English
Come Durga Puja, the houses are all decked up, it is colours, lights and savoury food all over. The festival of Maa Durga is one of the most auspicious festivals celebrated majorly in West Bengal. Dhunuchi dance, pandal hopping or sindoor khela, the days brim with traditions, rituals and festive fervour. Sindoor Khela is one such tradition celebrated by women for a woman. Durga Puja marks the arrival of Goddess Durga to her home. And sindoor khela is the ritual performed when people bid adieu to their idols.
To go with its literal translation, sindoor khela means- game of vermillion. It is one of the most significant rituals that is performed on the last day, that is, Vijaydashmi. Its origins can be traced to the folklore that has been bequeathed over generations. If legend is to be believed, this tradition began some 200 years ago by the zamindars.
During this time married women don elegant white sarees with thick red borders and wear traditional jewellery. Before Durga Visarajn, married woman smear vermillion or sindoor over the idols’ forehead with beetle leaf and then starts gleeful play of hands with each other.
There are several festivals in the hindu culture where married women are supposed to keep fast and pray for the protection and long-life of their husbands. On similar lines, sindoor khela is another such ritual where married women smear vermillion over each other’s face and seek blessings of the Goddess to protect their husbands.
Sindur khela is believed to symbolise the power of womanhood in protecting her husband and children from all evil. Through the ritual of Sindur khela, the Hindu women pray for long and happy married lives of each other. Family tiffs and petty quarrels between neighbours are settled through this ritual, as per the local lores.
However, with changing time and tide, people started to call out the ritual and campaigned to have this tradition made more inclusive. Bengali actress Rituparna Sengupta helmed one stretch of the campaign and supported the idea where all women should be allowed to be a part of sindoor khela. It is a celebration of woman by women.
Durga Maa is a symbol of power, fortitude and courage and there is no room of inequality around her aura.
Happy Durga Pujo!
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