Bengal has successfully guarded its traditional religious virtues even after being subjected to foreign invasions.
Chandannagar, then a French colony soon became a throbbing point of Jagadhatri Puja, after Krishnanagar.
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The legend dates back by 230 years, when Raja Krishna Chandra of Krishnanagar was imprisoned in 1761 by then nawab of Bengal Mir Kasim for being a defaulter in paying the revenue to the nawab’s treasury. Raja Krishna Chandra was however released from confinement during the Bengali month of Aswin (Sept-Oct) , an auspicious month of Durga Puja and religious festivity.
The Raja reached Rukunpur river ghat in Nadia on the day of Dashami from Murishidabad.
The Raja, an ardent devotee of goddesses Durga, heartbroken, went off into deep slumber in the boat itself.
A goddesses with four hands displaying conch, discus, shaft and bow respectively, riding a tiger appeared to him in his dream and with great fondness told the Raja to perform puja of her in the incarnation of ‘Jagadhatri’ on Kartik Shukla to have all the spiritual benefits of Durga Puja.
The Raja, jubilant and with utmost purity and reverence was the first to perform the Jagadhatri Puja at Krishnagar Rajbari. The Raja soon after the Jagadhatri Puja achieved wealth and prosperity.
The Raja, blessed by the divine powers took initiative to popularise Jagadhatri Puja in other parts of Bengal.
Dataram Sur, the personal assistant of Raja Krishna Chandra, was bestowed with the responsibility to glorify the spiritual virtues of the Devi, who on a visit to Gourhati village in 1762 first performed the Jagadhatri Puja at the residence of her two widowed daughters.
After the death of Dataram Sur, due to financial constraints the ‘family Jagadhatri Puja’ was on the verge of getting over but the then local villagers of Gourhati took the initiative to continue the puja. In 1793, a permanent altar for goddesses Jagadhatri was built at a place adjacent to G T Road in Bhadreshwar, close to Chandernagar.
A Tamarind tree, close to the goddesses altar, has been renamed as Tetultala, Gourhati Jagadhatri Puja.
The joint secretary of the puja committee, (a trusty board) claims the Gourhati Tetultala Jagadhatri Puja is the first and the oldest.
