Traditional beliefs hold that one of the necessary components for creating the “Durga” statue is soil gathered from the doorsteps of sex workers.
The soil is considered to be blessed because people who visit the forbidden lanes of prostitutes leave behind their virtue and piety at the doorstep to enter the world of carnal desires and sin. The soil then imbibes all the virtues and becomes blessed, reports The Times of India.
As per Hindu tradition, when the idol of Goddess Durga is prepared, four things are very important. These include mud from the banks of the Ganga, cow dung, cow urine and soil from outside brothels, without which the idol is considered incomplete.
According to traditional beliefs, the soil should be begged and received from a sex worker's hand as a gift and blessing since it is known as 'punya mati' or the sacred soil.
Earlier the soil was collected by the priest. Nowadays it is collected by the person who makes the idol, months before the festivities.
“This unchanging tradition brings priests and prostitutes together once a year. This tradition has been going on for a long time. Even this year, a priest came to my house to take soil from my hand,” said a Kolkata sex worker.
