Go down to a ghat on the Hooghly early on the morning of Saptami and you will see small processions arriving with the dhak and the conch: priests and members of a puja carrying a bundle of plants wrapped in a white sari with a red border, like a new bride, sometimes under a parasol. This is the nabapatrika, and across Bengal she is better known as kola bou, the banana bride.
Nine plants
Nabapatrika means nine leaves. A young banana plant is the centre of the bundle, and eight other plants are tied to it:
- Banana
- Kochu, the taro plant
- Turmeric
- Jayanti
- Bel, the wood apple
- Dalim, the pomegranate
- Ashok
- Maan kochu, a giant taro
- Dhan, the rice plant
Each plant is held to be a form of the goddess, so together they are Durga herself in nine forms. Many scholars read the nabapatrika as a trace of something older, the worship of plants and of the harvest, absorbed into the Puja. It suits the season: the Puja falls as Bengal’s autumn rice is ripening in the fields.
The bath at dawn
On Saptami morning the nabapatrika is carried to the river, or to a tub of water if the river is too far, for her ritual bath. She is then dressed in a new sari with a red border, the end drawn over her like a bride’s veil, and her forehead is marked with vermilion. Back at the pandal she is installed on the stage, and the main rites of Saptami begin.
Not Ganesh’s wife
Because she stands beside Ganesh and is dressed like a bride, she is often called Ganesh’s wife, and generations of children have been told so. In the rites she is nothing of the kind. She is the goddess, in her plant forms, standing among her children.
She stays on the stage through Ashtami and Nabami, and on Dashami she is taken down to the water again with the rest of the household of gods.
Seeing it
The Saptami-morning bath is one of the most photographed rituals of the Puja, and ghats in north Kolkata such as Bagbazar are busy from first light. Go before sunrise, keep out of the way of the priests and the processions, and ask before photographing anyone. Check this year’s Saptami date in the schedule before you set out.