Platonic: Clay from the Forbidden Land

I was in +Narendra Kumar 's room talking to him about some random stuffs when we found people wishing “Happy Navratri” to each other. After sharing a few nostalgic incidents about our times in our hometowns, we finally stuck at one particular thing; the thing which I’m sure will allow people to recollect the movie Devdas when Paro asks Chandramukhi for soil in order to start preparations for Durga Puja.

An age old practice is to collect the punya mati (blessed soil) from outside the nishiddha pallis (forbidden territories) of Calcutta to be used amongst other things to make the idol of Devi Durga by the now-famous artisans from Kumartuli (the potters town in Kolkata). It is now a ritual and the practitioners feel that this is a vital ingredient in the clay to be used in the idol making, without which, one cannot proceed.

“It is an integral ingredient of the holy mix, which also includes mud from the banks of the Ganga, cow dung and cow urine”. The elderly pujaris personally go to Sonagachi, Calcutta’s biggest red light area, “on an auspicious day” about a month before the onset of the festive season, around the time when potters begin to start work on idols, to collect what they call “virtuous dust from the doorstep of beshhas (prostitutes)”

Sonagachi when translated to English means Golden Tree, so naturally the soil which nourishes the Golden Tree must be of the purest form.

The method of soil collection is even more dramatic: “The most auspicious method of collection is to beg it from a prostitute and have her hand it to you as a gift or blessing. If it is taken from the ground, the pujari must know the correct way of doing it, including knowing which mantras to chant and how to position the fingers in a yogic mudra while scooping up the soil.”

Once brought, this dry mud is mixed with other types of mud like ‘poli’ (from the Ganges bank). The mixture is then wet and left for two days. After that, they use it in the idol.

So what could be the reason behind this practice of collecting mud from the doorstep of a sex-worker?

The most prominent reason cited is that when a man enters these dens of vice, he leaves his virtues outside the doorstep, making the soil virtuous. When the man comes out of the house, he has left all his vices at the house of the sex-worker. Another reason given is that this is to ‘purge’ the sex-workers of their sins! This sounds quite ironic as it is well known that no woman in the area is there out of choice and no man is there out of force. So to use this reason is quite unfair to the already wronged women of the area.

But then, let us look at the same practice differently. This practice could have been initiated by some, to include the otherwise ostracised members of the society. It could also have been a way to honour the erstwhile courtesans who were proficient in different form of arts. Or could it be that people of all religions and communities come to a brothel and involving the soil from there in the ritual could just be a fitting tribute to the all-encompassing nature of the Mother?

So does the practice have a religious reason or does it have a social relevance? Has the ritual made any difference to the way a layman looks at them? What kind of ‘elevation of status’ (if any) is it when they are so important for a day, but whores for the rest of the year? If worship of Durga is of stree-shakti (feminine power), then why is this practice so demeaning to a set of the womenfolk who seem to be so integral to the ritual? Unfortunately, all I can say is that the practice is still on; the sex-workers are in as squalid condition as they were but definitely the ritual has lost its social relevance, if it had any.

The way these females celebrate Puja in their land is a bit different. Together, the women conduct and participate in all the rituals associated with the 'puja'. Take 'Sindoor khela', an integral part of the 'puja' rituals. Traditionally, on the last day of the 'pujas' - 'Dashami' or the tenth day - married women anoint the Goddess with vermilion and then each other, praying for the long life of their spouses. The women of Sonagachi, too, follow this ritual. But with a difference.

Excerpt from an Interview

"We can never be married in the conventional sense," reveals Mosumi Chaki, 30, a mother of two living in Sonagachi. "But we bear children. We are mothers, like the Goddess. So we apply 'sindoor' (vermilion) on Mother and pray for the well-being of our children as we bid adieu to her. The Goddess allows us to bend the rituals because she is a woman herself. After all, she too has broken many social norms. As Kali, she stepped on the chest of her husband, Lord Shiva. The Goddess Durga stands for justice." She adds, "It's this belief and this faith that gives us the right to worship her in our own way."