Fair & Festivals or West Bengal Part- XVII

BISALAKASHI FESTIVAL

Bisalakashi festival is held at Sankrail near Howrah in the month of Baisakh (March – April) every year. 

Sankrail is situated just below the confluence of the Bhagirathi and Sarasawati about 16 kms by river from Howrah city and 4 kms fro Andul station on the South Eastern Railway with which it is connected by a metalled road.

So goes the legend – When Sri Chaitanya was sailing past the village on his way to Puri, its residents blew conches in his honour and from sound of conches (sankha) the place took the name of Sankharole from which Sankrail was derived. According to popular belief, an ancestor of the local Chattopadhyaya family was asked in a dream to collect the stone image of goddess Bisalakshi from the neighbouring tank called Bisalakshi Daha which he did and enshrined her in a small mud walled temple which was later replace by a brick built atchala shrine erected by Raja Madam Ray, a zemindar of sankrail and a contemporary of Hastings. The image of the goddess is seen only by her face, besmeared with vermilion, while rest of her body is covered with cloth. The Chattopadhyayas still carry on the daily worship of the deity whose annual festival takes place on the full moon day of the Bengali month of Baisakh (March – April). On every Tuesday and Saturday of the month of Magh (January – February) fairs are held at the local astana of Bada pir, a legendary Muslim saint.

Sanihati (popularly known as saint), a place near Hooghly on the Chinsura – Dhaniakhali road 19 km from Chinsura, contains the jor bangla temple of Bisalakshi, a female shakta deity built in A.D 1822. Despite renovations and crude application of pink lime – wash, the façade still preserves ornamental terracotta plaques. The deity, a huge two armed goddess, is held in high esteem by the people of the surrounding area and her shrine attracts devotees throughout the year. Her annual festival held in the month of Aswin (September – October) is the most important religious event of the village. A large fair is held on this occasion. In the month of Phalgun (February – March) present assemble in the precincts of the temple with newly harvested rice and cook it there and partake of it after it has been offered to the deity. This unsophisticated ritual is known as Ranna Utsab (cooking festival).