Durga Puja in Old Dhaka

Today we took a trip down to Old Dhaka. The Hindu holiday Durga Puja is being celebrated right now and Old Dhaka is home to Hindu Street, or Shakhari Bazaar, which is an old area with a big Hindu population. Normally, Hindu Street is nice place to go see some old carvings on the temple, see Hindu-centric art, buy really beautifully carved conch shell bracelets ( it is a local Hindu tradition that women wear these bracelets after their marriage – I actually don’t know if this is specific to Bangladesh or if it is a more widespread thing – I’d be interested to know if anyone else knows more about it) and generally experience the part of Dhaka that looks a bit more like stereotypical images of South Asia. So Hindu Street is always a nice trip, but to go during Durga Puja is a particularly fun experience. The whole area is decorated up with a tent running overtop areas of the street, many many lights, musicians, giant piles of delicious treats everywhere, a ferris wheel, and castle-looking marquees over intersections. There are massive statue scenes (I really have to apologize for my lack of proper Hindu terminology in this post throughout) set up and the whole area is transformed into a fun carnival-festival. It is really quite a party.

Durga Puja celebrations in Bangladesh are also held up as very symbolic of the secular nature of Bangladesh. It is very important to (most) people in Bangladesh that even though this is a majority Muslim nation, and even though there is a sad history of violence between the two communities, it is still tolerant and peaceful with the 11% Hindu population. (The Hindu-Muslim rivalry in South Asia is of course an animosity that is frequently exaggerated, but there is also no point in denying the very real violence that is done in the name of either extremist Islam or extremist Hinduism throughout the subcontinent. There is also still a real issue of Islam-centric societal norms and networks which leave many Hindus in Bangladesh excluded socially and economically- although this is more of an issue in the rural areas than in Dhaka.)

In a statement earlier this week, the Prime Minister of Bangladesh, Sheikh Hasina said: “The government is pledge-bound to uphold the spirit and values of the war of liberation. We are aware of our constitutional obligation to protect rights of people of all religions.” Well, it isn’t exactly a warm and fuzzy endorsement of the holiday, but religious tolerance, even under legal duress, is still a fine sentiment (I would have hoped for a little more than a “constitutional obligation” but what can you expect from a politician? She doesn’t want to alienate any voters!) But I digress…

So we had a fun time at Durga Puja. Some of the statues freaked Atticus out a little, and it was pretty crowded in spots, but overall, it was really like nothing any of us had ever been to, so it was a lot of fun. Of course, we had an audience the whole time, Atticus got cheeks pinched by random strangers, some random new friend of Jon’s had his hand on Jon’s back for half the time and everybody was endlessly amused with Sam speaking bangla, but that is just par for the course at this point. Atticus in particular gets the brunt of adoration though, and he deserves some acknowledgement for his willingness to grin and bear it while strangers rub his head, pinch his cheeks, and generally pour compliments over him.

Here are few pictures to try and capture some of the sights of Puja. Our day didn't end here- we went on to boats, kids, and onion row, but we're saving that for a seperate post! More pictures are coming as well!