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New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI): The UNESCO on Wednesday accorded heritage status to Kolkata\u2019s Durga puja festival, bringing glory to the country, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lauding the move.<\/p>\n
\u201cDurga puja in Kolkata has just been inscribed on the intangible heritage list. Congratulations India,\u201d the organisation said in a tweet attaching a photo of the goddess with hashtag \u2018living heritage\u2019.<\/p>\n
Modi has hailed UNESCO\u2019s decision as a \u201cmatter of great pride and joy for every Indian\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDurga Puja highlights the best of our traditions and ethos. And, Kolkata\u2019s Durga Puja is an experience everyone must have,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The chief minister underlined that Durga puja was not just a festival, but an emotion.<\/p>\n
\u201cProud moment for Bengal! To every #Bengali across the world, Durga Puja is much more than a festival, it is an emotion that unites everyone. And now, #DurgaPuja has been added to the Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. We are all beaming with joy!\u201d she tweeted The Ministry of Culture, too, took to the microblogging platform to extend its wishes to the residents of the city on this achievement.<\/p>\n
\u201cOverjoyed that \u2018Durga Puja in Kolkata\u2019 joins the @UNESCO Representative List of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Many congratulations! It is a confluence of the rich heritage and culture of the county\u2019s art, crafts, rituals and practices. Jai Maa Durga!\u201d the ministry wrote.<\/p>\n
The department of state information and cultural affairs in Bengal issued a statement to congratulate the people of the state as well as the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe 16th Committee of UNESCO for safeguarding of the Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH) in its meeting held on 15th December 2021 in Paris has inscribed Durga puja in Kolkata on the representative list of Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The department also noted that this was the \u201cfirst festival in Asia\u201d to get such recognition.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is a red letter day for us. In real sense Bengal is now Biswa Bangla. Our congratulations to all the people of Bengal, country and the world. We convey our thanks and gratitude to UNESCO for the recognition bestowed on this great festival as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity,\u201d the statement maintained.<\/p>\n
Suvaprasanna, the chairman of West Bengal Heritage Commission, said the annual Red Road carnival, which displays the craftsmanship that goes into the making of Durga Puja pandals, have made more people across the world aware of the grandeur that is synonymous with the festival.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee who started the Red Road Carnival to showcase the art work, culture and traditions associated with the festival. Durga puja is being celebrated for decades, but the festival got a new dimension with the carnival,\u201d he stated.<\/p>\n
Welcoming the development, indologist and academician Nrisingha Prasad Bhaduri said Durga puja is a \u201cuniversal festival\u201d binding millions of people.<\/p>\n
He, however, claimed that the festival should have been accorded the status much earlier.<\/p>\n
The annual Red Road carnival, organised ahead of the immersion ceremony, was last held in 2019.<\/p>\n
The event was cancelled this year as well as in 2020 owing to the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n
Soumen Dutta, one of the officials of Forum for Durgotsab \u2014 an apex body of community Durga puja committees in the city \u2014 said organisers of the ten-day gala have finally got their due credit.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur hard work over the years has yielded desired result. The magnitude of Durga puja celebrations in Bengal has no parallel in the entire world,\u201d he underlined.<\/p>\n
On its website, UNESCO said the \u201cfestival has come to signify home-coming or a seasonal return to one\u2019s roots\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cDurga Puja is seen as the best instance of the public performance of religion and art, and as a thriving ground for collaborative artists and designers. The festival is characterised by large-scale installations and pavilions in urban areas, as well as by traditional Bengali drumming and veneration of the goddess,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
New Delhi, Dec 15 (PTI): The UNESCO on Wednesday accorded heritage status to Kolkata\u2019s Durga puja festival, bringing glory to the country, with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee lauding the move. \u201cDurga puja in Kolkata has just been inscribed on the intangible heritage list. Congratulations India,\u201d the organisation said in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-179469","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-national"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179469","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=179469"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/179469\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=179469"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=179469"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/arunachaltimes.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=179469"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}