Wet Bengal celebrates Durga Puja

The Durga Puja of West Bengal, the Navaratri of Northern and Western India and Dussehra in both North and South India coincide and is the cause of wide-spread celebrations. This marks the close of the Monsoons and the beginning of the harvesting season for rice. The Durga Puja combines the idea of Uma, the other name for Durga, returning to earth much as married daughters of the house return to visit their ancestral homes at around this time, and the concept of the victory of good over evil, exemplified by Durga slaying the demon, Mahishasur, on the day of Vijaya Dashami. It all starts months earler with the making of the image of the goddess usually at the community-based making of such images at Kumartuli in North Calcutta.

This picture above shows the finished, regular "daker saaj" or the traditional image of the goddess Durga as she is invoked at the celebrations. Another image from some older temples where worship of the goddess takes place on a regular basis, given below, is somewhat different.

Rural Bngal also participates fully in the celebration of the Durga Puja. This picture is of a small puja in a village near Santiniketan, where the image is once again in traditional style.