Two new ‘Chandi Medhas’ to add to Cuttack’s Durga Puja grandeur

CUTTACK: The silver city of Cuttack will dazzle with two new ‘Chandi Medhas’ at Ramgarh-Kanika Chhak and Tulasipur-Mathasahi pandals this Durga Puja.

Ramgarh-Kanika Chhak committee, which has been organising Durga Puja since 1987, is setting up a 14-ft high and 9-ft wide Chandi Medha using two quintals of silver. President of the committee Jayadev Das said work on the ‘medha’ had actually started in 2014 but due to lack of dedicated efforts, it was delayed till the new members of the committee decided to finish it this year. Here, the Goddess wears silver jewellery weighing 30 kg.

Filigree artisans Nirakar Das, Rajesh Das and Sanatan Barik are leading a team of 10 craftspersons to set up the ‘medha’. The highlight of the tableaux, Nirakar said, is 25 beautifully-designed peacocks, each weighing 3.5 kg. The puja committee is spending Rs 2.5 crore on the ‘medha’. Prior to 1987, the puja committee was worshipping ‘Hara Parvati’ at the pandal.

Similarly at Tulasipur Durga Puja committee, a 15-ft high and 14-ft wide ‘Chandi Medha’ is being crafted by Nirakar. The highlight here is silver motifs of swans on the tableaux that will also have designs of ‘Phula Patti’, ‘Ambakasia’, ‘Kadamba’, among others.