A common trend that one sees among the people who prefer to scrap everything that is Sacred out of all the festivals that have been followed for centuries is the denial of the scriptures having any role in the genesis of such festivals. The modus operandi is very clear in such cases: 

Step 1: Deny the Sacred element totally. 
Step 2: Promote some other linguistic/class-based factors as the causal factors behind the festivals. 
Step 3: Create fault-lines based on post-modernist interpretations of such festivals. 
Step 4: Reap the dividends of the disaster that follows after such divisions are created.

An attempt to do the same with the Sacred Durga Puja has been made over the years. This includes claiming a separate Bengali identity for the festival, creating a fertile ground for class conflicts based on post-modernist interpretations of the Puja and then furthering nefarious agendas which are helped by the sacrilege of the sacred. In this context, one needs to probe into the link between the Sacred, the Scriptures and the Festival. 

What a keen student of the Durga Puja in Bengal will observe in Bengal today is the strong influence of the Tantras and the Veda in the rituals associated with the Puja. In tracing the origins of the Tantrika Mode of worship, one has to go to the Vedas where both enjoyment and renunciation were combined in the Karma Kanda portion of the Vedas. There the goal of human life is viewed as the regulated enjoyment of sense objects by propriating the Devatas through prayers and sacrifices. When the mind was purified in this manner - the seeker could take up the purer course of disciple as prescribed in the Upanishads. With the rise of the Buddhist influence, things took a different turn. The methods of worship prescribed for the ones capable of renunciation were now prescribed for the householders, irrespective of taste or capacity. The result was that the Yajna, which had in view the objective of gradually weaning the mind of the aspirant from enjoyment, was replaced by a system of worship, clandestine in nature - conducted in the most dreaded of places. 

There is a profound message that one gets from the statement that the Tantrika rites were introduced by Lord Shiva in place of the rituals of the Veda, which had fallen into disuse over the course of time. Because not only do they combine enjoyment and renunciation, but one also finds philosophy in them. Each act of worship mentioned in the Tantra system necessitates some kind of a meditation on the unity of the spiritual aspirant with the Lord - the Jiva with the Ishvara. For example, sitting down to worship, one has to mentally raise the Shakti of the Kundalini - which is described as the resultant of the past Samskaras (impressions) of the entire potentiality of a person supposed to be coiled up at the lowest end of the spinal column - to the thousand petalled lotus in the brain, and think of this symbol of the aspirant as identified with Ishvara residing there. Then the seeker imagines himself as identified with Him and the spirit of Ishvara as condensed into the luminous form of the chosen Ishta. He projects Him out of himself on the image or symbol in front and proceeds to worship Him. After this worship is completed, the aspirant imagines the Ishta to resume His former place in the Thousand Petalled Lotus. Thus, one sees that an attempt has been made through this Tantrika Method to realize the ultimate object of human life by directing the mind of the worshipper to the unity that exists at all times. 

Another feature of the Tantras is their focus on the motherhood of Ishvara and a glorification of women. Rudiments of this idea are found in the Samhita portion of the Veda, where the husband is instructed to look at the body of his wife as Sacred. The Tantras carry this idea and prescribe practices which suited certain temperaments of the age in which the Tantras gained great prominence. The Tantrikas recoginzed the fact that the best possible way of turning the mind of a person towards the Divine in the midst of all enjoyments is to create a sincere regard for all that one takes for granted in life. Therefore, the Tantras declared that one should always look upon a woman as Devi herself, and realizing the presence of the Mother of the universe in her, treat her with all respect. This is the key factor behind rituals such as Kumari Puja, which are popular in Bengal. Another such instance is seen in the life of Sri Ramakrishna Paramahamsa, who conducted a Shodashi Puja with his consort Sri Sarada Devi as the deity. 

Seeing this connection between the Tantra and rituals of the Durga Puja, one might argue that Tantra is a system developed in opposition to the Veda and a schism exists between the two. Some have even gone to the extent of pitting Tantra as a subaltern arrangement against the Vedas. The origins of this argument could be traced back to Debiprasad Chattopadhyaya, the famous Marxist philosopher. His arguments were based on an ill-conceived methodology of fusing the ideas of sociology (connecting practices such as Totemism with Tantras), a deliberate attempt to distort the meaning of the word Tantra while totally ignoring the traditional etymology, etc.

The word Tantra is derived in the Kashika Vritti of Vamana-Jayaditya from the root 'tan', to spread. Some other scholars have opined that it has been derived from the root 'tatri' or 'tantri', meaning origination or knowledge. Thus, it means "the Shastra by which knowledge is spread" (tanyate vistaryate jnanam anena iti tantram). To make things more specific, the Kamika Agama defines Tantra as a class of texts "which promulgates very profound matters concerning Tattva and Mantra".  The Tantra is regarded as Agama and further called as Shrutishakhavisheshah, a particular branch of the Vedas. This claim is made by many Tantrika texts. One such Tantrika text, the Nishvasatattva Samhita tells us that the Tantra is the culmination of the elements of Vedanta and Samkhya.  The Gandharva Tantra says that the follower of the path of the Tantras must be a believer of the Vedas. Also, the influence of both the Vaidika and Tantrika systems in the rituals of Durga Puja serves as an evidence of the agreement between the two. This includes the Mantras that are used during the rituals. The Mantra is not a random collection of letters as many would wrongly believe. The Mantra is a Shabda, but with a difference. The letters of the Mantra are to be seen as permeated by Chitshakti, or the Divine Power. This concept of the Mantra remains the same in the Veda and the Tantras. In fact, the famous seers of the Veda and Puranas such as Vasishtha, Vishwamitra, Agastya and Lopamudra are regarded as the proponents of the different Tantrika modes of worship. The Vedas and the Tantras are therefore not opposed to each other and serve together as reservoirs of knowledge which form the basis for the rituals which are the core of the Durga Puja.

All this goes on to establish that the Durga Puja is not Sharadotsav as being promoted by vested interests today. Its origins are in the scriptures and its rituals are not replaceable or removable. The Shastra is the only Pramana (valid means of knowledge) in the context of the Puja and has absolutely no scope for any form of virtue signalling gestures which interfere with the Shastra compliant observance of the Puja rituals. It is certainly not correct to say that the Durga Puja is devoid of the Sacred element, a false notion which a certain section of the intelligentsia wants to promote. Also, one needs to understand that the Puja is meant to be a means for uplifting the spiritual aspirant and the mass appeal enhancing pandals and theme-based artwork are not the core substance of the Puja. In this quest for making the Sacred political/ideological and a commercial affair, it is the sincere seeker who loses out. It is therefore important for the people of Bengal to recognize the importance of reviving the Sacred and help in restoring Shakti to its place in the Puja.

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