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Mahalaya Dawn Returns With Bhadra’s Voice as Kolkata Puja Plans 4 a.m. Tribute

The broadcast turned a private ancestral rite into a shared ritual sustained across generations.

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That’s the one morning when the old radio makes a grand comeback | Birendra Krishna Bhadra’s legacy to echo in his neighbourhood Puja
Mahalaya, marks the final day of Pitru Paksha and the beginning of Devi Paksha.​ (Photo Credit: iStock)

Overview

  • All India Radio’s Mahishasuramardini, voiced by Birendra Krishna Bhadra, is scheduled to air on Mahalaya this year on September 21, 2025.
  • Uttar Kolkata Sarbojonin Durgoutsav in Shyambazar will honor Bhadra with a first-time thematic puja, opening its pandal to visitors at 4 a.m. on Mahalaya.
  • The theme, titled “Ebar Shudhu Bhadra Kotha,” pays tribute near the narrator’s home at 30B, Ramdhan Mitra Lane and seeks to recreate the era when his recitation first filled the airwaves.
  • Listeners traditionally ready their radios for the pre-dawn broadcast, which many Bengalis treat as the true start of the Durga Puja season.
  • Bhadra’s recording, first aired in 1931 and preserved in recorded form since 1958 (regularly from 1966), was reinstated after a 1976 attempt to replace it drew widespread public outrage.