Durga Puja is a celebration of good over evil, as the Devi triumphs over the demon Mahishasura after a cosmic battle. But for the Bengali community, this festival is also filled with the joy of homecoming, since Durga, the daughter of Himalaya and the bride of Shiva, returns to her earthly abode to spend a few days with her parents.
This is the backdrop of Sindoor Khela. For when the daughter leaves on Vijaya Dashami, on her long way back to Mt Kailash, the community celebrates her departure by smearing her with sindoor. It is a mark of her marriage to Shiva. For hundreds of years, Durga Puja has ended in this manner. Before the immersion of the idol, the married women of the community first smear the idol and then each other with sindoor, tied together by the common bond of marriage. Children and young girls are also included, their faces are smeared with sindoor.
But this celebration has also divided women as much as it has united them. There are those on the fringes of social acceptance — widows, transgenders, separated, divorcees and single mothers — who are never invited to be a part of social celebration of sindoor khela. The whole community of revellers is joined together by this ritual. But these other women are united by gender but divided by tradition — looking on, but never being a part of Sindoor Khela.
We changed a 400-year old tradition of division into a celebration of inclusion. Widows, transgenders, divorcees, lesbians, single mothers, acid attack survivors came together and played Sindoor Khela for the first time in history. We urged each one to celebrate with two dots of sindoor, a symbol that unites. One dot of sindoor was for oneself and one dot of sindoor was for a sister.
This was the new Sindoor Khela we introduced, a day where labels didn’t matter. A new inclusive celebration where all women celebrated their oneness, standing together, proud together.
This year, on Dashami amidst the resounding beats of dhaak, we invite you to take a sister along and celebrate an inclusive Sindoor Khela. Festivities are meant to be celebrated together. If a section of women are pushed to the sidelines, uninvited and unaccepted, it's not a celebration after all. Irrespective of their socio-economic class, marital status, sexual orientation — being a woman, invite another and celebrate together. Do not let them be a passive onlooker this year. Participate in an inclusive Sindoor Khela this year with the campaign’s aim of blurring discrimination stemming from tradition.
History was made last year. This year you can too.
Join us by hosting an inclusive Sindoor Khela at your pujo pandal and you can get featured back in the paper. Email us at: noconditionsapply@timesgroup.com
Additionally, you can also be part of this brave movement by bringing a sister along at this year’s khela. Share your stories & photos using #NoConditionsApply #BringASisterAlong
#NoConditionsApply is a campaign by Times of India, to call attention to gender equality across all opportunities, celebrations, ambitions. Share your stories with us at noconditionsapply@timesgroup.com or tweet/post/share on social media with #NoConditionsApply.
Terms & Conditions of #NoConditionsApply Sindoor Khela Campaign
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