The radio at dawn, the dhak, the conch: how Pujo sounds.
Dhakis playing the dhak at a Durga Puja. Photo: AjayDas, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
First broadcast from Calcutta in the early 1930s, the dawn radio programme is, for millions of Bengalis, the moment Pujo begins.
Akashvani Bhavan, All India Radio's Kolkata station. Photo: John Meckley, CC BY-SA 2.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Families wake before dawn to listen, then go to the river for tarpan.
Tarpan on Mahalaya: offering water, til and kusha grass to the ancestors at the Ganga. Photo: Goutam1962, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
A large barrel drum topped with white plumes. Many dhakis travel from rural Bengal to Kolkata to be hired for the pujas.
Dhakis playing the dhak at a Durga Puja. Photo: AjayDas, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
With the kashor gong, the conch and ulu, the dhak makes the sound most Bengalis call Pujo.
Blowing the shankha, the conch, during worship. Photo: Subhranilbasak0, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
At evening aarti, dancers sway with smoking clay burners to the beat of the dhak.
Dhunuchi dance: clay burners of smoking coconut husk and incense, held aloft to the dhak. Photo: Bhuppigraphy, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The dhak is the plumed barrel drum of Durga Puja and the dhaki its player: how it is played, where dhakis come from, its rhythms and the kashor gong.
Dhak and dhaki → Next story: Pandal hopping in Kolkata: how to do it right 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.