With its platinum jubilee approaching in a few months, the Constitution of India was the centrepiece of a puja in Santoshpur, which coincidentally was itself celebrating its 75th year. And it was the aesthetic aspect of the paramount legal document of the land that was showcased here.

“We know about the political side of the Constitution but few know that a Bengali artist (Nandalal Bose) and his team from Santiniketan illustrated the original calligraphic manuscript. This is a matter of pride for us, and our theme-maker, Asim Paul, has been working on the subject for a year and a half,” said Debajyoti Das, the secretary of the Santoshpur Trikon Park Durgotsab committee.

Paul was in charge of the puja’s pandal earlier in 2019, 2020 and 2021. “I was wondering where I would get the opportunity to do the work this year. When I heard about Trikon Park’s platinum jubilee, it seemed the right occasion and place to give shape to the theme,” Paul told t2.

The Durga idol modelled on a Nandalal Bose drawing

Visitors walked through the façade which featured the signatures of all who accepted the document, including Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, to enter the pandal and were brought face to face to face with themselves. “This is a circular iron sheet on which we are projecting the feed from the closed-circuit TV camera at the gate,” Das pointed out. Over the projection were the words “We are the people of India”, inspired by the preamble to the Constitution. Next to it, there was Mahatma Gandhi undertaking Dandi March in linocut.

Another linocut painting created an arch over the adjacent lane — of Krishna and Arjuna during the battle of Kurukshetra in The Bhagavad Gita, used above the directive principles. Two other illustrations of the 22 used in the Constitution also appeared on the pandal exteriors — of Nalanda university and King Vikramaditya’s court.

A six-feet colourful drawing with a conch shell at the centre stood at eye level. It was the work of well-known artist Jayasri Burman, herself a Santiniketan Kala Bhavana pass-out. “I wanted a conch shell as blowing it is considered auspicious in our culture. Jayasridi guided me in planning the pandal as well,” Paul said.

In an inner chamber was placed a revolving national emblem — the Ashoka pillar. Images of prominent figures of the struggle against the British rulers, Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Rani Laxmibai of Jhansi and Tipu Sultan of Mysore, were taken from the pages of the Constitution and featured on the surrounding walls.

A replica of the Constitution was placed in front of the goddess, giving it the primacy that the book has in our lives.

“I used iron and brick as the main materials to symbolically replicate the place the Constitution has, as the building block of the nation,” Paul said.

Many visitors spent time browsing the replications with detailed captions of some of the pages of the Constitution. “I learnt a lot from the pandal. This will help my coursework,” a first-year BA student was heard saying, referring to a mandatory paper for undergraduates.