Durga Puja 2019 | Importance of Durga Puja | Celebration in Calcutta India
Durga Puja is also called Durgotsav. It is a Hindu festival that worships Goddess Durga. This famous festival is celebrated mainly in West Bengal and particularly in Calcutta.
Durga puja is a festival that marks the battle of Goddess Durga with the demon Mahishasura. Goddess Durga emerged victorious, marking the victory of good over evil.
Durga Puja is also a harvest festival that means Maa Durga's Maternal love. There is a practice of including a package of nine different plants called "Navpattrika". This symbolizes Durga as a form of nature and its importance for agriculture.
Together with Durga, the main deities such as Ganesha, Saraswati, Lakshmi and Kartikeya are also worshiped during this festival.
Importance of The 10-Day Celebration of Durga Puja.
First Day
The festival begins with Mahalaya, a day in which Shakta Hindus remember loved ones who have died, as well as the advent of Durga. This is also usually the day that the eyes of all the deities are painted on the Durga Puja stage, giving them a real appearance.
The festival begins at twilight with prayers to Sarasvati and Ganesha. People also visit several temples of Durga.
Second: Fifth Day
Aspects of Goddess Durga: - Kumari (Goddess of Fertility)
Mai (mother)
Ajima (grandmother)
Lakshmi (Goddess of wealth)
Saptamatrikas (seven mothers)
Navadurga (nine aspects of Durga)
Sixth Day | Shashti Puja
This is the beginning of the main festivities and social celebrations. Goddess Durga is welcome and celebrations begin in temples and pandales. This is called Bodhana.
The puja rituals are long and complicated. Three days of mantras, Shlokas and Arati songs. Offerings are also made, which include Vedic chants and multiple recitations of Devi Mahatmya's text in Sanskrit.
Seventh Day | Saptami Puja
On this day the following rituals are performed: -
Goddess bath
Priest selection
Aarti
Recitation of texts describing Durga addressing the war.
Group meditation
Scream like crying on women's high points.
Eighth Day | Mahasthami Puja
The celebrations are almost similar to the seventh day.
It is a significant day because the moment when the eighth day ends and the ninth day begins is considered as the moment when Durga kills the demon, Mahishasura.
Sandhi Puja It is a forty-Eight minute ritual that celebrates the climax of war. The ritual is performed in the last 24 minutes of Mahashtami and the first 24 minutes of Mahanavami.
Ninth day | Mahanavami Puja
It is similar to the seventh day, the only difference is that it is a celebration after the victory of Goddess Durga.
Tenth day | Vijaya - Dashami
The festival ends on this day. Start with Sindoor Khela, where married women stain Sindoor on Durga's forehead and feet, and then on the other. The Hindu communities of Shakta begin a procession with drums of music and chants of mantras. He takes a colorful clay statue and then dives into the river or the sea.
It is believed that Durga returns to Mount Kailash with Shiva.
Celebrations in Various Places
Durga Puja, the largest festival of Bengalis and one of the main social events in India. It is particularly popular in West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Odisha, Assam and Tripura. There is an official five-day holiday in these states.
It is also a very important festival of Nepal and Bangladesh. The festival is also celebrated by the Bengali communities in Europe and the USA. UU. It is really a delight for the eyes to see magnificent Pandals of Durga Puja and idols of incredibly carved goddesses. During the 10 full days of celebration, a fanfare start is easily perceived and that too, especially in the last 5 days of the festival.
Bengalis consider Durga Puja as a wonderful celebration of the festival to reconnect with family and friends.
Durga Puja Celebrations in Calcutta
Preparations for the Durga Puja festival begin one or two months before the dates of celebration. In Kolkata, Puja Bonus is offered to employees. Stores get a lot of sales during the festival. In fact, the festival is welcomed with great enthusiasm by all homes.
The Making of Durga Idol
Now Durga Puja has become a community festival held in the pandals of Puja. In Kumartuli, which is a place near Kolkata, the amazing idols of Goddess Durga are shaped. It is a famous place for the production of beautiful idols of gods and goddesses. Here expert craftsmen show their talent for making idols.
Magnificent Decorations of Durga Puja Pandal
The innovative ideas of making pandal and the idols of the goddesses are made with great devotion and in Puja Pandals a large amount of money is erected, all adorned with fascinating works of art. In fact, many pandas are also built in the form of world-famous monuments or structures.
Celebrations
In addition, many cultural activities are held, such as dance competitions and songs. The games are also organized during the last days of the festival celebration. Many professional artists such as singers, dancers, musicians are also called to sing bhajan and stuti of Goddess Durga. In addition to pandales decorations, the city is also illuminated and decorated with bright and colorful light screens.
Reasons Why you Should Attend Durga Puja in Kolkata.
There is nothing enough to compare the five-day festival in Kolkata.
It is a great celebration where everyone is ready to welcome Durga.
Kolkata becomes a virtual gallery with fantastically decorated pandas
People are so excited that the festival compares to the famous Rio de Janerio Carnival.
There is a big surprise of auspicious painting like Rangoli of approximately 1 km along Lake Road by almost 400 art students.
The pandals are very well decorated with artisans. They have turned every possible imagination into reality.
Variety of foods such as muffins, momos, puchkas, bhel and much more is available in the streets of Kolkata.
Colorful lights and elaborate lightning turns Kolkata into a fairy city at night during Durga Puja
It is a great celebration where everyone is ready to welcome Durga.
Kolkata becomes a virtual gallery with fantastically decorated pandas
People are so excited that the festival compares to the famous Rio de Janerio Carnival.
There is a big surprise of auspicious painting like Rangoli of approximately 1 km along Lake Road by almost 400 art students.
The pandals are very well decorated with artisans. They have turned every possible imagination into reality.
Variety of foods such as muffins, momos, puchkas, bhel and much more is available in the streets of Kolkata.
Colorful lights and elaborate lightning turns Kolkata into a fairy city at night during Durga Puja
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