Kolkata, India: Tapas Pal has been making clay idols of various gods and goddesses for the past two decades at Kumartuli, a traditional potters’ hub in Kolkata in eastern India’s state of West Bengal.
The 42-year-old, who makes six-metre (20ft) high idols from unfired clay, told Al Jazeera that he would not normally have any spare time in the two months leading up to Durga Puja, the biggest festival of the state, as he would be on deadline to deliver the idols to the festival organisers.
But the situation this year is completely different, he says, with fewer orders and scaled-down budgets, as the residents of the city are in no mood for festivities after the brutal rape and murder of a 31-year-old woman doctor at the government-run RG Kar Hospital on August 9.
“The festival offers [a] chunk of our annual business, and we expect high returns. But there is hardly any business this time due to the severe protests in the state,” and his business is down two-thirds, he said.
Durga Puja is a 10-day worship of the Hindu goddess Durga to celebrate her victory over a shape-shifting demon and embodies joy. Durga is one of the most powerful goddesses in Hinduism. She represents woman power and her legend is centered around her ability to vanquish evil. In 2021, Durga Puja in Kolkata was added to UNESCO’s Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity list.
In the lead-up to the festival, artisans spend months making idols of Durga – shown as a beautiful woman riding a lion or a tiger, with many arms each of which is carrying a weapon used to destroy evil. The idols, often depicting some of this battle, are intricately hand-painted, beautifully dressed in clothes, bejewelled and displayed at the pandals.
The state comes to a standstill in the days leading up to the festivities, which are scheduled to start on October 9 this year. Schools and offices shut down and people pandal hop – a tradition in which people visit multiple venues where the idols are housed to offer prayers and eat prasad – as neighbourhoods compete for the biggest, fanciest idols and decorations.
Last year, state Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee pegged the festival economy to be about 840 billion rupees ($10bn).
Idol maker Tapas Pal in Kolkata, India, says organisers have scaled back orders [Gurvinder Singh/Al Jazeera]
But it’s not clear if the numbers this year would come even close to that as people are still in shock after a trainee doctor’s dead body bearing multiple injuries was found at the government hospital. Hospital authorities initially told her parents that she had died by suicide. But an autopsy revealed she had been raped and murdered.
The police have since arrested Sanjoy Roy, a civic volunteer at the hospital who had unrestricted access to the ward where the doctor worked, and four others including the former principal of the college,