Durga Puja Timing

India is a land of festivals. Being a secular country, there's no dearth of what to celebrate in this land of wonders. From Christmas to Eid ul Zoha, Independence Day to the Cricket World Cup, there's almost nothing that Indians do not like celebrating. Simply point us towards an occasion and we're all for it. But hidden amongst this long list of celebrations is a treasure in the form of Durga Puja, something celebrated in its full glory in the Bengali community. Durga Puja Dates

So, what exactly IS the Durga Puja?

Well, for the sake of clarity, Puja identifies a religious festival. However, for us Bengalis, Durga Puja is less of a'Puja'and more of the embodiment of the spirit of festiveness. What exactly does which means that? Well, let us go back a couple of millenniums to answer that question.

The tradition of invoking the goddess Durga (or the mother, called'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 concerning the late 1500s, when the landlords in Bengal took it up. It absolutely was finally given its final form in the 18th century as Baroyaari (or 12 friends') puja, a term which finally came to reference community sponsored Durga Pujas held in Kolkata.

Essentially, all areas of India celebrates this period, however in the form of Navratri. It constitutes of 9 days'worth of fasting, which ends with Dussehra, per 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 out of bed in the center of the night to listen to Mahalaya on the radio. It is a programme that's been airing on the first day of the Bengali month Ashwin for more than 7 decades and 4 generations of Bengalis, forcing them to get up at 4 am, something I still do religiously annually on that one day. Although the magic of the scent, the half awoken self and knowing Ma is coming has somewhat diminished with the years, the notion of something so collectively powerful that it makes a complete community anticipate it still holds a lot of charm nonetheless. Durga Puja Timing

Ma

We treat Ma Durga as something more than just the goddess. Although it is true that she embodies the raw power (or Shakti) that overcame evil by slaying the evil demon Mahisasur (hence the term Mahisasur-mardini), she's much MUCH more than just that. The ten days that focus on Mahalaya signify her annual stop by at her paternal home in Bengal with 4 of her children. As such Ma is, at the same time frame, a mother, a wife, a goddess, and most of all, a person in our family. We pamper her, we respect her, we like her and we adore her. She's more than just a divinity.

To us Bengalis, she embodies our truest nature. Irrespective of where a Bengali might be, come Durga Puja, he/she feels a link with his/her family.