Durga Puja Timing

India is a land of festivals. Being truly a secular country, there's no dearth of items to celebrate in this land of wonders. From Christmas to Eid ul Zoha, Independence Day to the Cricket World Cup, there's hardly anything that Indians do in contrast to celebrating. Simply point us towards an occasion and we are all for it. But hidden amongst this long list of celebrations is a treasure in the proper execution of Durga Puja, something celebrated in its full glory in the Bengali community.

So, what exactly IS the Durga Puja? Mahalaya

Well, for the sake of clarity, Puja refers to a religious festival. However, for people Bengalis, Durga Puja is less of a'Puja'and more of the embodiment of the spirit of festiveness. What exactly does that mean? Well, let's go back a few millenniums to answer that question.

The tradition of invoking the goddess Durga (or the mother, known as'Ma') is first considered to own been done by Lord Ram before he went forth to fight Ravana, as documented in the epic Ramayana. However, the tradition lay dormant till about the late 1500s, once the landlords in Bengal took it up. It had been finally given its final form in the 18th century as Baroyaari (or 12 friends') puja, a term which finally stumbled on reference community sponsored Durga Pujas held in Kolkata.

Essentially, all parts of India celebrates this period, but in the proper execution of Navratri. It constitutes of 9 days'worth of fasting, which ends with Dussehra, a day where an effigy of Ravana is burned as a means showing that evils are usually championed by good as Lord Ram had championed above Ravana.

In Bengal

In Bengal, however, the meaning of these 10 days are quite different.

My earliest memories of Durga Puja are that of getting up in the center of the night to listen to Mahalaya on the radio. It is a programme that has been airing on the very first day of the Bengali month Ashwin for over 7 decades and 4 generations of Bengalis, forcing them to awaken at 4 am, something I still do religiously annually on that one day. Even though the magic of the scent, the half awoken self and knowing Ma is coming has somewhat diminished with the years, the idea of something so collectively powerful so it makes an entire community look forward to it still holds a great deal of charm nonetheless. Mahalaya Full MP3 Download

Ma

We treat Ma Durga as something more than just the goddess. Whilst it does work that she embodies the raw power (or Shakti) that overcame evil by slaying the evil demon Mahisasur (hence the term Mahisasur-mardini), she is much MUCH more than just that. The ten days that focus on Mahalaya signify her annual visit to her paternal home in Bengal with 4 of her children. As a result Ma is, at once, a mother, a partner, a goddess, and most of all, a person in our family. We pamper her, we respect her, we love her and we adore her. She is more than just a divinity.

To us Bengalis, she embodies our truest nature. No matter where a Bengali may be, come Durga Puja, he/she feels a connection to his/her family.