VARANASI: There is a unique Durga Puja in Varanasi which is situated in Durgabari Devnathpura Temple in the Madanpura area near Guruneshwar Mahadev, where the idol has been worshipped form the last 256 years as the idol could not be immersed till date.
According to Dr Devashish Das, Maa Durga was placed by Kali Prasanna Mukherjee Babu of the Zamindar family, who arrived in Kashi from the Hooghly district of Bengal, and since then Durga Pooja started. The idol of Maa Durga in Durgabari of Devnathpura is the center of faith for Sanatan Dharma followers.
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Every year the same idol is worshiped by invoking the Mother Goddess. Looking at the statue of Mata, no one can say that the history of the statue is more than 250 years old. The Mukherjee family worships the mother daily
People tried to lift the statue installed in 1767 for immersion after the puja, but the statue did not budge. Ultimately the statue had to be left there. At night the priest who was worshiping the Mother Goddess had a dream. Mother told the priest not to immerse me, I will reside here.
Since then the statue has been sitting at the same place. Rani Devi, the tenth-generation member of the Mukherjee family, said that the idol made of clay and straw in a bamboo frame is prepared every year during Shardiya Navratri by painting it with colors, and the weapons and clothes of the idol are changed. The idol of Maa Durga has been sitting on the same altar since 1767.
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The influence of two hundred-and-fifty-year-old craftsmanship is clearly visible on the statue. Along with the Durga idol made with oil colors, there are also Ganesha, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartikeya, and Mahishasura.
