Source: •
Markandeya Purana (Devi Mahatmya / Chandi Path): The primary text narrating the battle of Durga with Mahishasura. •
Devi Bhagavata Purana: Expands on the cosmic significance of Maa Durga and her victory. •
Skanda Purana: Mentions Durga's various forms and their purpose in destroying evil. •
Varaha Purana: Contains references to the goddess as Mahishasura Mardini. •
Tantra Texts (e.g., Devi Mahatmyam in Shakta Tantra): Emphasize her as Shakti, the supreme power.
Relation to harvest Durga Puja is, in part, a post-monsoon harvest festival observed on the same days in the
Shaktism tradition of Hinduism as those in its other traditions. The practice of including a bundle of nine different plants, called
navapatrika, as a symbolism of Durga, is a testament practice to its agricultural importance. Many people think Nabapatrika is just a banana tree wrapped like a bride, often called
“Kolabou”. In reality, it is a sacred combination of
nine plants, each representing a form of divine energy and cosmic force. 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". 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 temporary
pandals built at community squares, roadside shrines, and temples. The festival is also observed by some Shakta Hindus as a private home-based festival. Before Durga puja there is
Paata Puja, the ritual of making an idol on the day of the
Rath Yatra, usually around July. 'Paata' is the wooden frame that forms the base for the idols.
Day One Durga Puja is a ten-day event. The festival begins with
Mahalaya, a day on which Hindus perform
tarpaṇa by offering water and food to their dead ancestors. The day also marks the arrival of Durga from her marital home in
Kailash. The festival starts at twilight with prayers to
Saraswati. 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. The day also marks prayers to
Ganesha and visit to
pandals and temples.
Day Two to Five Day two to five mark the remembrance of the goddess and her manifestations, such as
Kumari (goddess of fertility),
Mai (mother),
Ajima (grandmother),
Lakshmi (goddess of wealth) and in some regions as the
Saptamatrikas (seven mothers) or
Navadurga (nine aspects of Durga). On the sixth day major festivities and social celebrations start. The first nine days overlap with Navaratri festivities in other traditions of Hinduism.The specific practices vary by region.
Day Six to Nine 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 a
ghata or noggin while the visible sight is consecrated into the
murti or idol. These rituals are known as
ghatasthapana and
pranapratistha respectively.
Adhivasa: Anointing ritual wherein symbolic offerings are made to Durga, with each item representing a remembrance of subtle forms of her. On the seventh day (
Saptami), eighth (
Ashtami) and ninth (
Navami) days, the goddess along with
Lakshmi,
Saraswati,
Ganesha, and
Kartikeya are revered and these days mark the main days of worship with recitation of scriptures, puja, legends of Durga in
Devi Mahatmya, social visits to elaborately decorated and illuminated
pandals (temporary structures meant for hosting the puja), among others. •
Navapatrika snan: Bathing of the
navapatrika with holy water done on the seventh day of the festival. •
Sandhi puja and
Ashtami pushpanjali: The eighth day begins with elaborate
pushpanjali rituals. The cusp of the ending of the eighth day and beginning of the ninth day is considered to be the moment when per scriptures Durga engaged in a fierce battle against
Mahishasura and was attacked by the demons
Chanda and Munda. Goddess
Chamunda emerged from the third eye of Durga and killed Chanda and Munda at the cusp of
Ashtami and
Navami, the eighth and ninth days respectively. This moment is marked by the
sandhi puja, involving the offering of 108 lotuses and lighting of 108 lamps. It is a forty-eight minutes long ritual commemorating the climax of battle. The rituals are performed in the last 24 minutes of
Ashtami and the first 24 minutes of
Navami. In some regions, devotees sacrifice an animal such as a buffalo or goat, but in many regions, there is not an actual animal sacrifice and a symbolic sacrifice substitutes it. The surrogate effigy is smeared in red vermilion to symbolise the blood spilled. The goddess is then offered food (
bhog). Some places also engage in devotional service. • and : The ninth day of festival is marked with the (fire oblation) rituals and . Some places also perform on this day.
Day Ten • and immersion: The tenth and last day, called Vijaya Dashami is marked by , where women smear or vermillion on the sculpture-idols and also smear each other with it. This ritual signifies the wishing of a blissful marital life for married women. Historically the ritual has been restricted to married women. The tenth day is the day when Durga emerged victorious against Mahishasura and it ends with a procession where the clay sculpture-idols are ceremoniously taken to a river or coast for immersion rites. Following the immersion, Durga is believed to return to her mythological marital home of Kailasa to Shiva and the cosmos in general. People distribute sweets and gifts, visit their friends and family members on the tenth day. Some communities such as those near Varanasi mark the day after Vijaya Dashami, called
Ekadashi, by visiting a Durga temple. ,
Assam,
India. •
Dhunuchi naach and : Dhunuchi naach involves a dance ritual performed with (incense burner). Drummers called , carrying large leather-strung
Dhaks,
Dhols and other traditional drums depending on the region, to create music, to which people dance either during or not during
arati. Some places, especially home pujas, also observe
dhuno pora, a ritual involving married women carrying
dhunuchis burning with incense and dried coconuts, on a cloth on their head and hands,
Decorations, sculptures, and stages The process of the creation of clay sculpture-idols (
pratima or
murti) 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. 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. In certain traditions in Kolkata, a custom is to include soil samples in the clay mixture for Durga from areas believed to be
nishiddho pallis (forbidden territories; territories inhabited by the "social outcasts" such as brothels). The clay base is combined with straw, kneaded, and then moulded into a cast made from hay and bamboo. This is layered to a fine final shape, cleaned, painted, and polished. A layer of a fibre called
jute, 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. The limbs of the statues are mostly shaped from bundles of straws. 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. The procedure for and proportions of the sculpture-idols are described in arts-related
Sanskrit texts of Hinduism, such as the
Vishvakarma Sashtra.
Environmental impact The sculpture-idols for the puja are traditionally made of biodegradable materials such as straw, clay, soil, and wood. In today's times, brighter coloured statues have increased in popularity and have diversified the use of non-biodegradable, cheaper or more colourful 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. Brighter colours that are also biodegradable and eco-friendly, as well as the traditional natural colours, are typically more expensive compared to the non biodegradable paints. 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.
Animal sacrifice, symbolic sacrifice . 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 the
asura is made of flour or equivalent, is immolated and smeared with vermilion, symbolic of the blood that had spilled during the battle. Other substitutes include a vegetable or a sweet dish considered equivalent to the animal. In certain instances, devotees consider animal sacrifice distasteful, and practice alternate means of expressing devotion while respecting the views of others in their tradition. In communities performing actual sacrifice, an animal is sacrificed, mainly at temples. In
Nepal, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam, animal sacrifices are performed at Shakta temples to commemorate the legend of Durga slaying Mahishasura. 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. The
Rajputs of
Rajasthan 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. 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. The
Kuldevi (clan deity) among these Rajput communities is a warrior goddess, with local legends tracing reverence for her during
Rajput-Muslim wars.
Pandals and theme-based pujas 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 build
pandals centered around a theme, which has rose to prominence in recent years. Such themes have included sex work, celebration of humanity, folk culture, celebration of cinema, womanhood, while others have chosen metaphorical themes such as celebration of
maati (literally, soil or ash) and "finding one's own light". Pandals have also been replicated on existing temples, structures, and monuments and yet others have been made of elements such as metal scraps, nails, and turmeric among others. Durga Puja pandals have also been centered around themes to acknowledge political events such as the
2019 Balakot airstrike and to protest against the
National Register of Citizens of India. The budget required for such theme-based pujas is significantly higher than traditional pujas. For such theme-based pujas, the preparations and the building of
pandals are a significant arts-related economic activity, often attracting major sponsors. Such commercialised pujas attract crowds of visitors. The growth of competitiveness in theme-based
pandals has escalated costs and scale of Durga Puja in eastern states of India. Some segments of the society criticise the billboards, the economic competition, and seek return to basics. 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. ==Regional celebrations and observances==