
2023 MAR   16
Yaoshang festival
2023 MAR   11

Durga Puja

2021 DEC 15

Preliminary   > Art and Culture   >   Miscellaneous   >   Festivals and celebrations

Why in news?

  • Durga Puja in Kolkata, one of largest cultural carnivals and street art festival of the country, on 15th December 2021 received an important international recognition by making it to UNESCO’s Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

About Durga Puja

  • Durga Puja is an annual festival celebrated in September or October, most notably in Kolkata, in West Bengal, but also in other parts of India and amongst the Bengali diaspora.
  • It marks the ten-day worship of the Hindu mother-goddess Durga.
  • In the months preceding the festival, small artisanal workshops sculpt images of Durga and her family using unfired clay pulled from the Ganga River.
  • The worship of the goddess then begins on the inaugural day of Mahalaya, when eyes are painted onto the clay images to bring the goddess to life. It ends on the tenth day, when the images are immersed in the river from where the clay came.
  • The festival is characterized by large-scale installations and pavilions in urban areas, as well as by traditional Bengali drumming and veneration of the goddess.

Cultural practices from India included in the List:

  • 2021: Durga Puja in Kolkata
  • 2017: Kumbh Mela
  • 2016: Nawrouz
  • 2016: Yoga
  • 2014: Traditional brass and copper craft of utensil making among the Thatheras of Jandiala Guru, Punjab
  • 2013: Sankirtana, ritual singing, drumming and dancing of Manipur
  • 2012: Buddhist chanting of Ladakh: recitation of sacred Buddhist texts in the trans-Himalayan Ladakh region, Jammu and Kashmir
  • 2010: Chhau dance
  • 2010: Kalbelia folk songs and dances of Rajasthan
  • 2010: Mudiyettu, ritual theatre and dance drama of Kerala (RL)
  • 2009: Ramman, religious festival and ritual theatre of the Garhwal Himalayas
  • 2008: Koodiyattam, Sanskrit theatre
  • 2008: Tradition of Vedic chanting
  • 2008: Ramlila, the traditional performance of the Ramayana

PRELIMS QUESTION

Which of the following pair is incorrectly matched?

(a) Kutiyattam       : Kerala

(b) Chhau dance   : Rajasthan

(c) Sankirtana       : Manipur

(d) Ramman          : Himachal Pradesh

Answer