Glittering silver in 2 more pandals

CUTTACK: Silver is all set to shine  brighter in the silver city this Durga Puja as Khan Nagar and Sikharpur Puja Mandaps are all set to force their entry into the elite Chandi Medha club this year. The total number of mandaps having the special Chandi medha (silver backdrop) will thus go up to 14. The Khan Nagar-Khapuria Shilpanchal Puja Committee will this year adorn its Goddess with a silver backdrop and gold and silver ornaments. The backdrop weighs around 3.5 quintals while another half a quintal of silver and substantial quantity of gold have been used to make ornaments, weapons and implements of the presiding deity Goddess Durga and others.  The committee has spent around ` 2 crore in shaping the backdrop and making of other items. The backdrop even as it incorporates intricacies of the traditional filigree work of Cuttack city is unique in the sense that it can be assembled into three different designs for different occasions. For Durga Puja if the backdrop depicts merger of swans into one another, for Kali Puja it can be assembled differently depicting a row of swans following each other. “We decided to have the Chandi Medha at our mandap in 2009 but it was only in 2010 when the work got grounded. The entire expenses have been sustained on individual contributions from among the members and locals,” said secretary Prafulla Kumar Sahoo. More than 10 filigree artisans led by Pravat Kumar Dey, who earlier designed the Dolmundai and Ranihat, have been working through the year to make the backdrop ready in time, Sahoo said. Khan Nagar is joined by the Sikharpur, Gandarpur and Mahanadi Vihar Puja Committee as the newest members of the club this year. The committee has readied the silver backdrop, throne and crown for Goddess Durga, with the entire assembly weighing around three quintals. The money spent is estimated to be over Rs. 1.5 crore. “We have finally completed the job after six years of conception. Since it involved heavy expenditure, we had been going ahead piece by piece and are elated that it has been done,” said working president of the Committee Rama Chandra Swain.