Shillong’s Keating Road keeps 70-year-old Kola Bou ritual alive during Durga Puja

Shillong, Oct 3: In Shillong, Durga puja is not just a festival of devotion and celebration but also a heartfelt tradition steeped in symbolism. One such ritual, the Kola Bou (banana bride) ceremony, continues to be observed excessively on Keating Road, where it has been practised for the past 70 years.

On Bijoya Dashami, the concluding day of Durga Puja, the Kola Bou is carried from house to house, accompanied by the beats of dhakis (drum bearers) to bid the annual farewell before the immersion of the goddess. Families welcome the symbolic 'bride' into their homes to bid farewell to Goddess Durga before her immersion, praying for prosperity and abundance in the coming year. 

Kola Bou is also called Nabapatrika (Naba means nine and Patrika message.) The Kola Bou is not just a banana plant, but a combination of nine plants, each with its own significance.

Banana symbolises Brahmani, colocasia (kochu) represents Kalika, turmeric (halud) denotes Durga, jayanti stands for Kartiki, wood apple (bel) represents Shiva or Parvati, pomegranate (dalim) symbolises Raktadantika, ashoka represents Sokrahita (reliever of sorrow), arum (man kochu) is linked to Chamunda, and rice (dhan) stands for Lakshmi.

All these plants are tied together with a yellow thread and then draped in a saree giving it the shape of a woman. Symbolically, the Kola Bou is the wife of Ganesha and represents Shakti. It also integrates nature worship with goddess worship, blending Shakti puja with naturalistic traditions.

The ritual begins with the Nabapatrika Snan on Maha Saptami, when the plants are bathed in a waterbody and then installed for worship. Only after this ceremony does the main Durga Puja begin.  

This ritual has a pre-vedic root and earlier the Nabapatrika snan in rivers and ponds and involved a huge procession of cheerful villagers. "On the final day or Bijoya dashami the Kola Bou was taken out through villages in a procession and people bid a tearful farewell,” Shekhar Nag, one of the senior members of Keating Road Durga puja committee explained.

He said this ritual has been maintained for the past 70 years only in Keating Road where the Kola Bou is taken to each household of the residents where family members worship and bid farewell to the goddess for the year, praying for days of abundance and prosperity.