My hometown Kolkata (Calcutta, India) is at the peak of its festive season today, celebrating the Durgapuja festival (worship of goddess Durga). People there are familier with hindu mythology know about the story of how Durga was created as the power to defeat the evil demon Mahisasura, and how the other gods presented her their best ten weapons to help her achieve her goal, and so on. Here is my little PhotoPage telling another story of creation of Durga, in the hands of the artists and artisans who build the idols with clay and decorate with hand-made decorations. The picture on the top of taken in Kumartuli (the artisans village in Kolkata on the bank of Ganga river where fine clay is abundant) at the inception. The one bolow is of an artist in his humble workspace a few days before the festival. Below: lunchtime at Kumartuli. Next one is an idol, built in traditional style and already set in the location of worship on the day before the four-days long festival begins. The work is not yet complete; that is why the bamboo scaffoldings are there. The last photo shows a completed idol in its full glory. These idols are immersed away in Ganga river after the festival is over.

Here are the links to the photopages of the past weeks : 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69 . Visit the Most Recent Photo Page.