The Homecoming – Daughter Durga Comes home for the Durga Puja

As autumn closes in , India gets even more fervent in the eastern side. Awaiting this festival of the Goddess of power Durga, whole of Bengal gets very feverish with devotion, reverence, love and fondness for their favourite Durga Ma. The Bengalis believe that their Durga Ma is returning home. They pamper her with all the love, affection and care that they can give her in these five days and augment the beginning of the Durga Puja. Come to West Bengal during this time and see the energy, the enthusiasm and the fanfare that goes to make the festival what it is. This kind of exodus could be seen only here in Eastern India West Bengal to be precise. Also celebrated across Orissa, Tripura and Jharkhand, the Durga PUja is a festival which started as a community based get together in earlier times. This was the time when people could get together meet and share ideas and ideals. Today the event is a social and cultural extravaganza of the Bengalis and all the Indians in general. Celebrated across the world today, The Durga Puja is a common festival now in the UK, Australia, France, U.S, Kuwait, Germany and Canada besides Netherlands.

The Mahalaya is the starting day of the Durga Puja and is believed to be the last day of the ancestral fortnight. This is the fortnight when Indians pay homage to their departed ones in the family. With the Mahalaya, this fortnight is over and it is the beginning of the Durga Puja.

It is believed that the Durga Puja which started as a community festival during the times of the British, actually was a tool for all the Indians to make plans during the war of independence. The first day starts with the installation of the banana tree in the house or the pavilion. The banana tree symbolizes Lord Shiva, Goddess Durga’s husband. The same Durga Puja is celebrated in the form of Navratri in many Indian states and as Dussera in some. The symbolic representation is the same, the festivals are different. This is incidentally the largest kind of festival held outdoors anywhere across the world. With the idol of the “Goddess standing on her vehicle – the lion, she is depicted as killing the demon Mahishashur who spread havoc in the world. Also her four children, Lord Ganesa, Lord Karthikeya, Goddess Saraswati and Goddess Lakshmi are worshipped. So when you go to any Durga Puja Pandal in Kolkata or in any part where Durga Puja is being celebrated you would see all the four of these idols. Lord Kartik is believed to be the protector, Goddess Saraswati is the goddess of learning , Goddess Lakshmi the wealth goddess,  and Lord Ganesha is the God of Wisdom. Thus projecting the good for all, the sight of these statues in the pavilion is wonderful and is quite commendable. Artisans work for days on end to bring this kind of beauty to the eyes of the goddess and it is only a devout Hindu who would even feel her living.

Goddess Durga fondly called Durga Ma in the eastern parts of India is believed to be given only nine days to be in her maternal home by her husband Lord Shiva. So the festival of Durga Puja is celebrated on her homecoming. It is said that to put an end to the demon Mahishashur, Durga had to be created by Lord Brahma as none of them were able to go past his immortality boon. It is even said the Indian God Lord Rama prayed to Goddess Durga before He went to fight with Ravana, the lanka king. So the festival of Durga Puja is also known by the name of Akalbodhon.

When the artisans make the idol of Goddess Durga it is said that they observe a certain kind of discipline . They have only vegetarian fare and they fast a full day before they start painting the eyes of their beloved Goddess.

With the first day Shashti signaling the beginning of the festival the celebrations start much before. Everyone buys new clothes and make a lot of sweets. The Mahasaptami, Mahashtami and the Mahanavami days are all those days when the Goddess is revered, propitiated and welcomed with a lot of devotion. Then comes the day of Bijoya or the Vijaya Dashami all the women gather on this day and put Sindoor or vermillon on each other. Called the Sindoor Khela it is a way of sending the Goddess with a lot of purity and grace.

Bolo Durga Ma ki Joy is a cry you would hear during the festive farewell of the Goddess during Durga Puja.