Kolkata, Aug. 31 -- They were denied entry into temples. So, they turned their own bodies into temples.
The story dates back to the 1890s, when members of Chhattisgarh's Ramnami community began inscribing the name of Ram across their bodies, from their eyelids to their feet.
Their skin became a living scripture, carrying a mark of devotion that also stood as a response to the social exclusion they had faced.
More than a century later, that remarkable tradition of faith, identity and resistance has inspired the theme of the Manicktala Chaltabagan Lohapatty Durga Puja Committee's 84th edition. Titled 'Nishan - The Mark', the 2026 Puja will explore the many meanings of a mark - as an expression of belief, identity and defiance.
The theme was unveiled at a Press conference at a city hotel on Monday.
This year, Chaltabagan will also feature a theme song composed by internationally acclaimed Mohan Veena exponent and Padma Bhushan awardee Pandit Vishwa Mohan Bhatt. The musical project has a family touch, with Bhatt's son handling the arrangements and Bhatt and his grandson playing the Mohan Veena.
The committee is also set to introduce the Durga Puja Connect App, a global digital initiative aimed at taking some of the city's finest puja pandals to devotees and viewers around the world.
"'Nishan' is the mark that is written; the music composition is the audible mark; the Ramnami Samaj are the living proof that a mark, faithfully inscribed, can outlast everything that was used to exclude the people who carry it, and the app is the modern mark of technology," said Sundeep Bhutoria, chairman of Chaltabagan Puja.
The Press conference was attended by Shishir Bajoria, BJP Videsh Vibhag core team member and West Bengal state executive member, who is also president of the committee's 2026
Inauguration Committee.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.