Devi · Durga, with Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya
Durga Puja
Bengal's great autumn festival: five days when Durga comes home as a daughter and is sent off with tears and joy.
Also known as: Durgotsav, Sharodotsav, Akaal Bodhan
Date and muhurat
✓ 28.6519°N, 77.2315°E · Asia/Kolkata
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When is it observed?
The five days from Shashthi to Dashami of the bright half of Ashwin, within Sharad Navratri. It is preceded by Mahalaya, the new-moon day that opens the festive fortnight.
About Durga Puja
Durga Puja is the largest festival of Bengal and is celebrated with equal fervour in Odisha, Assam, Tripura and by Bengali communities across the world. Artisans spend months shaping clay images of the ten-armed Goddess with her lion, the slain buffalo demon and her four children.
Neighbourhoods build elaborate temporary pavilions called pandals, some modelled on famous monuments or built around a social theme. People dress in new clothes, visit pandal after pandal, and enjoy music, dance, drama and street food late into the night.
Significance
Bengali tradition imagines Durga as a daughter who returns to her parental home for four days with her children, and then goes back to her husband Shiva at Kailash. This gives the festival a family warmth, with its joy of reunion and the ache of parting on the last day.
It is also a celebration of art, craft and community. Clay modellers, drummers (dhaki), priests, lighting workers and cooks all find work and recognition, and the pujas organised by neighbourhood committees (barowari) bring people of all backgrounds together.
The days of the puja
- 1Mahalaya: on the new-moon morning, people offer water to ancestors (tarpan) and listen to the chanting of the Chandi verses. By long custom in Bengal, the sculptor paints the eyes of the Goddess on or around this day (Chokkhu Daan).
- 2Shashthi: the Goddess is welcomed with Kalparambha, the vow to begin the puja, and Bodhan, her awakening, along with Amantran and Adhivas.
- 3Saptami: the Navpatrika (Kola Bou), a bunch of nine plants including a banana plant, is bathed in a river or pond, draped in a sari and installed beside Ganesha. Pran Pratishtha, the invocation of life in the image, is performed.
- 4Ashtami: pushpanjali, offering of flowers, is made in the morning by crowds of worshippers, followed by Kumari Puja. Sandhi Puja is held at the moment when Ashtami ends and Navami begins, with 108 lamps and lotuses.
- 5Navami: the main puja and a havan are completed, and bhog, the community meal of khichuri and sweets, is shared.
- 6Dashami: after a final aarti, married women offer sweets to the Goddess and apply sindoor on her and on one another (Sindoor Khela).
- 7The images are carried in procession to a river or lake for Visarjan, the immersion. People then exchange greetings, embrace elders and share sweets (Bijoya).
The story
The Goddess Durga was created by the combined radiance of the gods to destroy Mahishasura, a demon who could take the form of a buffalo and had driven them from heaven. Mounted on a lion and armed with the weapons of all the gods, she fought him for nine days and defeated him on the tenth.
The Bengali family tale layers a second story over this: Uma, daughter of the Himalayas, is married to Shiva, and once a year she visits her mother Menaka with her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya. The autumn worship is called Akaal Bodhan, the untimely awakening, because tradition says Rama invoked the Goddess in autumn, when the gods are normally asleep, before his battle with Ravana.
What to do
- ✓Visit pandals with patience and respect for the crowd and the image.
- ✓Join the pushpanjali and aarti if you can.
- ✓Share bhog and sweets with neighbours and guests.
- ✓Wear new or clean clothes, and greet elders on Bijoya Dashami.
- ✓Support local artisans and prefer eco-friendly clay images.
What to avoid
- ✕Do not litter in or around the pandal.
- ✕Avoid pushing and crowding at the main aarti.
- ✕Do not use plastic or toxic paints for images and decoration.
- ✕Avoid very loud music that disturbs the prayers or neighbours.
- ✕Do not touch the image or the offerings without permission.
Around the country
- Kolkata: neighbourhood pandals compete in art and theme, and the city is lit and crowded through the night for pandal-hopping.
- Odisha: Cuttack is famous for images adorned with its silver filigree (tarakasi) work and a grand immersion procession.
- Assam and Tripura: community pujas with Bengali rituals, along with fairs and cultural programmes.
- Bengali homes across India and abroad: associations organise pujas in halls and parks, with bhog, cultural evenings and Sindoor Khela.
Frequently asked questions
What is Sandhi Puja?
It is the special worship performed in the short window at the end of Ashtami and the start of Navami, traditionally the moment when Chamunda, the fierce form of the Goddess, is said to have slain the demons Chanda and Munda. The exact time is calculated from the tithi.
What is the Navpatrika?
It is a bundle of nine different plants, including banana, turmeric and pomegranate, tied together and worshipped as the presence of the Goddess. It is often called Kola Bou, though it is not a bride.
How is Durga Puja different from Navratri?
Both fall in the same period, but Navratri in most of the north and west is a nine-day cycle of fasting and prayer, while Durga Puja in the east centres on the five days from Shashthi to Dashami, with installed images, pandals and immersion.