Malda: A portrait of communal harmony was out in glory for all to see in Malda's Chanchal area on the occasion of Vijaya Dashami on Wednesday evening. Muslim youths - Saiful, Rahim, Aesha - bid farewell to Goddess Durga with torches and mobile phone flashlights, a practice said to have started through lanterns, oil lamps, and candles.
Markedly separate from other immersion processes due to the obvious difference in faith, the practice has been going on at the Satighat on River Mahananda every year during the immersion of Chanchal's Paharpur Chandi temple.
The lore, according to locals, dates back to at least three centuries - and situates itself in the year of a terrible epidemic in the area. As residents of villages near Satighat began to flee, a Muslim man from Saurgachi village in the area was visited by Goddess Chandi in his dream.
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As the Goddess instructed him to shine light in the river to show her the way back to her heavenly abode, the latter subsequently did so, rewarded with being rid of the epidemic.
The tradition has carried on ever since, unbridled, despite the distance of creed, the only exceptions being mobile flashlights and torches which have replaced the lanterns. Speaking about the incident, village resident Sohrab Ali said, "our ancestors also showed light to the goddess on Bijoya Dashami. But now there is no lantern, so we have shown the goddess the way with the light of mobile phones and torches. This custom is very ancient.”
"This custom is 300-350 years old. We have been hearing about this custom since birth and follow that tradition even today" fellow villager Sheikh Saiful said, corroborating the earlier statement.
