Kola Bou, or Nabapatrika, is the bundle of nine plants worshipped as Goddess Durga on Saptami. The nine plants, their goddesses and why she stands by Ganesha.
Kola Bou, the banana plant bride, is carried to the pond for her bath on Saptami morning. Photo: Goutam1962, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The plants are tied together around a banana plant with a white aparajita creeper, along with a pair of bel fruits.
Kola Bou, the banana plant bride, is carried to the pond for her bath on Saptami morning. Photo: Goutam1962, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The Nabapatrika is one of the oldest-feeling elements of the puja. Many historians and folklorists connect it with harvest and fertility rites: Durga Puja falls when the autumn rice crop is ripening in Bengal, and several of the nine are food or medicinal plants.
Phuchka, Kolkata's favourite street snack. Photo: TAPAS KUMAR HALDER, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
At dawn on Saptami, the Nabapatrika is carried to the river, a pond or a ghat for Nabapatrika snan, its ritual bath, with dhak drums, conch shells and ululation.
Dhakis playing the dhak at a Durga Puja. Photo: AjayDas, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The Kola Bou is placed beside Ganesha, traditionally on his right. Because she is dressed like a newly married bride and stands next to him, she is popularly called Ganesha's wife, and children in Bengal often grow up hearing her called that.
Kola Bou, the banana plant bride, is carried to the pond for her bath on Saptami morning. Photo: Goutam1962, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
On Dashami she is bid farewell along with the goddess; see Bijoya Dashami.
Kola Bou, the banana plant bride, is carried to the pond for her bath on Saptami morning. Photo: Goutam1962, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Kola Bou, or Nabapatrika, is the bundle of nine plants worshipped as Goddess Durga on Saptami. The nine plants, their goddesses and why she stands by Ganesha.
Kola Bou → Next story: Kumari Puja: the goddess in a young girl All photo storiesMusic: Rhythm of Dhak a huge membranophone instrument from Bengal and Assam, used in Hindu religious festivals, especially Durga Puja, Sumita Roy Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.