Author: Jhimli Mukherjee Pandey
Publication: The Times of India
Date: October 14, 2002
URL: http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/cms.dll/articleshow?artid=25102350
40-year old Narayan Shashtri and
19 year old Bibek Mukherjee are classmates in a unique school. The Purohit
Paathshala on Haritaki Bagan Lane near Amherst Street, is provding hope
for the unemployed who had for so long been contemplating nothing but a
bleak future.
During Durga Puja, Shashtri will
be assisting the main purohit of Nayanchand Dutta Street Sarbojonin Durgotsav.
"I will earn Rs 800 and will also bring back clothes, food grains, fruits
and sweets for my family," Shashtri said.
Similarly, Mukherjee performed pujas
on the day of Vishwakarma Puja. Another alumnus, 55 year old Lakhan Chakraborty,
will be performing chandipaath at a Navratri function.
Founded by the Baidic Pandit-O-Purohit
Mahamilan Kendra, the school is a platform for the purohits of major community
Durga pujas of the city. Started in April, the first batch comprises 35
students. Students pay a monthly tuition fee of Rs 50.
The students are offered a year's
course. They can choose between the comparatively easier pandit bisharad
or the one that leads to the pandit ratna. The final written examination
will be conducted in April by a panel of Sanskrit scholars. "For practicals
we have tied up with para clubs and families", Kendra president Netai Chakraborty
said.
On completion, students will be
offered community and family pujas to perform. Chakraborty said that he
has written to the Benaras Hindu University and was expecting an affiliation
next year in the university's distance learning schemes.
For purohit ratna, one has to study
the mantras not only of all the popular pujas like Durga, Kali, Jagaddhatri,
Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartick, Ganesh, Vishwakarma and Manasa but also mantras
for weddings, thread ceremony, funerals and griha pravesh.
"A purohit bisharad only learns
the puja-performing mantras and not the difficult ones", Chakraborty said.
