India's divine designs meld with AI at Durga Puja festival

Kolkata: Millions in India s eastern city of Kolkata will draw on millennia old traditions when they celebrate the Hindu festival of Durga Puja this w...

Kolkata: Millions in India's eastern city of Kolkata will draw on millennia-old traditions when they celebrate the Hindu festival of Durga Puja this week with street parties and worshipping idols in elaborate pavilions.

The ancient and divine now increasingly interact with the digital and futuristic as wildly popular artificial intelligence apps help generate new design ideas.

"Artisans are now using artificial intelligence to find new designs, helping them to stay updated," potter Monti Paul said as he admired his statue of the goddess Durga.

The statue, made of clay moulded onto a wire-and-straw frame and painted in neon pinks and blues, depicts the 10-armed, three-eyed goddess riding a lion while slaying a demon buffalo in a celebration of the triumph of good over evil.

Paul, 70, learnt his craft from his father, like hundreds of other potters in the narrow alleys of Kumartuli, the city's centuries-old idol-making hub.