Badamtala Ashar Sangha's Khuti Puja 2026: How Kalighat's Beloved Puja Starts Its 88th Year on Rath Yatra

There is a particular sound in Kolkata that tells you Durga Puja is coming, long before the pandals go up or the dhak is booked. It is the sound of a bamboo pole being hammered into the ground, of a handful of local club members gathering around a small clay lamp, of someone humming an aagomoni tune under their breath almost without realising it. That sound, this year, is coming from Nepal Bhattacharya Street in Kalighat, South Kolkata — because Badamtala Ashar Sangha is stepping into its 88th year, and the club has chosen the most auspicious day possible to begin: Rath Yatra.

On 16th July 2026 (Thursday), at 7:30 PM, Badamtala Ashar Sangha will hold its Khuti Puja, officially marking the start of preparations for Durga Puja 2026. If you live anywhere near Kalighat, or if you simply love following Kolkata's puja calendar the way some people follow cricket season, this is a date worth circling.

Why Rath Yatra and Khuti Puja Belong Together

If you have grown up in Bengal, you already know that Rath Yatra is not "just" the day Lord Jagannath's chariot rolls through the streets. For puja committees across Kolkata, Rath Yatra has quietly become something else too — the unofficial starting gun for Durga Puja season.

There is a lovely logic to it. Rath Yatra falls roughly three months before Mahalaya, which itself falls about a week before Durga Puja. Three months is exactly the kind of runway a club needs to plan a full-scale pandal, commission an artist, finalise a theme, and pull together lighting, idol-making, and a hundred logistical threads. So clubs that take their puja seriously — the ones thinking not just about a mandap but about a vision — often choose this day to formally begin.

That is where Khuti Puja comes in. Khuti, literally, means a pole or a peg. In puja tradition, it refers to the very first ceremonial pole driven into the ground at the site where the pandal will eventually stand. It is a small ritual — a priest, a handful of committee members, some flowers, a diya, maybe a short prayer — but symbolically it is enormous. It says: this patch of ground is no longer ordinary. Something sacred is going to be built here.

Badamtala Ashar Sangha's decision to hold their Khuti Puja precisely on Rath Yatra tithi is, in that sense, both traditional and quietly strategic. It ties the club's identity to one of Bengal's oldest festival calendars while giving them the practical head start every serious puja committee needs.

Badamtala Ashar Sangha: 88 Years of Quiet Consistency

Not every club needs to shout to be remembered. Badamtala Ashar Sangha, run out of Nepal Bhattacharya Street in the heart of Kalighat, is one of those community pujas that has built its reputation the old-fashioned way — year after year, decision after decision, without needing to reinvent itself every season just to stay relevant.

Eighty-eight years is not a small number. It means this club's Khuti Puja has been performed by grandparents, then parents, and now by a generation that grew up hearing stories of what "the old pandal" used to look like. In a city where Durga Puja clubs sometimes come and go with the fashions of the decade, a club that has quietly crossed eight and a half decades earns something that no amount of advertising budget can buy: trust.

Kalighat itself adds another layer of meaning here. This is a locality already soaked in devotion — home, of course, to the Kalighat Kali Temple, one of the Shakti Peethas of India. A club rooted so literally in this neighbourhood's soil carries a certain spiritual weight into its own celebrations, and it shows in how the community here treats their local puja: less like an event, more like an extended family tradition.

What the Banner Reveal Tells Us About 2026

Alongside the Khuti Puja, Badamtala Ashar Sangha has also unveiled its official banner for the upcoming season — and if you have seen it, you will notice it is not a random design choice. The banner leans heavily into a divine, radiant aesthetic: a glowing Om symbol at the centre, framed by a sunburst mandala, sitting above a bamboo khuti pole draped in marigold garlands, with the silhouette of a devotee bowing beneath a flag-topped chariot in the background.

Every element here is doing quiet storytelling work. The Om at the centre signals the spiritual seriousness the club brings to this season. The sunburst mandala evokes the aagomoni feeling — that particular Bengali emotion of the divine "arriving," the goddess making her presence felt even months before her actual visit. And the bamboo pole wrapped in marigolds is, quite literally, the Khuti itself — the exact object being consecrated that evening.

The Bengali text on the banner captures this beautifully: "রথের টানে আগমনী গান, খুঁটিপুজোয় মায়ের আহ্বান" — roughly, "With the pull of the chariot comes the song of arrival; through the Khuti Puja, the Mother is invoked." It is the kind of line that only really lands if you have grown up with this culture, which is exactly why local pujas like this one deserve far more attention than they usually get outside their own neighbourhood.

The tagline "মহোৎসব আরম্ভ" — the grand celebration begins — sums it all up. This is not a footnote before the "real" puja season starts in autumn. For Badamtala Ashar Sangha, this evening on Nepal Bhattacharya Street is the real season starting.

What Khuti Puja Actually Involves

For readers less familiar with the ritual, a Khuti Puja typically unfolds in a few simple, unhurried steps:

• A priest performs a short puja invoking blessings on the ground where the pandal will rise.
• A bamboo pole (the khuti) is ceremonially planted at the site, often decorated with marigold garlands, vermilion, and sometimes a small piece of cloth tied around it.
• Prasad is distributed among committee members, volunteers, and neighbours who gather for the occasion.
• Elders of the club often share memories from past years, while younger members quietly absorb the responsibility being passed to them.

It sounds modest on paper. In practice, standing among a crowd of neighbours as the pole goes into the ground, with the evening light fading over Kalighat and someone softly singing an aagomoni song nearby, it can feel like watching a whole festival being born in miniature.

Why This Matters If You Follow Kolkata's Puja Season Closely

If you are the kind of person who tracks Durga Puja news the way film buffs track award season announcements, dates like 16th July matter. Khuti Puja ceremonies across Kolkata — at clubs big and small — are the first real signal of what the coming season will look like: which clubs are scaling up, which are staying intimate and traditional, and which neighbourhoods are quietly building anticipation early.

Badamtala Ashar Sangha choosing Rath Yatra tithi, with a full ritual at 7:30 PM and a banner already designed and released, tells you this club is not treating its 88th year casually. There is craft in the timing, care in the design, and clearly a community behind it that shows up.

If Kalighat is on your puja-hopping route later this year — and given its location and history, it usually is — this is a club worth keeping on your radar well before Mahalaya arrives.

Stay Connected

For live updates on this year's theme reveal, artist details, and pandal progress, keep an eye on Badamtala Ashar Sangha's official Facebook page, where the committee usually shares behind-the-scenes glimpses as the season progresses.

And if you are following Durga Puja preparations across the rest of the city — Khuti Pujas, theme announcements, artist reveals, and pandal-hopping guides — you will find our ongoing coverage of Kolkata's puja season on Durga Puja of Kolkata, where we track these stories neighbourhood by neighbourhood as they unfold.

Have you attended a Khuti Puja before, or seen how your own neighbourhood club kicks off its season? These small, early rituals are often the most heartfelt part of the entire Durga Puja calendar — long before the crowds and the lights arrive.