New Sydney Kalibari’s inaugural puja

It had been a day of high email traffic, text messages and phone calls, as people from the Indian subcontinent sent out Diwali wishes. The Granny Smith Festival in Eastwood had just finished with dazzling fireworks, and my wife and I were presented with a certificate of appreciation by Neel Banerjee from the famous SydKol Inc in our house. Then in my new Herringbone shirt, I accompanied Neel Banerjee with my wife and daughter to attend the inaugural celebration of Kali puja at the new temple in Wenworthville.

Kali is a Hindu goddess connected with timeless energy. She is considered the goddess of time and change in the Indian civilisation. Mention of her worship as a distinct goddess goes back to 600 CE. The earliest mention of her though is in the Rig-Vedic age. She is known variously as ‘Ratri’ and as ‘Shakti’.

Kali is also a central figure in late medieval Bengal. A significant amount of Bengali literature is devoted to her. Ramprasad Sen (1718-75) and Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa (1836-186) are great devotees of the goddess. Kali Ma is one of the most loved and kindest of all Hindu deities. She is even regarded as the Mother of the whole Universe.

This new Sydney Kalibari temple is the brain child of Nrijhar Dutta. With the support of friends across the community, the inaugural Kali puja was held here on 17th of October, 2009. The Kali puja was held in 83, Wentworth Avenue, Wentworthville in Sydney.

Sydney Kalibari is a non- profit and charitable organisation that organises the Kali puja and performs social service within the community. Its principle activities are to run a soup kitchen (vegetarian) for the infirm, meditation sessions and discourses, and care for elder/senior citizens during weekend afternoons (with complimentary lunch). Retirees in the neighbourhood are welcome here to hold socio-religious activities through prayer.

As we arrived at the new Kalibari, that familiar smell of incense greeted us. Children played outside with sparklers, volunteers rushed around with last minute preparations, and designer saris and achkans floated around. The walls of the new Kalibari were festively draped with colourful saris.

The Kalibari’s own Kali idol, hand-crafted in brass, came all the way from Calcutta. It is accompanied by a Shiva Lingam, made of black marble too. The idol is a beautiful creation of traditional Calcutta art work. To me, it looked very similar to a beautiful Tibetan painting of Kali at the NSW Art Gallery‘s Asian section.

The inaugural kali puja started with a great congregation most of who had fasted the whole day. The chanting of the mantras, ringing of the brass bell, the offering of prayers and the ceremonial rituals all added to the celebration of Kali puja. The priest, who chanted the mantras in his baritone, didn’t sound like he had travelled all the way from Washington DC specially to attend this event. Sumptuous vegetarian food followed, to end a spectacular night.

For me, the celebration brought back many uncounted memories of the Kali puja celebration in Calcutta.

As night went on, the gathering the people increased to 600 people from all works of lives to celebrate Kali Puja.

I felt this was the first puja I had attended in many years where the true spirit of Kali puja prevailed throughout the night. The kalibari hall vibrated with the strong sense of oneness and brotherhood and doing good for the human society. I feel this new Kalibari, could truly be a platform for confluence of all caste and creed, enhancing the great spirit of multiculturalism in Australia.

Indranil Halder