Tag: #durgapuja

Durga Puja & Ravan Dahan

Durga puja & Ravan Dahan

Durga puja is the largest festival for Bengalis as It originated in Kolkata many years ago.

Durga puja, Durgotsava, Vijaydashmi, or Sharodotsava is a yearly Hindu festival that is celebrated in the Indian subcontinent that honors and reveres the Hindu Goddess Durga and celebrates Goddess Durga’s victory over Mahishasura.

While, Ravan Dahan _ On the same day, somewhere in a different era, Ravana was killed by Lord Rama. In today’s India, Ramlila is organized for the last 9 nights and Ravana Dahan marks the day where good triumphs over evil.

In the significance of Durga Puja,
According to Hindu mythology, Lord Brahma granted the demon Mahishasura the boon of invincibility, which meant that no man or god could kill him. After receiving the blessing, Mahishasura attacked the gods and chased them out of heaven. To defeat the demon king, all the gods gathered to worship Adi Shakti. Maa Durga was created by the divine light that emanated from all the gods during the puja.


The first day of Durga Puja marks the arrival of the goddess and is called Mahalaya.

On the sixth day, Sasthi celebrations and worship begin. The goddess is worshipped in her various forms as Durga, Lakshmi, and Saraswati over the next three days. Maa Durga’s battle with Mahishasura lasted ten days. On the tenth day, Goddess Durga slew the demon king, and thus the day is celebrated as Vijaya Dashami, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil.

While, From the 1st to the 9th day, Ram-Leela events happen all over the country to celebrate the festival.

On the last day, devotees immerse Goddess Durga’s idol in the holy Ganges water. It is referred to as Durga Visarjan. Worshippers march in procession before the immersion, accompanied by drumming, singing, and dancing.

While on the same last day, people do Ravan Dahan as Lord Ram killed Ravan.

# Both the events Durga Puja and Ravan Dahan take place on the day of Vijayadashami. The myth and motive behind these two events is the end of Evil by God.
#Victory of God upon Evil.

A new version of Durga Puja

If anyone manages to come to Kolkata during the upcoming festive months of Durga Puja, one would definitely feel very lucky to watch tall brightly coloured idols with crowds dressed in their best attire and swarming through the streets. But it is all gone now, at least for this year.

Usually for each year, all the orders for idols used to come during Rath-yatra and the days following that. And there existed a countdown for the final day. And not to forget about the markets, which always remained overcrowded for at least three months before the actual occasion. There was a feeling of joy and celebration in the air with people in extremely good mood. But this year is going to markedly very different from all the previous years. As per the sources, orders to Kumartuli have slashed by a great percentage this year. At the same time, the delay in the orders is quite noticeable. This year, even the big budget Durga Puja clubs have not yet placed the orders and even if some of them did, the height of the idols have reduced drastically. Previously, the normal height used to range from 12 to 15 feet and that too added with expensive clothes and ornaments. But this year, sources verify that the height ranges somewhere between 8 and 10 feet, with none exceeding 10 feet. Many clubs who usually hosted such big budget idols are very much sceptical whether they should go for it considering the financial stress and social isolation issue. Some are outright enough to cancel the celebrations and others who are hopeful that the situation will subside eventually have gone for placing the orders.

But this is not just all. The Forum of Dugotsab which is a committee of 350 Durga Puja Committees have passed certain rules to make this a safe festive season. Some recommendations which are passed include thermal screening of visitors, wearing of masks is mandatory, regular sanitisation of structures and finally there should be only 25 people inside a marquee at any point of time. But just to ensure that every devotee gets to enjoy the festival, the authorities have also ensured to place screens outside or podiums so that the devotees can at least view the idols. As per the Puja committees, they have specified that they will strictly adhere to the safety guidelines and that that they will celebrate keeping in mind the safety and livelihood of thousands of individuals.

But recent concern is that due to such economic constraints, the Kumartuli artisans have asked for the advance payment of 50% of the total idol making cost at the time of booking the idol. They are fearing that they will incur heavy losses owing to the lockdown and the destruction caused due to the Amphan Cyclone. Kumartuli artisans are sceptical because they have made the idols for Basanti Puja, but because of the onset of lockdown they could not sell those and thus had to suffer huge losses. So according to them they want to be sure for this time.

Durga Puja which is the most quintessential celebration of the Bengalis, will be celebrated in a completely different way. But whatever it is, we just wish for our Ma Durga to abode on this earth with her children and demolish the COVID-19 Rakshash with her Trishul.

Till then, stay safe.

Source: https://www.hindustantimes.com/kolkata/kumartuli-artisans-for-50-advance-for-durga-idols/story-R4wztUk5q1UQMAvkCXr7VJ.html