CUTTACK: In the Millennium City of Cuttack, rising prices of gold and silver are immaterial when it comes to decorating Goddess Durga.
This Durga Puja, Choudhury Bazaar - one of the oldest puja committees in the city - is adding more gold to the tableau while Ranihat will strengthen its new ‘Chandi Medha’ with 10 kg of silver.
Choudhury Bazaar is creating two new gold ‘kalikas’ (large floral motifs) on the top of the silver tableau and with this, the number of golden ‘kalikas’ on the tableau goes up to 11. A group of eight goldsmiths are engaged in the work, which started last year. It is being done at an expenditure of over Rs 70 lakh.
“Every year, we try to do something new for the Goddess and since the last few years, we have been converting the silver kalikas on the medha to gold. All the gold used so far has been donated by devotees,” said Debashish Ray, president of Choudhary Bazaar puja committee.
While the ‘OM’ motif on the tableau is in gold, the committee has already made gold ornaments and crowns for Goddess Durga, Saraswati, Lakshmi, Lord Ganesh and Mahisasura since 1993. It is the first puja committee in Cuttack to install a ‘Chandi Medha’ for the deities in 1956.
The Mangalabag puja committee also plans to add some gold to its ‘Chandi Medha’ this year. While the Shaikh Bazaar puja committee had similar plans, it had to be postponed to next year due to the death of the committee’s secretary.
“We have already made gold ornaments and crowns weighing 6.3 kg for the Goddess and other deities. The Chandi Medha currently has 600 gram of gold and we plan to add another 600 gram next year to convert one kalika entirely into gold,” said Kishore Behera, general secretary of the committee.
At Ranihat, the puja organisers are adding 10 kg silver to the tableau to enhance the design. The 25-ft high and 15-ft wide tableau weighs 5.6 quintal and is considered one of the biggest and heaviest amongst all Chandi Medhas in Cuttack.