Sakta festivals of Bengal and their Antiquity

Summary

The article surveys the variety and antiquity of Śākta festivals celebrated in Bengal in honour of the Mother Goddess. While major tantric manuals such as Kṛṣṇānanda’s Tantrasāra and Pūrṇānanda’s Śyāmarahasya describe ritual procedures for worshipping numerous goddesses, they make little mention of popular festivals, and standard Smṛti digests like Raghunandana’s commentaries omit them because they focus on non‑tantric rites. Yet these festivals have deep roots. The author notes that earlier writers like Śrīnatha Ācāryacūḍāmaṇi and Bṛhaspati Rayamukuta mention some festivities, indicating their existence by the fifteenth century or earlier. The paper catalogues festivals associated with various goddesses: Brahmanī’s spring worship at Attahasa; Annapūrṇā’s fortnightly and yearly festivals at Kalighat, Nadia and other centres; Mānāsā’s serpent‑propitiation rites (Maṅgala‑pūjā) and the Dūrga‑pūjā in July associated with the Ulcai‑Rāghav legend; Bhagavatī’s fairs at Attahasa and Devakocha; Sītālātāla’s worship in western Bengal; Tripurasundarī’s rituals at Sikarpur in Barisal, Chandipur in Birbhum and temples at Rādhakiśorpur and Chatrabhoga; Annapūrṇa, Mangalacandi and other deities celebrated during rice‑harvest (raṣayātrā) and other auspicious days. Many festivals involve large melās where devotees gather, often on new‑moon or full‑moon days, and incorporate local myths such as those of Chandī, Daṇḍinī, Ulcai‑Rāghav and Rājā Birendra. The article observes that some celebrations, such as the worship of Tripurasundarī or the Patapūrṇimā festivals at Nabadwip, may represent Śākta responses to Vaiṣṇava processions. The author concludes that while these festivals are scarcely mentioned in canonical texts, they constitute a significant stratum of Bengali religious life with antiquity reaching back at least to the late medieval period.