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Inside Delhi's Oldest Durga Puja: A Century of Tradition at Kashmere Gate
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News18•19-10-2026, 16:02
Inside Delhi's Oldest Durga Puja: A Century of Tradition at Kashmere Gate
- •Delhi's oldest Durga Puja, organized by the Bangla Senior Secondary School, has been running for over a century with origins dating back to 1910.
- •The celebration maintains a classical look, utilizing traditional artisans from Krishnanagar in West Bengal to craft the idols on the school premises.
- •The sacred ritual of chokkho daan, or the painting of the goddess's eyes, is performed privately to mark the divine awakening of the murti.
- •The committee continued traditions with symbolic ghot worship even through the pandemic, ensuring an unbroken century-old legacy.
Key Questions Answered
Delhi's oldest Durga Puja began in 1910 at Narain Dharmshala in Old Delhi, organized by the Bangla Senior Secondary School.
Chokkho daan is the sacred moment when the artisan paints the Goddess's eyes in private, connecting their labor with the festival's deep spiritual devotion.
When the capital shifted from Calcutta to Delhi in 1911, an influx of people arrived for work in administration, medicine, and law, which caused the Pujo to grow accordingly.
