Some call her Blue Saraswati, others refer to her as Tara Ma. This puja is inextricably linked with the birth narrative of literary luminary Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay. Family sources reveal that the local zamindar, Haridas Bandyopadhyay, was childless.
In 1897, on a jungle-covered mound, Haridas performed a Tantric worship of Tara Ma and a ritual for begetting a son, as directed by a Tantric practitioner named Ramoji Gosai. About a year later, he was blessed with a son. The child was named Tarashankar, after the goddess. This boy would later gain fame as the literary giant Tarashankar Bandyopadhyay. The jungle-covered mound became known as Taramadanga. Since then, this puja has been organized every year on the night of Trayodashi.
During the zamindari era, several plots of land were allocated for sustaining this puja. With the abolition of the zamindari system, most of these allocated lands were lost. The puja faced the threat of discontinuation due to various adversities. At that juncture, the puja was relocated from Taramadanga to the writer's family Durga Mandap. The temple at Taramadanga fell into disrepair.
In 2013, the writer's nephew, film director Palash Bandyopadhyay, formed a trust board to reconstruct the temple at Taramadanga and revive the puja there.
Once a strictly familial affair, the puja has now assumed a community-wide character. Despite this transformation, the traditional elements - from the idol to the offerings - remain intact. Even today, the offerings include alcohol and roasted gram. The Subhash Bhattacharya family from local Kotalghosha has been conducting this puja for generations. He says, “This deity is also known as Blue Saraswati. Such unique pujas are quite rare”.
On Saturday, local youths Tarun Chakraborty, Ramkrishna Mondal, Rathin Chattoraj, Bijay Sarkar, and Sabyasachi Mishra were seen bustling about, cleaning the temple and making puja arrangements. They say, “The puja has now become a community affair. The responsibility falls entirely on us”. Similar sentiments were echoed by housewives Mrinmoyee Ghosh, Santwana Chattoraj, and Shyama Chakraborty. They express, “We feel blessed to be part of organizing this puja”.
Shubhadeep Thandar, a sixth-grade student, and Bitan Bagdi, an eighth-grader, say, “The festive spirit of Durga Puja lingers until Tara Ma's puja”. Palash Bandyopadhyay returns to his village home every year during this time.
He and another of the writer's nephews, Basudev Bandyopadhyay, state, “Had it not been for Tara Ma's grace that day, we might not have had Tarashankar. Immortal literary works like 'Ganadevata', 'Panchagram', 'Hansuli Banker Upakatha', and 'Raikamal' might not have been created. That's why we organize the worship of Tara Ma, adhering to traditional customs”.
