Thaindian News

Lucknow, Oct 1 (IANS) During Durga Puja, the people of Lucknow will get a chance to perform prayers inside the ancestral Kolkata residence of legendary Indian poet Rabindranath Tagore as a replica of the house is being constructed here.

Naveen Sharadiya Utsav — one of the city’s oldest Durga Puja committees — is coming up with the replica of Jorasanko Thakur Bari situated in north Kolkata.

“We are coming up with such a replica to pay tribute to the man who received enduring worldwide recognition for his prowess as a poet by winning the Noble Prize for literature in 1913,” Sujoy Chatterjee, assistant secretary of the puja committee, told reporters here Saturday.

“Artisans from Kolkata are busy giving the finishing touches to the pandal replicating the 18th century house (Jorasanko Thakur Bari) built by Rabindranath’s grandfather Dwarkanath Tagore. From Sunday, it would be open for the devotees,” he added.

According to the puja committee members, Durga puja celebrations used to be a grand celebration in Thakur Bari, and they would try to recreate that atmosphere with the help of the replica.

The massive pandal replicating the Tagore’s ancestral house is coming up on an area of over 10,000 square feet in the city’s Anand Nagar locality.

The puja committee will highlight Tagore’s notable contribution in the field of art, music, literature, plays and education.

“As we intend to make more and more people aware about Tagore’s contributions, we would be displaying Tagore’s paintings, songs and poems on charts and flex boards that would be put up in different corners of the pandal,” said Chatterjee, whose committee has been holding Durga Puja functions since 1959.

In the past, the committee had made replica of the White House and Meenakshi Temple of Madurai, Tamil Nadu for holding Durga Puja celebrations.