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Gender | Breaking traditions: First ever Transgender Durga avatar to be worshipped in Kolkata -KC Archana

Breaking traditions: First ever Transgender Durga avatar to be worshipped in Kolkata -KC Archana

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published Published on Oct 19, 2015   modified Modified on Oct 19, 2015
-India Today

Taking a leap of unconventionality, a non-profit trust in collaboration with a local puja club based in north Kolkata will worship the very first transgender Durga idol on Panchami.

In the 300-year-old history of Durga Puja in Bengal, this will the first time where devotees will worship a transgender Durga idol that has been fashioned after the androgynous form of Shiva and Parvati, Ardhanarishvara.

Organised by the non-profit trust, Pratyay Gender Trust, in collaboration with the local puja committee Uddyami Yuvak Brinda has decided to include a dozen transgender women from the Pratyay self-help group.

The committee has a budget of Rs 1.5 lakh for the puja which will take place this Sunday, during Panchami, which marks the fifth day of the ten day celebrations.

Pratyay Gender Trust  which works for Kolkata's kothi, Hijda  and gender non-conforming rights on their official Facebook page said,  'This is attempt to reclaim the social space of the marginalised Transgender community. We are conscious how sites of worship and associated rituals have  Brahminical associations and are a site for misogyny and prejudice.'

Breaking the age tradition where everything from conceptualising the idol to decorating the marquee (Pandal) is male dominated, this time around the idea was proposed by a 55-year-old transgender, Bhanu Naskar and crafted by China Pal, who is the only woman artisan of Kumortuli, north Kolkata.

One half of the idol has a moustache, a pectoral instead of a breast, smaller eyelashes, and a dhoti (traditional male garment tied around the waist). The other half is the female Durga idol usually seen at puja pandals.

Initially the proposal of worshiping a transgender idol faced some resistance by the locals, however with the help of media backing and support from artists, musicians and filmmakers it has been welcomed.

"Ours is an attempt to question these practices and caste/ class structures and to cross gender lines - as 'women' and 'outcastes' - who have traditionally been barred from taking part in integral aspects of socio-religious functions such as Durga Pujas, where decision making powers and participation has by and large remained in the control of men and powerful and upper castes/ classes," says the Pratyay Gender Trust team on their official Facebook page.

Kolkata has gone that extra mile in upgrading the social status of the transgender community, from appointing a transgender principal to recruiting transgenders in the civil police force. And now, the transgender avatar of all the ferocious and maternal goddess Durga is another positive step towards ensuring their inclusion and overcoming the stigma attached to transgenders.
 
India Today, 15 October, 2015, please click here to access

India Today, 15 October, 2015, http://indiatoday.intoday.in/story/breaking-traditions-first-ever-transgender-durga-avatar-to-be-whorshipped-in-kolkata/1/499414.html


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