During Durga Puja, Bengalis follow the age old tradition of making clay idols. Months before the festivity of Durga Puja, skilled artisans start making images of Durga also called Pratima.
Bamboo sticks are used to make the skeleton structure of Goddess Durga Pratima.
Durga's figure is given a proper shape with straw tied tightly with jute strings. Creation of Pratima and its decoration is a long process. The whole process is undertaken systematically in order to create the most exquisite pieces of artistry. Idol making is an important task and requires perfection and it is done painstakingly by the artisans to create the most exquisite idols.
The making of idols can be divided into two parts. First part involves the preparation of skeleton structure and clay mixing in order to form different body parts like head, palms and feet. The second stage involves applying the three layers of clay and smoothing the skin. The first layers applied have a high percentage of water which helps in filling the crevices left by the straw. Second layer is the most important and applied with great caution. The clay used in this process is very fine which gives prominence to the figure. Later, different body parts like palms, head and feet are separately attached with the main torso, to give appearance of Goddess Durga. It requires a lot of skill to make the head of the Goddess Durga idol and is done by the highest graded craftsman. When the idol is ready and dried, liquid plaster of Paris is pored over.
