South Kolkata Durga Puja 2022 Pandal Hopping

If you are in Kolkata during Durga Puja and want to know about South Kolkata Durga Puja 2022 Pandals to hop on, then this blog is for you.

This year, Durga Puja will be celebrated from 1st of October till October 5th 2022. While Durga Puja is celebrated all around the world, no one does it better and with the same energy and enthusiasm as it is been done in the city of Kolkata in India. This is that time of the year again, when Kolkata comes to a standstill and welcomes their daughter, Maa Durga into their homes and lives.

History

We can find some inscriptions which takes us back to 16th century, where it is mentioned about the grand celebration of Durga puja by the Zamindars of West Bengal. Different inscriptions talk about different kings and Zamindars who celebrated the Durga puja in a different way altogether.

Although the Durga Puja celebration is much more older than that, but if we talk about our history books we can start from 16th century safely as we have more relevant information about it in the books from this period onwards compared to the past ones.

The household Durga Pujas of Kolkata are also known as Bonedi Bari Puja. The Bonedi Barir Durga Puja in Kolkata is more of an emotion dedicated specially for the family members. The Boendo Bariri Pujo (Puja in the house of zamindars) still remains a custom in Bengal. The bigger households used to place the idol in their courtyards of their palaces for people to come and pray to the Goddess Durga and it still continues as a tradition in most part of the city and state. But in this blog about South Kolkata Durga Puja, we will focus more on Barowari puja or Puja common and open for all.

If you want to know more about this grand festival click on the link to know more.

Pandals

Kolkata has made its name for organising grand puja pandals used for housing idols of Maa Durga. This time the grand festival will reach its new heights because they have been inscribed in the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity for UNESCO.

So if you are in town and planning to do a little bit of pandal hopping we will help you out. We will divide the blog into two parts, one for South Kolkata and the other North & Central Kolkata

We have listed down 15 top Durga puja pandals for you to visit in a day or can break into two days. This itinerary can also be followed in years to come as well as we have considered the quickest communication route to move from one pandal to another. The traffic in this time of the year gets quite crazy, so if you get stuck, your chances of visiting all the pandals will be lesser.

Route

The route and the pandals that we have decided to cover is something like this and can be visited serially as well.

Suruchi Sangha
Chetla agrani
Badmtala Ashar Sangha
66 pally & Nepal Bhattacharjee Street
Mudiali Club
Shiv Mandir Sarbajanin
Deshapriya park
Tridhara Sammilani
Ballygunge Cultural & Samaj Sebi
Hindustan Club & Hindustan Park
Ekdalia Evergeeen Club
Bosepukur Sitala Mandir
Babubagan
Selimpur Pally
Jodhpur park 95 Pally

As per our analysis this is to be one of the quickest routes to take if you want to cover all 15 in one day.

For South Kolkata Durga Puja pandal hopping, we want to start from Suruchi Sangha which you can easily acess from both metro and train. For metro you can get down in Kalighat or Rabindra sarobar and take an auto directly to Suruchi Sangha which is located near New Alipore, or take a train and get down in Tollygunge. Once that is done follow the route of pandals provided above to complete the list in one day only.

You can also start from Badamtala Ashar Sangha which is closer to Kalighat metro or Mudiali club which is closer to Rabindra Sarobar metro but then again you have to go up to Suruchi Sangha and came back one way or the other. So its better to start from Suruchi Sangha itself. Follow the metro line to Mudiali, Shibmandir and reach Kalighat metro to cover the entire stretch of pandals located nearby till Ekdalia Evergreen at one go.

Download the Kolkata Police map from here.

Suruchi Sangha

Suruchi Sangha in New Alipore, is currently one of the favorite destinations of Durga Puja revelers. As mentioned earlier you can get down in Kalighat metro or Rabindra sarobar and take a cab, bus or an auto to reach there.

Suruchi Sangha have stepped into their 69th year with a theme of Prithibi Abar Santo Hobe (Peace will again prevail in the world).

The pandal will probably be shaped in the form of a planetarium this time around.

Chetla Agrani

From Suruchi Sangha you can directly take an auto or a bus to get down near Chetla Agrani which is not far away.

The Mayor of Kolkata personally looks into this puja and is an integral part of their club. Off late it has achieved quite a lot of awards in terms of concept, pandal and of course for their beautiful idols.

They have stepped in to their 63 years with a theme of Sholo Kolaay Purno. The club is reviving the endangered art of working on Banana Tree Fibre.

From Chetla Agrani you can either go towards Mudiali club or go straight to Badamtala Ashar Sangha. We recommend Badamtala Ashar Sangha as its near the Kalighat metro station which is closer to Chetla Agrani.

Badamtala Ashar Sangha

The club steps foot into their 84th year and their theme this time around is Padanka or Footprint, which will reveal man’s journey of life.

Last year the club came with a huge, colorful and artistic pandal with the theme named “Asha”.

66 Pally & Nepal Bhattacharjee Street

Both are different Puja pandals but very close to each other so you can easily cover them in the time allotted actually.

In their 72nd year, the 66 Pally Puja committee will showcase the memories of the near-extinct families. The theme, titled Ekannoborti.

Last year 66 Pally made the decision of having priestesses over to preside over the ceremonies for Durga Puja which is usually done by priests

Just beside 66 Pally you can quickly cover the puja pandal of Nepal Bhattacharjee Street which is celebrating their 42 year old Durga puja.

In 2020, Badamtala, 66 pally and Nepal Bhattacharjee street won awards for their beautiful concept of Apu trilogy, a renowned masterclass series of Satyajit Ray.

Mudiali Club

Once you are done, go straight towards Mudiali club, you can either walk, or take a metro to get down in Rabindra Sarobar or take a quick cab/auto to reach Mudiali club which is close to Rabindra Sarobar metro station.

Mudiali Club is one of the most well known puja committee in South Kolkata and is known for their creativity. The theme, this year is known as Pratiksha, (signals the wait for better days). The pandal’s lighting is organized this year by Award-winning artist Gauranga Kuila. They are celebrating their 87th year of their Durga puja.

Shiv Mandir Sarbajanin

Just beside Mudiali club if you walk 100 metres you would arrive in Shiv Mandir Puja Pandel. This year’s theme is “Biswas” (trust).

Deshapriya Park

Ahiritola Sarbojanin, Deshapriya Park, Ballygunge Cultural Association and Tala Park Pratyay this year have brought a unique concept to get added to the metaverse platform. If you have a wearable device at home, you can just sit back and enjoy the view of the whole pandel itself.

Famous for the world tallest Dura idol created in 2015, this puja first started in 1938 and is known to be one of the oldest pujas in South Kolkata.

Tridhara Sammilani

The club will celebrate its 76th Durga Puja this year. The theme this year is “Dour” (running). The theme mainly is based on that nothing is constant, we are all running someway or the other from our childhood till our last breath. Singer Anik Dhar has sung the theme music this time around.

Ballygunge Cultural Association & Samaj Sebi

Just opposite to Tridhara Sammilani, if you cross the Rashbehari connector on the other side you can easily spot the puja pandal of Ballygunge Cultural Association.

This time they are celebrating their 72nd year with their theme “Chaka” (Wheel).

Once you are done just walk 100 metres to also visit Samaj Sebi club. Their plan is to revive their first pujo of 1946 as their theme this year.

Hindustan Club & Hindustan Park

Hindustan Club created one of the best pandal and idol last year. They got multiple awards for their exception art inside the pandal and this year also they plan to create something like this. So this has to be included in the list of best durga puja pandel of south kolkata.

This year their theme is Azadi ki Amrit Mahotsab which is dedicated to all the freedom fighters who have dedicated their lives for the freedom struggle of India. This would be something we all will be looking for.

Just beside the club, you can visit Hindustan Park Puja as well.

Hindusthan Park Sarbojonin Durgotsab is paying tribute to the unacknowledged tailors of the city this Durga Puja.

Ekdalia Evergreen Club

Once you are done with Hindustan Club reach Gariahat crossing and cross the road to view the Ekdalia Evergreen Club puja pandal. Established in 1943, this club is set to celebrate 80 years of their Puja. They don’t go by any theme of any sort and generally creates pandals based on different temples of India.

Their idol follows the custom of Sabeki Pratima which is more like it used to be in the earlier years when the concept of theme was not there. The simplicity of their art is something to look forward to.

You can also go to Singhi Park which is opposite to Ekdalia club if time permits.

Bosepukur Sitala Mandir

If you are near Gariahat take the lane which goes towards Ballygunge railway station, you can get plenty of buses, autos to take you to the Kasba area and will drop you right in front of the pandal of Bosepukur Sitala Mandir.

They have received multiple awards for best pandal, and also known as one of those first puja committees who have pioneered in the art of Theme based pandels and idol. This year their theme is “Punarnabikaran” or reconstruction.

Once done you can take the route which goes from Acropolis Mall towards Dhakuria. You can get autos from opposite of Acropolis Mall or can take a cab from there to go to Dhakuria. Or you can take the auto back to Gariahat and walk towards Golpark to take another auto to reach Dhakuria to visiti Babubagan club.

Babubagan Club

Their theme this year is “Coin” and the pandal is said to be decorated with thousands of commemorative coins released since India’s Independence. They will celebrate their 61st year of celebration.

The durga idol will be made by artist Sanatan Pal and will feature a Durga statue engraved in a giant coin-like structure.

Selimpur Pally

Once you are done come to the main road i.e. RSC Mullick road and walk towards Jadavpur to get Selimpur Pally puja pandal to your left.

This year their theme is Sanjog or connection and the architect is Animesh Das. Their theme was selected to portray the connection between human lives. This Durga Puja is famous for their grand procession on Vijaya Dashami (the last day of Durga Puja).

Jodhpur Park 95 Pally

Once you are done visiting Selimpur Pally cross the road and walks towards Jodhpur Park just opposite to it to get into Jodhpur Park 95 Pally puja pandal.

This year they are celebrating their 72nd year and their theme is Trikal (Three periods, Future, current and past). The artist here is Susanto Pal, so you can expect some magic specially with the idol this time around.

Conlusion

If you are coming or staying back in Kolkata you can follow our itinerary to view the best South Kolkata Durga Puja pandals. This is definitely not the ultimate list of pandals, as we will list down plenty of other names as well which you can also visit.

We wanted to customize the South Kolkata Durga Puja pandals sequentially so that the communication and the connectivity is better. If you are planning to go out of the city during this time around check our Blogs section to know more about travel itineraries. We will cover the Pujas of North and Central Kolkata in our next blog. Do like share and subscribe to our website.

Naktala Udayan Sangha
Haridevpur 41 Pally
Ajeyo Sanghati
Bhowanipur 75 Palli
Hazra Park
Khiddepore 25 palli
Khiddepore 75 palli
Santoshpur Trikon Park
Santoshpur Lake Palli
Behala Notun Dol
Barisha Club
Maddox Square
Chakraberia Sarbajanin