Delhi Durga Puja
Charitable & Cultural SamitiKashmere Gate Durga Puja | Estd. 1910Donate

EST. 1910 · KASHMERE GATE

A century of belonging

Our history lives not only in dates, but in the people who returned each year to build a home for the Goddess.

The Chronicle · 1842 — Today

  1. 1842Remnants & Traces

    The first known Durga Puja in Delhi

    A private Durga Puja is believed to have been held in Delhi by a Majumdar of Rajshahi. Further private Pujas followed in 1875 and 1904, but none continued as a community celebration.

    01 / 10

  2. 1910First Offering

    From Calcutta to Delhi

    As Bengali employees settled in Delhi, the idea of celebrating Durga Puja in their new home took root. In 1910, the first community Baroyari Puja was organised at Roshanpura Kali Mandir near Nai Sarak, with Dr Hem Chandra Sen among those who brought the community together.

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  3. 1910–11Sacred Vessel

    Maa in the Mangal Ghat

    The first two Pujas were performed without a Durga pratima, centred instead around the ritually consecrated Mangal Ghat.

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  4. 1912The Advent

    The first pratima comes from Kashi

    With the help of Parmananda Biswas and Railway employees, the first Durga pratima was brought from Kashi to Delhi. Pratima Puja became part of the celebration.

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  5. 1913–1946Awhile

    The Dharamshala Years

    The Puja found a home at the Dharamshala of Lala Lachminarayan and his son Lala Girdhari Lal near Fatehpuri Mosque. Their support gave the growing community a place to gather for more than three decades.

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  6. 1926Embodiment

    When the pratima became local

    After years of bringing the idol from Kashi, the pratima began to be made in Delhi itself; a significant shift, and one that continues to this day. The craft of making the pratima here has since become part of the Puja’s own charm.

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  7. 1948Delhi After ’47

    The Puja moves towards Kashmere Gate

    After Independence, the Puja moved to Delhi Polytechnic and later the Women’s Polytechnic, entering a new chapter alongside a changing city.

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  8. 1968Settling In

    Civil Lines, from here on

    The Puja moved to the Bengali Senior Secondary School on Shamnath Marg, Civil Lines, where it continues today. The name Kashmere Gate Pujo, however, remained.

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  9. 2009Century of Continuity

    100 years, still gathering

    A century after the first gathering at Roshanpura, the Puja marked its centenary with a celebration that reached beyond its Bengali roots, bringing together the many strands of Indian art and culture.

    Prabhat Pheri set the celebrations in motion, followed by performances spanning theatre, dance and music, including Kathakali. It was a celebration of a hundred years — not simply of the Puja, but of the cultural life that had grown around it.

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  10. Here & NowEnduring Rituals

    Enduring Rituals

    The sabeki ek-chala pratima, Daaker Saaj, dhaak, bhog, dhunuchi naach and traditional rituals remain at the heart of the Puja.

    Families continue to return, even as they have scattered across cities and continents, bringing with them memories of the Puja they grew up with.

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Beginnings in old Delhi

The Samiti was formed in 1910 by a small Bengali community living around Kashmere Gate. Their celebration created a space for worship, kinship and cultural continuity far from Bengal.

A shared inheritance

Through upheaval and change, the puja endured. Each generation carried forward its rituals while opening the gathering to the city around it.

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