Jagadatri Puja in Chandannagar

History of Chandannagar
The French came to Chandannagar for the first time in the year 1673. Duplessis the French commander built a house at taldanga on the northern part of the present Chandannagar after getting permission from Ibrahim Khan the then Nawab of Bengal. In 1688 the French received permission to carry out duty free business in Bengal, Bihar and Orissa from Mughal Emperor Auranzeb on payment of  Rs.4000 per year. French commander Deslandes Laid the foundation of modern Chandannagar. In course of time Chandannagar occupied top most position in trade and commerce among all trade centres of Bengal, even bigger centre of commerce than Calcutta. The First European, Louis Bonnaud who established the indigo plant was an inhabitant of Chandannagar. The famous personalities of Bengal like founder of first cloth mill, Batakrishna Ghosh, Dinanath Chandra who established first medicine manufacturing unit, publisher of wall maps Indrokumar Chottopadhyay were inhabitants of Chandannagar. Indronarayan Chowdhury was the most famous businessman and a very prominent figure in Chandannagar. He constructed the temple of Sri Nandadulal and a rest house in the year 1740. Indranarayan Chowdhury introduced Jagadhatri Puja in Chandannagar.
In 1947, the French Government declared Chandannagar as a free city and on October 1955, Chandannagar completely became a part of India.

Adi Ma

History of Jagadhatri Puja :
Jagadhatri Puja is very popular in Rishra, Chandannagar, Howrah and also in Krishnanagar of Nadia District. The detailed history of Jagadhatri Puja in Bengal is still  unknown. According to historical evidences found so far, Jagadhatri Puja in Howrah district started in ‘Moktarbari’ in 1713. Indranarayan Chowdhury introduced Jagadhatri Puja in Chandannagar around 1750. It is also popularly believed that Maharaja Krishna Chandra started  Jagadhatri Puja in Krishnanagar in 1762. In 1875 Sarada Devi introduced Jagadhatri Puja at Belurmath. Now-a-days Jagadhatri Pujas of  Chandannagar and Krishnanagar are very famous.
Most gorgeous Jagadhatri Pujas of Chandannagar decorated with innovative pandals, spearking lighting and  huge size around 30 to 35 ft height Idol of  Goddess Jagadhatri  attracts lakhs of people’s from Kolkata and adjacent. 

Devi Jagadhatri :
Jagadhatri means who holds the universe and who protects the world from cruel demons.  Devi Jagadhatri is also known as Karindrasuranisudini ((Who killed the elephant demon), Maheswari (the Great Goddess), Shaktacharpriya (the Goddess who loves to be worshipped  according to Shaktism) and Adharabhuta (the Bearer of the World). 
Devi Jagadhatri is a pleasant form of Goddess Durga and symbolizes ‘Sattva Guna’. One of the six major schools of Indian Philosophy is called Sankhya or Samkhya and according to it the three ‘Gunas’ or qualities, Sattva, Rajas and Tamas form the ‘Prakriti’ or ‘universal nature’
Sattva (calmness, purity) – It is symbolized by Goddess Jagadhatri, and is  associated with creation.
Rajas (activity, ‘dim’) – It is symbolized by Goddess Durga, and is  associated with preservation.
Tamas (inertia, dark) – It is symbolized by Goddess Kali, and is associated with destruction for better creation.
According to ‘Tantras’ and ‘Puranas’, Devi Jagadhatri has three eyes and has four arms holding conch, chakra, bow and arrow respectively. Jagadhatri rides on a lion which stands on an elephant. She is dressed with colourful clothes and bright jewels. Another important feather of this idol is its ornamental decorations with sola and beautiful canvas of mats behind the idol. The snakes is her sacred thread. Sri Ramakrishnadev , the great devotee of Makali Said, ‘Jagadhatri awakens in the heart of such person who can control the tenacious elephant called mind.’

My Experiences in Jagadhatri Puja :
In the year 2010, on saptami morning of  Jagadhatri Puja,  I visited Chandannagar. It was my first visit to Chandannagar on the occasion of Jagadhatri Puja. I reached there through Mankunda  by car via Delhi Road. It was two and half hour journey from kolkata. Jagadhatri Puja of Chandannagar is famous for its lighting decorations, but to avoid heavily crowded  Puja pandals at night  I opted for morning visit to Chandannagar. Extremely colourful immersion processions of idol of Jagadhatri all through dasami night  is another spectacular event in Chandannagar .  I visited altogether nineteen to twenty Puja Pandals from 8AM to 5 PM in bright day light . Those were Puja Pandals of Mankundu Sporting Club, Neogibagan, Circusmath, Ambika athletic Club, Gondalpara-satghat, KalupukurGhat, Charmandirtala, Daibokpara, Nonatola, Suryatoran, Chaumatha, Chaulpatty-Adima, Vidhyalonkar, Bagbazar, Phatokgora, Khalishani etc.  Our Puja Parikrama started from Mankunda sporting club in the scorching daylight and finished at Khalishani in twilight. I was charmed by aristocracy of  Idol decoration with Dakersajj in Chaumatha, Chaulpatty-Adima, Vidhyalonkar, Bagbazar, Phatokgora and Khalishani Puja Pandals. It was a unique experience of witnessing an unbelievable craftsmanship  of  Dakersajj.  One common Characteristics I found in every decoration of idol of  goddess Jagadhatri  was the use of  decorative peacock on the  crown and cloths  of goddess Jagadhatri. Unlike lion of goddess Durga, lion of goddess Jagadhatri is decorated with two crowns on the head, one silver plated and another gold plated.

Ornamentation with Peacock

 Lion with Crown

 Puja Pandals of Gondalpara-satghat, Circusmath and KalupukurGhat were three best decorated puja pandals in my views. In Gondalpara-satghat the pandal decoration was very innovative. Cover pages of  Puja magazines of different years were used and they were arranged in a wonderful fashion. The Puja Pandal   of  Circusmath was decotated with  Photographs  of eminent  singers of Bengal like Sachin Dev Burman, Hemanta Mukherjee, Manna Dey, Manabendra Mukherjee, Mrinal Chakroborty, Salil Chowdhury, Sandhya Mukherjee, Gita Dutta, Sabita Chowdhury, Arati Mukherjee, Lata Mangeskar, Asha Bonsle Protima Banerjee  ctc. Under each photograph date of birth of  the singers and one or two lines from their famous songs were depicted . The Puja committee of  Kalupukur Ghat  decorated their pandal  with colourful scenes from puppetry shows of Bengal in a very artistic way.

Gondalpara-satghat

 Pandal decoration of Circusmath

Kalupukur Ghat 

Jagadatri Puja as I have seen