In Kandi, 47km away, Gajan unites people of all faiths
Times of India | 15 April 2025
Behrampore: Murshidabad's Kandi, around 47km away from strife-hit pockets, exhibited a contrasting picture on Monday as Hindu and Muslim women queued up in the streets to offer flowers to Baba Rudradev's idol.
This ritual, which according to local folklore goes back 700 years and starts on the last day of Chaitra in the Bengali calendar, will continue for 11 more days. Images of a Shiva idol going around Kandi town in a palanquin with women — several of them Muslim — going up to offer flowers to it have gone viral on social media.
Temple priest Swapan Majumdar said this was a regular part of the local festivities. "People here, irrespective of religious divides, step out to see the Rudradev idol passing their home. This is faith, and this faith has no barriers. I have been here for 30 years. And for these 11 days, the entire town becomes one. There are celebrations in the temple complex every evening that include dances with the skull. It is reverence that draws people here," he said.
Local Trinamool MLA Apurba Sarkar, who is also the party's Murshidabad president, said: "This is a ritual I witness every year. I have tried in my own way to help recostruct the temple and provide people with amenities."