Potters to Idol Makers, East Bengal to West Bengal: A Brief History of Kumortuli

Video Editor: Harpal Rawat

There cannot be Durga pujo without Kumortuli, the iconic idol makers colony of Kolkata. Thanks to internet and photographers, the whole world knows about the by lanes and the artists that bring the Goddess Durga and her children – Saraswati, Lakshmi, Ganesh and Karthik to life.

And this time around, the Durga Pujo at Kumortuli is paying homage to all the idol makers who have lived and worked in its alleys. The pandal features the names of almost 500 artists and their families who have made idols in Kumortuli.  

Kumortuli houses almost 400 artisan families that start making the Durga idols as early as July. Most idols are pre-booked and are not sold off the shelf.  

Tracing Kumortuli’s History 

Kumortuli which translates to the potter’s place has a history which dates to the British Raj, starting from the time when Robert Clive took over Kolkata from Siraj-ud-Daulah. As the British Raj established in Kolkata, artisans from across the region settled in the lanes of the city.  

Kumortuli was favoured because of its proximity to the river Hooghly. The potters would collect the clay from the riverbanks and use that to make pots. But the demand for pots gradually declined.  

Meanwhile, several lords and zamindars had taken to celebrate Durga pujo at their residences. Thus, the potters picked up idol making and started to build idols of Durga on her lion, slaying the demon Mahishasur, along with her four children.  

This craft became a booming industry after community pujos became a thing in the city during the early 20th century.  

Initially, Durga and her children were all placed in a single frame or a ‘chalchitra’, and this was called the ‘ek chala’. This was also the time when the goddess used to be portrayed as a divine figure – larger eyes, yellow skin tone, larger-than-life features. Her lion would resemble a horse or a dragon, while the demon was painted green.  

In the early 1930s however, renowned artist Gopeshwar Pal brought about a revolution when he split the frame into five – one for Durga and one each for her children.  

While this trend was catching on, migrants from erstwhile East Bengal started to migrate to Kolkata in the 1940s because of the communal tensions along the river Padma. The idol-makers who migrated, settled in Kumortuli, and they brought with them a new school of thought.  

Their deities were more realistic, human-like, and their deities resembled a mother or daughter. Even the animals looked realistic.  

By the 1960s, both schools of thought had merged to give rise to the idols that we see today. This was also the time when organizers and idol-makers were experimenting with the design where the idols would resemble a famous heroine of the era, or they were made with stuff like coins or matchsticks.