On Mahashthami, the biggest day in the five-day Durga Puja, today, time it is perhaps to reflect on the art and the artisans who make the idols.

It’s a pan-India story from the beginning till end: while earth to create the idols comes from the fertile alluvial deposits of Punjab, the clay for the idols’ faces is brought from Kumartuli (or artisans’ settlement in Bangla) in West Bengal. The straw and bamboo is sourced locally, while the artisans bring colours and fabric for the garments from their hometown — Krishnanagar in West Bengal’s Nadia district.

“We come here around the monsoon time and work till the Pujas start,” says Manik Pal, 40, who comes from Nadia district. “After Durga Puja, we work on Kali idols (Kali Puja is celebrated as Diwali in North India) before he we head home for a month or so.”It’s back to the city early the next year for Saraswati Puja, or Basant Panchami, Pal says. It’s a family business — his father Madhusudan Pal, 67, and younger brothers Narugopal and Gopal come with him each year along with a group of six other idol-makers.

In the big city, the temporary house, where they spend more time each year than back home in the village, is the beaten-down Chandralok cinema hall premises in CR Park, South Delhi.

Like Pal, fellow idol-maker Gobindo Nath lives in a makeshift hutment behind CR Park Kali Bari with 10 others. “We supply idols to various Pujas across Delhi and other NCR areas,” he says.

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