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| Durga Puja | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Nickname | Durgotsava, Shaaradotsava |
| Status | Public holiday inIndian states ofWest Bengal,Odisha,Tripura,Bihar,Assam and the countryBangladesh andNepal[1] Optional holiday inPakistan |
| Genre | Religious andcultural festival |
| Begins | Mahalaya |
| Ends | Vijaya Dashami |
| Frequency | Annual |
| Founders | Rama, according to the legends |
| Participants | MainlyEastern,Northeast India[2] andHindus inBangladesh[3] andNepal[4][5][6][7] |
| Major events | Worshipping Hindu deities, family and other social gatherings, shopping and gift-giving, feasting,pandal visiting, and cultural events |
| Main observation | Ceremonial worship of GoddessDurga |
Hindu festival dates TheHindu calendar is lunisolar but most festival dates are specified using the lunar portion of the calendar. A lunar day is uniquely identified by three calendar elements:māsa (lunar month),pakṣa (lunar fortnight) andtithi (lunar day). Furthermore, when specifying the masa, one of two traditions are applicable, viz.amānta /pūrṇimānta. If a festival falls in the waning phase of the moon, these two traditions identify the same lunar day as falling in two different (but successive) masa. A lunar year is shorter than a solar year by about eleven days. As a result, most Hindu festivals occur on different days in successive years on the Gregorian calendar. | |
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Durga Puja (ISO:Durgā Pūjā,Bengali pronunciation:[d̪uɾɡapud͡ʒa]ⓘ), also known asDurgotsava orShaaradotsava, is an annual festival originating in theIndian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to theHindu goddessDurga, and is also celebrated because of Durga's victory overMahishasura.[8][9] It is the biggest festival ofBengali Hindus and the Indian state ofWest Bengal.[10][11] A 2019 study by theBritish Council estimated the economic value of creative industries associated with Durga Puja inWest Bengal at₹32,377 crores (2.6% of the state's GDP in that financial year).[12][13]Durga Puja as celebrated in Kolkata, West Bengal's capital city, was inscribed on theintangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO in December 2021.[14]
In addition to West Bengal, Hindu Bengalis are native toBangladesh[15] and Indian state ofTripura,[16]Assam (Barak Valley),[17]Jharkhand[18] andBihar (Kosi-Seemanchal);[19] Therefore, Durga Puja is performed with great devotion in these places as well.
The festival is observed in the Indian calendar in the month ofAshvin, which corresponds to September–October in theGregorian calendar.[20][21] Durga Puja is a ten-day festival,[22][8] of which the last five are of the most significance.[23][21] Even though Durga Puja andNavaratri are observed simultaneously dedicated to theHindu goddess Durga, but they are not the same festival.[24]
Thepuja is performed in homes and public, the latter featuring a temporary stage and structural decorations (known aspandals). The festival is also marked by scripture recitations, performance arts, revelry, gift-giving, family visits, feasting, and public processions called amelā.[8][25][26] Durga Puja is an important festival in theShaktism tradition ofHinduism.[27][28][29] Durga Puja which is celebrated as Gosani Yatra in Puri. In this festival of Puri, several big clay idols of Mahisamardini Durga are worshipped every year in the month of Asvina (October).
As perHindu scriptures, the festival marks the victory of goddess Durga in her battle against the shape-shiftingDemon,Mahishasura.[30][31][A] Thus, the festival epitomizes the victory of good over evil, though it is also in part a harvest festival celebrating the goddess as the motherly power behind all of life and creation.[33][34] Durga Puja coincides withNavaratri andDussehra celebrations observed by other traditions of Hinduism.[35][36][37]
The primary goddess revered during Durga Puja isDurga, but celebrations also include other major deities ofHinduism such asLakshmi (the goddess of wealth and prosperity),Saraswati (the goddess of knowledge and music),Ganesha (the god of good beginnings), andKartikeya (the god of war). In Bengali traditions, these deities are considered to be Durga's children, and Durga Puja is believed to commemorate Durga's visit to her natal home with her beloved children. The festival is preceded byMahalaya, which is believed to mark the start of Durga's journey to her natal home. Primary celebrations begin on the sixth day (Shasthi), on which the goddess is welcomed with rituals. The festival ends on the tenth day (Vijaya Dashami), when devotees embark on a procession carrying the worshipped clay sculpture-idols to a river, or other water bodies, and immerse them, symbolic of her return to the divine cosmos and her marital home withShiva inKailash. Regional and community variations in celebration of the festival and rituals observed exist.
Durga Puja is an old tradition of Hinduism,[38] though its exact origins are unclear. Surviving manuscripts from the 14th-century provide guidelines for Durga Puja, while historical records suggest that royalty and wealthy families were sponsoring major Durga Puja festivities since at least the 16th-century.[39][self-published source?][27] The prominence of Durga Puja increased during theBritish Raj in the provinces of Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Assam.[40][9] However, in modern times, the importance of Durga Puja is more as a social and cultural festival than a religious one, wherever it is observed.[citation needed]
Over the years, Durga Puja has morphed into an inseparable part ofIndian culture with a diverse group of people celebrating this festival in their unique way while on tradition.[9]
In West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand and Tripura, Durga Puja is also calledAkalbodhan (literally, "untimely awakening of Durga"),Sharadiya pujo or puja ("autumnal worship"),Sharodotsab ("festival of autumn"),Maha pujo ("grand puja"),Maayer pujo ("worship of the Mother"),[citation needed]Durga pujo,[41] or merelyPuja(In Odisha, Bihar) orPujo. In Bangladesh, Durga Puja has historically been celebrated asBhagabati puja.[42] Maa Durga is known as the Goddess of Power (feminine) which represents triumph of Goodness over evil.
Durga Puja is also referred to by the names of related Shakta Hindu festivals such asNavaratri, celebrated on the same days elsewhere in India;[9] such as in Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, and Maharashtra,[B]Kullu Dussehra, celebrated inKullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh;[C] Mysore Dussehra celebrated inMysore, Karnataka;[D]Bommai Golu, celebrated inTamil Nadu;Bommala Koluvu, celebrated in Andhra Pradesh;[E] andBathukamma, celebrated inTelangana.
Durga is an ancient goddess of Hinduism according to availablearcheological and textual evidence. However, the origins of Durga Puja are unclear and undocumented.
The name Durga, and related terms, appear in Vedic literature, such as in theRigveda hymns 4.28, 5.34, 8.27, 8.47, 8.93 and 10.127, and in sections 10.1 and 12.4 of theAtharvaveda[45][46][F] A deity namedDurgi appears in section 10.1.7 of theTaittiriyaAranyaka.[45] While the Vedic literature uses the wordDurga, the description therein lacks legendary details about her or about Durga Puja that is found in later Hindu literature.[48]
A key text associated with Durga Puja isDevi Mahatmya, which is recited during the festival. Durga was likely well established by the time this Hindu text was composed, the date of which scholars estimate as between 400 and 600 CE.[49][50][51] TheDevi Mahatmya scripture describes the nature of evil forces symbolised by Mahishasura as shape-shifting, deceptive, and adapting in nature, in form and in strategy to create difficulties and thus achieve their evil ends. Durga calmly understands and counters the evil in order to achieve her solemn goals.[30][31][G]Durga, in her various forms, appears as an independent deity in the Indian texts.[52]
In theMahabharata, bothYudhisthira andArjuna invoke hymns toDurga.[53] She appears inHarivamsa in the form ofVishnu's eulogy and inPradyumna's prayer. The prominent mention of Durga in such epics may have led to her worship.[54][20][55]
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Some versions of thePuranas mention Durga Puja to be a spring festival, while theDevi-Bhagavata Purana and two other ShaktaPuranas mentions it to be anautumn festival. TheRamayana manuscripts are also inconsistent. Versions ofRamayana found in the north, west, and south of the Indian subcontinent describeRama to be rememberingSurya (the Hindu sun god) before his battle againstRavana, but the Bengali manuscripts ofRamayana, such as theKrittivasi Ramayana, a 15th-century manuscript by Krttivasa, mention Rama to be worshipping Durga.[56] As per the legend, Rama worshipped Durga in the autumn to have her blessings before defeating Ravana. While he was preparing for the worship of the goddess, Durga hid one of the 108 flowers of lotus, very essential for her worship. Having found only 107 of 108lotuses at the time of the worship, Rama decided to offer one of his eyes in place of that lotus. When he was about to offer his eye, Durga appeared and told him that she had only hidden the flower in order to test his devotion and she was satisfied with it. She blessed Rama and he continued with her worship. Since the gods are believed to be sleeping during autumn, the awakening rite of the Durga puja is also known asakāla bodhana.[57]
Surviving manuscripts from the 14th-century provide guidelines for Durga Puja, while historical records suggest the royalty and wealthy families to be sponsoring major Durga Puja public festivities, since at least the 16th-century.[27] The 11th or 12th-centuryJain textYasatilaka bySomadeva mentions an annual festival dedicated to a warrior goddess, celebrated by the king and his armed forces, and the description mirrors attributes of Durga Puja.[20][38]
According to some scholars, the worship of the fierce warrior goddess Durga, and her darker and more violent manifestationKali, became popular in the Bengal region during and after the medieval era, marked byMuslim invasions and conquests.[58]
The significance of Durga and other goddesses in Hindu culture is stated to have increased afterIslamic armies conquered regions of theIndian subcontinent.[59] According to yet other scholars, the marginalization of Bengali Hindus during the medieval era led to a reassertion of Hindu identity and an emphasis on Durga Puja as a social festival, publicly celebrating the warrior goddess.[60]From the medieval era up to present-day, Durga Puja has been celebrated as a socio-cultural event, while maintaining the roots of religious worship.[61]
The puja rituals involvemantras (words manifesting spiritual transformation),shlokas (holy verses), chants andarati, and offerings. The worship begins with a reading of the SanskritDevī Mahātmya from the sixth-centuryMārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa.[62][63] Theshlokas andmantras praise the divinity of the goddess; according to theshlokas, Durga isomnipresent as the embodiment of power, nourishment, memory, forbearance, faith, forgiveness, intellect, wealth, emotions, desires, beauty, satisfaction, righteousness, fulfillment and peace.[64][H]
Durga Puja as a harvest festival
Om you are rice [wheat...], Om you are life, you are the life of the gods, you are our life, your are our internal life, you are long life, you give life, Om the Sun with his rays (....)
Durga Puja is, in part, a post-monsoon harvest festival observed on the same days in theShaktism tradition of Hinduism as those in its other traditions.[68][69] The practice of including a bundle of nine different plants, callednavapatrika,[70][I] as a symbolism of Durga, is a testament practice to its agricultural importance.[33] The typically selected plants include not only representative important crops, but also non-crops. This probably signifies the Hindu belief that the goddess is "not merely the power inherent in the growth of crops but the power inherent in all vegetation".[33]
The festival is a social and public event in the eastern and northeastern states of India, where it dominates religious and socio-cultural life, with temporarypandals built at community squares, roadside shrines, and temples. The festival is also observed by some Shakta Hindus as a private home-based festival.[71]
Before Durga puja there isPaata Puja, the ritual of making an idol on the day of theRath Yatra, usually aroundJuly. 'Paata' is the wooden frame that forms the base for the idols.[72][73]
Durga Puja is a ten-day event. The festival begins with Mahalaya, a day on which Hindus performtarpaṇa by offering water and food to their dead ancestors. The day also marks the arrival of Durga from her marital home in Kailash.[9][21]
The festival starts at twilight with prayers to Saraswati.[74] She is believed to be another aspect of goddess Durga. This is also the day when the eyes are painted of the deities on the representative clay sculpture-idols, bringing them to a lifelike appearance.[74][75] The day also marks prayers to Ganesha and visit topandals and temples.[76]
Day two to five mark the remembrance of the goddess and her manifestations, such asKumari (goddess of fertility),Mai (mother),Ajima (grandmother),Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) and in some regions as theSaptamatrikas (seven mothers) orNavadurga (nine aspects of Durga).[77][26][78] On the sixth day major festivities and social celebrations start.[9][21] The first nine days overlap with Navaratri festivities in other traditions of Hinduism.[79][37]The specific practices vary by region.[80]
The next significant day of the festival is the sixth day (Shashthi), on which devotees welcomes the goddess and festive celebrations are inaugurated. Rituals typically performed on the sixth day include:
Bodhana: Involves rites to awaken and welcome the goddess to be a guest. The amorphous sight of the goddess is consecrated into aghata or noggin while the visible sight is consecrated into themurti or idol. These rituals are known asghatasthapana andpranapratistha respectively.[81]
Adhivasa: Anointing ritual wherein symbolic offerings are made to Durga, with each item representing a remembrance of subtle forms of her.[82]
On the seventh day (Saptami), eighth (Ashtami) and ninth (Navami) days, the goddess along withLakshmi,Saraswati,Ganesha, andKartikeya are revered and these days mark the main days of worship with recitation of scriptures, puja, legends of Durga inDevi Mahatmya, social visits to elaborately decorated and illuminatedpandals (temporary structures meant for hosting the puja), among others.[83][84][62]
The process of the creation of clay sculpture-idols (pratima ormurti) for the puja, from the collection of clay to the ornamentation is a ceremonial process. Though the festival is observed post-monsoon harvest, the artisans begin making the sculpture-idols months before, during summer. The process begins with prayers to Ganesha and to the perceived divinity in materials such as bamboo frames in which the sculpture-idols are cast.[93]
Clay, or alluvial soil, collected from different regions form the base. This choice is a tradition wherein Durga, perceived as the creative energy and material, is believed to be present everywhere and in everything in the universe.[93] In certain traditions in Kolkata, a custom is to include soil samples in the clay mixture for Durga from areas believed to benishiddho pallis (forbidden territories; territories inhabited by the "social outcasts" such as brothels).[94][95][96]
The clay base is combined with straw, kneaded, and then molded into a cast made from hay and bamboo. This is layered to a fine final shape, cleaned, painted, and polished. A layer of a fiber calledjute, mixed in with clay, is also attached to the top to prevent the statue from cracking in the months ahead. The heads of the statues are more complex and are usually made separately.[93] The limbs of the statues are mostly shaped from bundles of straws.[93] Then, starting about August, the local artisans hand-paint the sculpture-idols which are later dressed in clothing, are decorated and bejewelled, and displayed at the puja altars.[93][97]
The procedure for and proportions of the sculpture-idols are described in arts-related Sanskrit texts of Hinduism, such as theVishvakarma Sashtra.[98]
The sculpture-idols for the puja are traditionally made of biodegradable materials such as straw, clay, soil, and wood.[99] In today's times, brighter colored statues have increased in popularity and have diversified the use of non-biodegradable, cheaper or more colorful substitute synthetic raw materials. Environmental activists have raised concerns about the paint used to produce the statue, stating that the heavy metals in these paints pollute rivers when the statues are immersed at the end of the Durga festival.[99]
Brighter colors that are also biodegradable and eco-friendly, as well as the traditional natural colors, are typically more expensive compared to the non biodegradable paints.[100] The Indian state of West Bengal has banned the use of hazardous paints, and various state government have started distributing lead-free paints to artisans at no cost to prevent pollution.[101]
Shakta Hindu communities mark the slaying of Mahishasura and the victory of Durga with a symbolic or actual sacrifice. Most communities prefer symbolic sacrifice, where a statue of theasura is made of flour or equivalent, is immolated and smeared with vermilion, symbolic of the blood that had spilled during the battle.[86][102] Other substitutes include a vegetable or a sweet dish considered equivalent to the animal.[103] In certain instances, devotees consider animal sacrifice distasteful, and practice alternate means of expressing devotion while respecting the views of others in their tradition.[104]
In communities performing actual sacrifice, an animal is sacrificed, mainly at temples.[105] In Nepal, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam, animal sacrifices are performed at Shakta temples to commemorate the legend of Durga slaying Mahishasura.[106] This involves slaying of a fowl, pig, goat, or male water-buffalo. Large scale animal sacrifices are rare among Hindus outside the regions of Bengal, Odisha, Assam, and Nepal. In these regions, festivals are primarily when significant animal sacrifices are observed.[107]
TheRajputs ofRajasthan worship their weapons and horses in the related festival of Navaratri, and some historically observed the sacrifice of a goat, a practice that continues in some places.[108][109] The sacrifice ritual, supervised he the priest, requires slaying of the animal with a single stroke. In the past this ritual was considered a rite of passage into manhood and readiness as a warrior.[110] TheKuldevi (clan deity) among these Rajput communities is a warrior goddess, with local legends tracing reverence for her during Rajput-Muslim wars.[111][better source needed]
Months before the start of Durga Puja, youth members of the community collect funds and donations, engage priests and artisans, buy votive materials and help buildpandals centered around a theme, which has rose to prominence in recent years. Such themes have included sex work,[112] celebration of humanity,[113] marginalization ofqueer persons andtransgender persons,[114] folk culture,[115] celebration of cinema,[116] womanhood,[115] pro-environment themes,[117] while others have chosen metaphorical themes such as celebration ofmaati (literally, soil or ash) and "finding one's own light".[118] Pandals have also been replicated on existing temples, structures, and monuments[119][120] and yet others have been made of elements such as metal scraps,[121] nails,[122] and turmeric[123] among others. Durga Puja pandals have also been centered around themes to acknowledge political events such as the2019 Balakot airstrike and to protest against theNational Register of Citizens of India.[124][125]
The budget required for such theme-based pujas is significantly higher than traditional pujas. For such theme-based pujas, the preparations and the building ofpandals are a significant arts-related economic activity, often attracting major sponsors.[126] Such commercialized pujas attract crowds of visitors. The growth of competitiveness in theme-basedpandals has escalated costs and scale of Durga Puja in eastern states of India. Some segments of the society criticize the billboards, the economic competition, and seek return to basics.[127] The competition takes many forms, such as the height of statue. In 2015, an 88-foot statue of Durga in Kolkata's Deshapriya Park attracted numerous devotees, with some estimates placing visitors at one million.[128][129]
There exists variation in Durga Puja worship practices and rituals, as is the case with other Hindu festivals, in the Indian subcontinent.[130] Hinduism accepts flexibility and leaves the set of practices to the choice of the individuals concerned. Different localized rituals may be observed regionally, with these variations accepted across temples,pandals, and within families.[131]
The festival is most commonly associated with Bengali Hindus, and with the community having variability and differences in practices. There may exist differences of practice between the puja of theme-basedPandals, family pujas (with puja of erstwhile aristocrat families known asbonedi puja), and community pujas (known asbarowari pujas) of neighbourhoods or apartments.[131]
The rituals of the puja also varies from being Vedic, Puranic, or Tantric, or a combination of these.[131] The Bengali Durga Puja rituals typically combine all three. The non-Bengali Durga Puja rituals tend to be essentially Vedic (srauta) in nature but they too incorporate esoteric elements making the puja an example of a culmination of Vedic-Tantric practices.[132]
Historical evidence suggests that the Durga Puja has evolved over time, becoming more elaborate, social, and creative. The festival had earlier been a domestic puja, a form of practice that still remains popular. But it had also come to be celebrated in thesarvajanin (public) form, where communities get together, pool their resources and efforts to set uppandals and illuminations, and celebrate the event as a "mega-show to share".[133] The origins of this variation are unclear, with some sources suggesting a family in Kolkata reviving such celebration in 1411 CE. While other set of sources suggest that a Bengali landlord, named Kamsanarayan, held a mega-show puja in late 16th-century Bengal.[133] Yet, this festival of Bengal is likely much older with the discovery of 11th and 12th-century Durga Puja manual manuscripts such asDurgotsavaviveka,Durgotsava Prayoga,Vasantaviveka andKalaviveka.[134] The rituals associated with the Durga Puja migrated to other regions from Bengal, such as inVaranasi, a city that has historically attracted sponsorship from Hindus from various parts of the Indian subcontinent including Bengal.[135] In contemporary India, Durga Puja is celebrated in various styles and forms.[136]
In Kolkata, Durga Puja is an annual festival celebrated magnificently.[137][138] Kolkata alone hosted more than 3,000Barowaripujas in Kolkata in 2022, with more than 200 pujas were organized in the city with a budget of over one crorerupees.[139] Kolkata has been inscribed on the list ofUNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage Lists in December 2021.[140]
InBishnupur, West Bengal, Durga Puja holds a unique and significant place. The district boasts theRajbari Durga Puja, also known as theMrinmoyee Maa er pujo, which dates back to 994 AD. This makes it the oldest Durga Puja in the entire Bengal region, encompassing present-day Bangladesh, Odisha, and Tripura.[141]
InBasirhat, West Bengal, the scale and intensity of durga puja celebration is among the biggest inNorth 24 Parganas district with more than 100 installations in the city.[142] For more than 150 years, the Durga idol has been immersed on boats in this city. On the day of Vijayadashami, people usually come in Basirhat to see the immersion festival. The idols and installations have changed in the modern era, but the immersion continues to be done in theIchamati River by boat according to the ancient tradition. A fair is held on both banks of the river centering on the immersion. The special attraction of this fair is wooden furniture and various wooden items.[143][144]
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Durga Puja is a widely celebrated festival in the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh (eastern parts), Assam, and Odisha.[145] It is celebrated over a five-day period. Streets are decked up with festive lights, loudspeakers play festive songs as well as recitation of hymns and chants by priests, andpandals are erected by communities. The roads become overcrowded with revellers, devotees, andpandal-hoppers visiting the pandals on puja days. It often creates chaotic traffic conditions. Shops, eateries, and restaurants stay open all night; fairs are also set up and cultural programmes are held.[146] People form organizing committees, which plan and oversee thepandal during the festivities. Today, Durga Puja has turned into a consumerist social carnival, a major public spectacle and a major arts event riding on the wave of commercialisation, corporate sponsorship, and craze for award-winning. For private domestic pujas, families dedicate an area of their homes, known asthakur dalan, for Durga Puja where the sculpture-idols for worship is placed and decorated with home-dyed fabric,sola ornamentations, and gold and silver foil decorations. Elaborate rituals likearati are performed andprasad is distributed after being offered to the deities. As a tradition, married daughters visit their parents and celebrate the Durga Puja with them, a symbolism alluding to Durga who is popularly believed to return to her natal home during the puja.[147]
Durga Puja is also a gift-giving and shopping season for communities celebrating it, with people buying gifts for not only family members but also for close relatives and friends. New clothes are the traditional gift, and people wear them to go out together during Durga Puja. During puja holidays, people may also go to places of tourist attractions while others return home to spend Durga Puja with their family.[147] It's a common trend amongst youngsters and even those who are older to gopandal-hopping and enjoy the celebrations.[148]
The organising committees of each pujapandal hires apurohita (priest) who performs the puja rituals on behalf of the community.[149] For the priests, Durga Puja is a time of activity wherein he pursues the timely completion of Vedic-Puranic-Tantric ritual sequences to make various offerings and perform fire oblations, in full public view, while the socio-cultural festivities occur in parallel.[150] The complex puja rituals include periods of accurate and melodic scripture recitation. The puja involves crowds of people visiting thepandals, with smaller groups visiting family pujas, to witness the celebrations.[151] On the last day, the sculpture-idols are carried out in immersion processions across Bengal, following which they are ritually immersed into rivers or other waterbodies. The immersion ceremony continues till a couple of days after the last day of puja.[152]
According to some scholars, the ritual of immersing the Durga sculpture-idol into the river attracted the attention of colonial era travelers to the Bengal region from Europe, such asGarcin de Tassy and Emma Roberts. In 1831, Tassy reported that similar rituals were annually observed by the Muslim community in Bengal. ShiaBengali Muslims observedMuharram over ten days, taking out processions in memory of the martyrdom of ImamHusayn ibn Ali, and then cast a memorial Imam's cenotaph into a river on the tenth day. Tassy further stated that theBengali rituals of Muharram included the same offerings at the annual observation of Muharram that the Hindu rituals included during Durga Puja.[153] According to yet other scholars, the ritual of immersion in water by Hindus for Durga Puja in Bengal and Ganesh Chaturthi in the western states of India, may have grown because members of the Hindu community attempted to create a competing procession and immersion ritual to that of Muharram, allowed by the colonial British Indian government in the 19th and early 20th-centuries.[154]
In Maharashtra, the city ofNashik and other places such as CIDCO, Rajeevnagar, Panchavati, and Mahatmanagar host Durga Puja celebrations.[citation needed] While in Delhi, the first community Durga Puja was organized nearKashmiri Gate by a group of expatriate Bengalis, in 1910, a year before Delhi was declared the capital ofBritish India. This group came to be theDelhi Durga Puja Samiti, popularly known as the Kashmere Gate Durga Puja.[155] The Durga Puja atTimarpur, Delhi was started in the year 1914.[156] In 2011, over 800 Durga Pujas were held in Delhi, with a few hundred more inGurgaon andNOIDA.[157]
In Odisha, Durga Puja is the most important festival of the people of the state. Durga Puja is a very important festival for Odias, during the 4 days of the festival, the streets of the city turns into a wonderland throughout the state, people welcome the arrival of their maa by rejoicing themselves, eating tasty food, wearing new clothes, seeing different pandals across the city, family gathering and gift givings. In 2019, ninety-seven pandals inCuttack alone, Odisha were reported to bedeck respective sculpture-idols with silver jewelry for Durga Puja celebrations; such club of pandals termed regionally asChandi Medha. The state capital is famous for the modern themes and creativity In the pandals, while the Western part of the state has a more retro decoration theme to the pandal. In the northern parts of the state particularlyBalasore, Durga Puja is celebrated with much fervor and the Odia diaspora abroad especially inAustralia, which originates 95% from the district of Balasore celebrates the puja in the same manner which is done back home in Balasore.[158] In September 2019, 160pandals were reported to be hosting Durga Puja in Cuttack.[159][160]
While in Tripura there were over 2,500 community Durga Puja celebrations in 2013. Durga Puja has been started at the Durgabari temple, inAgartala by King Radha Kishore Manikya Bahadur.[161]
Beyond being an art festival and a socio-religious event, Durga Puja has also been a political event with regional and national political parties having sponsored Durga Puja celebrations. In 2019, West Bengal Chief Minister,Mamata Banerjee announced a grant of₹25,000 to all community-organised Durga Pujas in the state.[162]
In 2019, Kolkata's Durga Puja was nominated by the Indian government for the 2020UNESCO Representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.[163][164] Durga Puja also stands to be politically and economically significant. The committees organising Durga Puja in Kolkata have close links to politicians.[113] Politicians patronize the festival by making donations or helping raise money for funding of community pujas, or by marking their presence at puja events and inaugurations.[113] The grant of₹25,000 to puja organizing committees in West Bengal by a debt-ridden state government was reported to cost a budget a₹70 crores.[165] The state government also announced an additional grant of₹5,000 to puja organizing committees fully managed by women alone, while also announcing a twenty-five percent concession on total electricity bills for pujapandal.[165] The government had made a grant of₹10,000 each to more than 20,000 puja organizing committees in the state in 2018.[165]
A 2013 report byASSOCHAM states West Bengal's Durga Puja to be a₹25,000 crores worth economy, expected to grow at thecompound annual growth rate of about 35 per-cent.[166] Economic slowdowns in India, such as in 2019, have hence affected corporate sponsorships and puja budgets for public celebrations.[167] In August 2019, theIncome Tax Department of India had allegedly sent notices to various Durga Puja organizing committees in West Bengal, against which the ruling party of the state,All India Trinamool Congress (AITMC) protested.[168][169] The Central Board of Direct Taxes denied sending any such notices,[170] to which AITMC politicianMadan Mitra is reported to have said that the intention may have been to enquire iftax deducted at source had been deducted on payments to vendors for organizing community pujas.[113]
Durga Puja directly affects the economy. In 2022, the economy of West Bengal was estimated to get a boost of 50,000 crore rupees.[171] The annualGDP of West Bengal was expected to be expanded by 20-30 percent that year.[172][173] The factors responsible for this economic boost are mainly the increase of earning in transport, tourism, industry, business, shopping and other fields. TheKolkata Metro Railway recorded an earning of ₹6 crore in just five days of Durga Puja in 2022.[174][175]
The famous puja pandals get sponsorship from renowned companies and labels. Usually, the dress and jewelries of the idols, the material used to make the typically very elaborate pandals, decorations, lightings are sponsored.
Durga Puja plays a great significance in the living of certain peoples. Thekumors, those who make the idols with clay and also makes other clayey products, earns lakhs of rupees by selling a single set of Durga idol of average size. Hence, it makes their annual income because idols used in other festivals are a lot more cheaper. Other professions that receive the majority of their annual income aredhaaki (playsdhaak), priest and other small homecrafts. It is assumed that these profession based small classes would become smaller in population if Durga Puja was absent.
The day of Mahalaya is marked by theIndianHindu community ofWest Bengal withMahishasuramardini — a two-hours longAll India Radio program — that has been popular in the Bengali community since the 1950s. While in earlier days it used to be recorded live, a pre-recorded version has come to be broadcast in recent decades. Bengalis traditionally wake up at four in the morning on Mahalaya to listen to the radio show, primarily involving recitations of chants and hymns fromDevi Mahatmyam (orChandi Path) byBirendra Krishna Bhadra and Pankaj Kumar Mullick. The show also features various devotional melodies.[176]
Dramas enacting the legend of Durga slaying Mahishasura are telecasted on the television. Radio and television channels also air other festive shows,[citation needed] while Bengali and Odia magazines publish special editions for the puja known asPujabarshiki (Annual Puja Edition) orSharadiya Sankhya (Autumnal Volume). These contain works of writers, both established and upcoming, and are more voluminous than the regular issues. Some notable examples of such magazines in Bengali areAnandamela,Shuktara,Desh,Sananda,Nabakallol, andBartaman.[177]
Durga Puja is celebrated commonly by both Bangladesh's Bengali and non-Bengali Hindu community. SomeBengali Muslims also take part in the festivities.[178] In Dhaka, theDhakeshwari Temple puja attracts visitors and devotees.[179] InNepal, the festivities are celebrated asDashain.[8][25]
Beyond South Asia, Durga Puja is organized by Bengali communities across the world.
In the United States Durga Puja is celebrated across the country in many cities.[180] The oldest community Durga Puja in the US was held in Columbia University organized by the East Coast Durga Puja Association (ECDPA) in 1970.[181][182] While many community pujas are typically held over a Friday-Sunday period, some pujas in the US e.g. organized by Bharat Sevashram Shangha, Paschimi,[183] Women's Now[184] and others follow the full 5 day schedule. While most major metropolitan centers have multiple Durga Pujas organized by multiple Bengali organizations, Saikat[185] in San Diego, CA and SABCC[186] in San Antonio, TX are two of the biggest American cities to have an unified Durga Pujas for the whole metropolitan area. In addition to the actual puja, most Durga Pujas in North America have a tradition of having elaborate cultural events involving both local artists and invited professional artists from India.
InCanada, Bengali Hindu communities both from Bangladesh and West Bengal, India organise several Durga Pujas.[187]Greater Toronto Area has the most Durga Puja celebration venues organized by different Bengali cultural groups such as Bangladesh Canada Hindu Cultural Society (BCHCS), Bongo Poribar Sociocultural Association zetc.[187] City of Toronto has a dedicated Durga Temple named Toronto Durgabari where Durga Puja is organized along with other Hindu celebrations. Most of the puja venues of Toronto area try to arrange the puja in the best way possible to follow thelunar calendar and timings.
In Brazil, The Swami Vivekananda Cultural Center, São Paulo, organizes an annual Durga Puja.
Celebrations are also organized inEurope. The sculpture-idols are shipped from India and stored in warehouses to be re-used over the years.[188] According to BBC News, for community celebrations inLondon in 2006, these "idols, belonging to a tableau measuring 18ft by 20ft, were made fromclay,straw and vegetable dyes". At the end of the puja, the sculpture-idols were immersed inRiver Thames for the first time in 2006, after "the community was allowed to give a traditional send-off to the deities by London's port authorities".[188] InGermany, the puja is celebrated in Cologne,[189] and other cities. InSwitzerland,[190] puja in Baden, Aargau has been celebrated since 2003. InSweden, the puja is celebrated in cities such as Stockholm and Helsingborg. The oldest and first puja in Sweden was founded in 1988 and is one of the oldest ones in Europe, and goes by the name Stockholm Bangiya Sanatan Samaj.[191] In theNetherlands, the puja is celebrated in places such as Amstelveen, Eindhoven, and Voorschoten.
In South Africa, Durga Puja has been revived with celebrations in Johannesburg.[192] In Ethiopia, in Addis Ababa Durga Puja is organized by the Addis Ababa Durga Pooja Committee
In Sydney, Durga Puja is celebrated in many community centers including at the Ponds Community Hub in Sydney where the Bengali Community Dorpon Cultural and Religious Association organized Durga Puja[193]
Durga Puja celebrations have also been started inHong Kong by the Bengali diaspora.[194] In China Durga Puja has been organized in Shanghai[195] and is organized by the Embassy of India in Beijing[196] InJapan, Durga Puja is celebrated in Tokyo with much fanfare.[197][198]
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