The story behind Durga Puja
The festival's mythic core is the Devi Mahatmya (Durga Saptashati) account of the goddess's victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura — the great asura no man or god could defeat, who was finally van…
The festival's mythic core is the Devi Mahatmya (Durga Saptashati) account of the goddess's victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura — the great asura no man or god could defeat, who was finally vanquished by the combined shakti of all the gods manifested as Devi Durga. But the lived festival in Bengal is layered: alongside the cosmic war, Durga is also the daughter who comes home, accompanied by her children, for five precious days before returning to Kailash and her husband Shiva on Vijayadashami.
The five days are observed with elaborate ritual. Mahalaya (the day before Pratipada) marks the start of Devi Paksha and the awakening of the goddess. Bodhon — the formal invocation — happens on Shashthi. From Saptami through Navami, the goddess receives full puja in pandals (temporary structures of immense artistic ambition), with ritual including Sandhi Puja at the precise moment of Ashtami-Navami transition. On Vijayadashami, the idols are taken in vibrant processions to a river or pond and immersed (visarjan), with women smearing each other with sindoor in sindoor khela before the goddess departs. The pandals of Kolkata — some six storeys tall, elaborately themed and crafted — draw hundreds of thousands of visitors during the five days; pandal-hopping (pandal-darshan) is itself a beloved Bengali tradition.