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KOLKATA, INDIA October 14, 2002: The Purohit Paathshala on Haritaki Bagan Lane, near Amherst Street, is a unique priest-training school providing hope for the unemployed. During Durga Puja, 40-year-old Narayan Shashtri will be assisting the main purohit of Nayanchand Dutta Street, Sarbojonin Durgotsav. “I will earn $16 and will also bring back clothes, food grains, fruits and sweets for my family,” Shashtri said. Founded by the Baidic Pandit-O-Purohit Mahamilan Kendra, the school is a platform for purohits (priests) of the major community of Durga Pujas of the city. Started in April, the first class comprises 35 students who pay a monthly tuition fee of around $1. The students are offered a year’s course. They can choose between the comparatively easier pandit bisharad (puja or Deity worship performing mantras) or the one that leads to the pandit ratna (additional mantras for weddings, thread ceremony, funerals, etc.). The final written examination will be conducted in April by a panel of Sanskrit scholars. On completion, students will be offered community and family pujas to perform. Kendra president Netai Chakraborty said that he has written to the Banaras Hindu University and was expecting an affiliation next year in the university’s distance learning programs.

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