The fact that a baroaritala (a community space to host the pujas) existed in Behala proves that the concept had reached Calcutta by then, though it took a long time to take shape. But it is doubtful whether the Saborno Chowdhury family was directly involved in raising subscriptions, as the zamindars must have been affluent enough to have organised their puja with their own resources.

Soon after, Shib Krishna Dawn took the initiative in collecting subscriptions from fellow traders. In those days, it was mainly the trading community that was involved in holding baroari pujas. Money-lenders and shop-keepers would contribute round the year at a fixed rate proportionate to their volume of business. Once that collection reached a sizeable amount, it was kept in the custody of one of the respected and better-off traders who was named the committee secretary. It was his responsibility to collect subscriptions and arrange for the entertainment during the pujas.

Subscription drives gave rise to incidents both cruel and humorous. reader, in a letter to the editor published in Somprakash, on June 23, 1862, writes how Durga Puja was being held ceremoniously in a village in Tribeni where people were dying, being unable to afford medicines. Those who had refused to pay had their utensils taken away.8
Collectors used novel methods to rein in those unwilling to contribute. Several incidents are documented in Hutom Pnyachar Naksha.

There was a one-eyed merchant in the city who was known for being stingy. When subscriptions were sought front him, he refused, saying it was not his habit to waste his hard-earned money. He challenged the collectors to point out a single instance of unnecessary expenditure in his house. The hapless collectors looked around. Children’s clothes, pillow covers—everything had been tailored by the babu himself. When his dhotis wore out he exchanged the rags for utensils. Neither did he spend a single pie from the interests accruing from his share certificates.

Suddenly it struck them that the one-eyed man’s spectacles had two lenses. “Sir, either you contribute or you remove a lens,” they said. Thus cornered, the merchant reluctantly parted with two 25-paisa coins. In another incident, fund collectors gheraoed one Singha babu9, yelling “Got him, got him.” They explained that Goddess Durga had appeared in their dreams and informed them that she was stuck on her way front the Himalayas as her mount, the lion, had broken a leg. Site needed a singha (lion) to complete the journey. Pleased at their witticism, Singha babu contributed handsomely.

In the initial years, collecting subscriptions was a tough task. With weeks to go before the Pujas, the organisers would start knocking at doors, employing every trick—from persuasion to threats. There were no printed receipt books. The group would be carrying a wooden box or cloth bags in which the cash was collected. In special cases, subscription was collected in kind—fruits, vegetables and the like. Even then, at some doors, taunts from the gate-keeper were all that they could gather.

Some organisers did not react well to refusals. A common way of punishing a stubborn householder was leaving a Durga idol in his house on the sly so that he was forced to hold a puja, and spend many times the amount the organisers would have been happy with. Samachar Darpan, on October 13, 1832, mentions how this mischievous practice was becoming a growing menace. But some householders were plucky enough to disregard social criticism and overcome pious meekness. In an incident which took place in suburban Belghoria in 1820, a man was so infuriated on seeing an idol left in his courtyard that he ordered it to be dismembered and immersed in the river (Samachar Darpan, September23, 1820).

Rivalry between neighbouring localities too was intense. Once Santipur spent Rs 5 lakh for Durga Puja, preparations for which had gone on for seven years. So huge was the idol that it had to be dismembered for immersion. This prompted the organisers in neighbouring Guptipara to hold a puja where Ganesha was in unbleached cloth, mourning his mother’s “death” (at the hands of their rivals from Santipur) in accordance with Bengali Hindu custom.

The community avatar in Calcutta

“Sarbojanin Durgotsab” (everyone’s Durga festival), as we know it today, started much later in Calcutta. This takes the concept to an all-inclusive form, more expansive than the strictly local baroari. The year 1910 saw a puja organised in Bhowanipur, on Sanatan Basu Ghat Road (in south Calcutta). The organiser was Sanatan Dharmotsahini Sabha. Though the word was not used, it was sarbojanin in spirit. Around the same time, similar festivals started in Ramdhan Mitra Lane and Sikdar Bagan. Then came Simla Byayam Samiti and Bagbazar Sarbojanin (started in 1919 as Nebubagan Baroari) in north Calcutta.

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