Muragacha --- The forgotten glory of Mukherjee Family

Bibhuti Bhushan's Apu had left his native vilage to come to Kolkata in search of job and prosperity. The story is perhaps the same for many old bengali families who with the breakdown of the zamindar system had drifted to the crowded city , looking for money, fame and glory. Even though initially they went back once a year or twice to visit their kins with time the link has got broken.The old ancestral houses with their old customs and annual durga pujas have become a distant faded memory to their city based successors. Many have been sold and replaced with new buildings or have been left in a delipidated condition unsaleable due to a maze of property rules and shariki ain .The Mukherjee family of Muragacha was no exception . I have been hearing the stories of baro diwan and choto diwan's families and their ancestal temple and annual durga puja from my inlaws. Somehow the stories had a fairy tale like quality and i would wonder how the old diwan bari might have looked intrigued by their gloty and history. Unfortunately life has never given me an oppotunity to visit Muragacha. This year the Muragacha Diwanbari is finally getting sold ,repair being too much of a burden to the very old near centurion last member of the family who till now had been living in the old ancestral house. This being the last chance to visit the property my inlaws had gone down to visit the annual durgapuja at the ancestral house of Muragacha. I am publishing some of the pictures taken by them of the Muragacha Mukherjee bari and its DurgaPuja. The DurgaPuja will be still continued as i hear by the gentleman who has bought the property.I don't know if i will have the opportunity to go on my pilgrimage to Muragacha and so i am paying my tribute to the roots of Mukherjee family through these pictures hoping to preserve this memory for the future generations.

Pictures taken from Moumi's album

Singha Duar--The Main Gate




















The Ancestral House

The Old House

Annapurna Mandir
















Mukherjee Barir Durga Pujo

Grihadebataa --The Family God

Rash Mandir

Kali Mandir

Shib Mandir