Idols, images
Mr. Sabyasachi Ghosh laments that there is no suitable equivalent of Bengali “pratima” in English. (Hindu Deities, Letters, October 4, 2007) Allow me to suggest that there is. The word is “image.” In fact, it is an almost literal translation of the Bengali “pratima”.
It looks rather foolhardy of me, a Muslim, though of very liberal persuasion, to suggest this to his Hindu compatriot. So I looked up Nirad C. Chaudhuri, the pucca sahib and quintessential Hindu Bengali. In his Autobiography of an Unknown Indian, the polymath (the Bengali equivalent would be sabyasachi) had this to say on the matter in his unmatchable description of Durga puja in his village home in East Bengal: “The image of the goddess was pleasant enough despite her ten arms and ten different weapons in each of the hands…” And, about the last phase of the festival, or immersion of the images: “But willy-nilly, the throng and, with it, the images proceeded towards the tank…”
So there you have it, from none other than Nirad Chaudhury. Pratima is image. That should also enable Mr. Ghosh and others to avoid using the word “idol” if they wish to.
O if only life was so simple! The New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary has this to say on the primary meaning of the word “idol”: “An image or representation of a god or divinity used as an object of worship.”
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