Durga Puja is the most important festival in Bengal as more than a religious festival, it is an occasion of reunion and rejuvenation and a celebration of traditional culture and customs. During Mahalaya to Dasami people worship the goddess Durga in a magnificent manner. Durga Puja in Bengal, Dashara and Navratri in other parts of India celebrate the universal rejuvenation of the power of creation over destruction.

There is a mythological story attached to the festival that says that the buffalo demon Mahishasura was destroying the world and was invincible. The dismayed gods combined their powers to create a sixteen-year-old girl, each placing a powerful weapon in one of her ten hands. This girl was called Durga who after a forceful fight killed the demon and saved the world. Every year in Ashwin’s Bengali month (September-October), it is believed that she returns to Bengal which is considered her parent’s house when people celebrate her arrival.

The traditional representation of Durga in Bengal follows the iconographic order of Shastras. It resembles the Durga of Aihole and Mahabalipuram (7th century). The tableau of Durga and her four children, Kartika, Ganesha, Saraswati and Lakshmi, shows the full manifestation of the Goddess as protector, initiator of worship, giver of knowledge and giver of dhan(bounty). In Bengal According to tradition, Maa Durga comes to her father’s house with her sons and daughters from Kailash, the abode of her husband Siva, for ten days and at the end of the 10th day, she returns to Kailash again. This made Durga puja in Bengal a family affair.

It is said that the previously Durga was worshipped by the zamindar of Maldah or Dinajpur. However, the first Durga Puja mentioned in recorded history was at Nadia around 1606, under the supervision of Maharaja Krishnachandra’s ancestor Bhavananda. Later, during the reign of Maharaja Krishnachandra, the celebration of Durga Puja took a larger form. The celebration was held in the building built by his ancestor Rudra Roy.

The oldest puja mentioned in Calcutta is the family puja of Savarna Chowdhury of Barisha which began in 1610 and is still conducted in a very traditional style today. Later, Durga Puja became practised among the cronies of Kolkata’s new urban business elite. Raja Nabakrishna Dev of Shobhabazar Raj founded a ‘family puja’ believing it will further his business interests. 

After his victory at Plassey in 1757, Robert Clive received an invitation from Raja Nabakrishna Dev to attend Durga Puja.  He came to Sovabajar Rajbari where a golden sofa was put in the quadrangle for him. Located at 36 Raja Navakrishna Road, Durga Puja is still called Company Puja. Raja Nabakrishna Deb established the pattern of Durga Puja that became a symbol of fashion and status among traders. The number of Sahibs (European from East India Company) attending family pujas became an indicator of prestige.

Durga Puja was mainly celebrated as a family festival until 1761 when twelve young men were prevented from attending a family puja in Guptipara of Hooghly district. They formed a twelve-member committee, which organized the first public or community Durga Puja with subscriptions. Hence this type of worship is called Barwari (baro, twelve; yar, friend). A plaque outside the Bindesharitala temple dates the event to 1168 Saka (1761 AD) but no such documented evidence has been found and the date is disputed. The Friend of India, a monthly paper published from Srirampur again mentions the year 1790 as the date of this event.

Later, when the Indian National Congress was held in Calcutta in 1910, a Durga Puja was organized by the country’s freedom fighters at Balram Bose Ghat Road in Calcutta. In that puja, the word barwari is replaced by the word ‘Sarbajanin’ which means universal. That was the first community Durga Puja in Kolkata. In the form of celebrating religious festivals

The fun and excitement of the ancient Barwari Puja took a turn later. In that puja, stick players, yoga and drills were performed by the veterans who were ready to sacrifice their lives in the fight for the freedom of the country. Swadeshi items were also sold in stalls around the pandal. The puja was celebrated as a platform for the expression of nationalistic feelings and a festival to unite people. It is from that worship that the message of taking the oath of the liberation of the country, seeing it as a goddess, is propagated.

After that, the celebration of the ‘Sarbojanin Durgotsab’ gradually increased. Various clubs started celebrating Durga Puja. Everything from making idols to making pandals started getting a touch of grandeur. The application of experimental art continues in the construction of idols, decoration of idols, and pandal.

At first, they make the structure of bamboo and then made the foundational structure with straw. Then the artist builds the goddess idol according to his mind by coating it with clay.

In the beginning, idols of Ekchala were built and worshipped, but later it was also touched by different types of art. Sometimes a social issue comes up there, sometimes there are touches of folk art from the country and abroad. Sometimes the artist builds idols based on mythological figures.

In making a pandal, first, a temporary structure is made of bamboo and then the artist shapes the pandal as per his mind. Sometimes an ancient temple, sometimes a famous architecture of the country or abroad (eg – the Eiffel Tower), or sometimes a puja pandal is built according to the independent idea of an artist. The term ‘Theme Pooja’ is a very popular term in this decade.

Even now Banedi house pujas are celebrated with ‘Ekchala Pratima’ in the ‘thakurdalan’ of the house. These ‘barir puja’ and ‘sarbojanin puja’ both traditions are celebrated in parallel today.

Every Bengali family celebrates this with joy which includes shopping for new clothes that starts a few months ago. People give gifts to their relatives and loved ones during this time. So all in all, a busy situation and crowd can be seen in the market even a few months before the puja.

Bengali Durga Puja Puja officially started in the morning of Mahalaya with Tarpan on Ganga and broadcasting of Mahishasur Mardini on the radio. It is on this Mahalaya day that the idol of the goddess is given life by ‘Chaskhudan’ i.e. eyes painted on the clay idol of the Goddess. Nowadays, from this day of Mahalaya, people with their friends, family and loved ones start going from pandel to pandel thronging the streets of Kolkata to see the Durgap-Pratima and pandal.

Mahasashti

It is said that on this day Goddess Durga came to the mortal world from the heavenly abode with her children. He was welcomed with great fanfare amid the playing of the dhak. Unveiling the idol’s face is the main ritual on this day.

Mahasaptami

Saptami is the first day of Durga Puja. Kala Bau or Navapatrika is given a pre-dawn bath. Nine types of plants are worshipped together as symbols of the goddess.

Mahashtami

The day begins with the recitation of Sanskrit hymns as thousands of devotees offer Anjali to the Goddess. Little girls are worshipped as Kumari Puja or Mother Goddesses. Gradually the important Sandhi Pujas come, this Puja marks the end of Maha Ashtami and the auspicious beginning of Maha Navami.

Mahanavami

It is the concluding day of Durga Puja. After the sandhi puja, the main Navami puja starts. Navami Bhog is offered to Goddess. Animal sacrifice rituals can be observed on this day in some old pujas. Although today, instead of animal sacrifice, a fruit is sacrificed as a symbol. Later the devotees take it as Prasad.

Mahadashami

A tearful farewell is given to the goddess on the last day Dasami. Most community pujas postpone the farewell as long as possible and arrange a grand farewell. The images are carried around the area in procession and finally immersed in a nearby river.

Originally a religious festival, this Durga Puja has thus evolved now into a universal festival (Durgotsav) through the participation of people.

To honour the grandeur of Kolkata’s Durga Puja, UNESCO has given the festival the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity tag on 15^th December last year.