• ISBN13: 9789385285134
• Binding: Paperback
• Subject: Fine Arts
• Publisher: Niyogi Books
• Publisher Imprint: NiyogiBook
• Publication Date: September 12, 2016
• Pages: 140
• Original Price: 750.0 INR
• Language: English
• Edition: N/A
• Item Weight: 368 grams

This book is a tribute to the image-makers of Kumortuli, as well as a social and cultural account of Durga Puja—the most important religious festival of Bengal. The potter community of Kolkata, the kumors as they are colloquially known, are more than what the name suggests—they are artists. Tangible images of deities that form the crux of Hindu worship, find shape in the hands of these artisans, who, with sheer dedication to the craft, have kept the tradition alive for generations. Durga Puja, on the other hand, is not only the major religious festival of Bengal but has also evolved into a cultural extravaganza. From the point of view of sheer vastness and magnitude of organisational mobilisation, it is comparable only to the global impact of Christmas. Through vivid photographs and absorbing text, the book captures Kolkata’s spirit of artistic creativity and spiritual ecstasy, embodied in these ephemeral constructs of clay, straw and bamboo. It also sensitively documents Bengal’s unique and most enduring cultural heritage of image worship.

Born in calcutta and educated in india and the uk, krishna dutta has been living in london since the late 1960s. she specialises in the history and culture of bengal and has co-authored a biography of rabindranath tagore, the myriad-minded man, co-edited tagore’s selected letters and translated bengali short stories and poems. her book calcutta: a cultural and literary history, published in 2003, was critically acclaimed by many and now has a recently updated indian edition. in 2013, she published a popular culinary cultural book on indian dal recipes, titled the dal cookbook, in london, which has already gone through several editions.