Durga puja, also called Durgotsava, is an annual Hindu festival in the Indian subcontinent that reveres the Hindu goddess Durga. It is particularly popular in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar,Tripura, and Odisha, the nation-state of Bangladesh and the diaspora from this region, and also in Nepal where it is celebrated as Dashain. The festival is observed in the Indian calendar month of Ashwin, which corresponds to the months of September/October in the Gregorian calendar, and is a ten-day festival, of which the last five are typically special. The puja is performed in homes and in the public, featuring temporary stage decorations (known as pandals), scripture recitations, performance arts, revelry, and processions. It is a major festival in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism across India and the Shakta Hindu diaspora.
Durga Puja festival marks the victory of goddess Durga in her battle against the shape-shifting and deceptive buffalo-asura Mahishasura. Thus, the festival epitomises the victory of good over evil, though it also is in part a harvest festival that celebrates the goddess as the motherly power behind all of life and creation. Durga Puja coincides with Dussehra celebrations observed by other traditions of Hinduism, where the Ram lila is enacted, celebrating the victory of Rama against Ravana, and effigies of Ravana are burnt.
Durga puja, also called Durgotsava, is an annual Hindu festival in the Indian subcontinent that reveres the Hindu goddess Durga. It is particularly popular in the Indian states of West Bengal, Assam, Bihar,Tripura, and Odisha, the nation-state of Bangladesh and the diaspora from this region, and also in Nepal where it is celebrated as Dashain. The festival is observed in the Indian calendar month of Ashwin, which corresponds to the months of September/October in the Gregorian calendar, and is a ten-day festival, of which the last five are typically special. The puja is performed in homes and in the public, featuring temporary stage decorations (known as pandals), scripture recitations, performance arts, revelry, and processions. It is a major festival in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism across India and the Shakta Hindu diaspora.
Durga Puja festival marks the victory of goddess Durga in her battle against the shape-shifting and deceptive buffalo-asura Mahishasura. Thus, the festival epitomises the victory of good over evil, though it also is in part a harvest festival that celebrates the goddess as the motherly power behind all of life and creation. Durga Puja coincides with Dussehra celebrations observed by other traditions of Hinduism, where the Ram lila is enacted, celebrating the victory of Rama against Ravana, and effigies of Ravana are burnt.