Tridhara Durga Puja turns 80 with 'Sur-Asur' theme and giant dragons at its gate

Tridhara Durga Puja, one of the best-known community pujas of South Kolkata, is celebrating its 80th year in October 2026 with a pandal built around the theme 'Sur-Asur', the age-old contest between the divine and the demonic. Giant dragons tower over the entrance of the Tridhara Sammilani pandal near Rashbehari Avenue, and devotees were already queuing to see it by Friday, October 16, as the main days of Durga Puja got under way. The committee's secretary has explained that the dragon stands for evil, and that the Goddess inside is shown seated and calm, after the dragon has been defeated.

Durga Puja in Kolkata is more than a religious festival. It is the city's largest public art exhibition, and in 2021 it was added to UNESCO's list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity. Every year, neighbourhood committees commission artists and craftspeople to turn temporary bamboo-and-cloth structures into elaborate works on a chosen theme. The best of these themed pandals draw lakhs of visitors over a few days and have become a showcase for Bengal's sculptors, painters, lighting designers and artisans.

Tridhara's choice of 'Sur-Asur' goes back to the core story of the festival itself. The goddess Durga's victory over the buffalo-demon Mahishasura is a tale of the forces of order defeating the forces of chaos, and the pairing of 'sur' (the gods) and 'asur' (the demons) runs through Indian mythology. What is unusual here is the visual language. Instead of depicting Mahishasura in the familiar way, the committee has chosen the dragon, a symbol many visitors will recognise from East Asian art and popular culture, to stand for evil. By placing the Goddess in a calm, seated pose, the pandal shows the moment after victory, a quieter take on a scene usually shown at the height of battle.

The reported pen sculpture reflects another trend of recent years: pandal makers using recycled and everyday materials, from plastic waste to discarded household objects, both to make an environmental point and to show off craft skills. Such work also gives visitors a reason to look closely rather than simply photograph and move on.

Reaching 80 years also places Tridhara among the city's long-running community pujas. These committees began as neighbourhood collectives, and many now operate on a large scale with sponsorships, security planning and crowd management, while still relying on local volunteers. Their anniversaries are often marked with bigger, more ambitious themes, as Tridhara has done this year.

Short-term: Crowds at Tridhara and the cluster of well-known pujas in South Kolkata will peak over the main festival days this weekend and into next week. Visitors should expect long queues in the evenings, and the night-time Metro services announced for the festival make late visits easier.

Long-term: Themes like Tridhara's keep the pandal tradition evolving, mixing classical mythology with new imagery and recycled materials. Anniversaries of long-running committees also help preserve the memory of how Kolkata's community pujas grew from neighbourhood gatherings into a recognised cultural heritage.

Who is affected: Devotees and visitors to South Kolkata, the artists and artisans who built the pandal and idol, local residents and traders around Rashbehari Avenue and Kalighat, and the police and volunteers managing the crowds.

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