Happy Navratri , Durga puja 2024 Celebrated in Bihar.

Durga Puja in 2024 is expected to be celebrated from October 10 to October 14, with Mahalaya falling on October 9. This festival, primarily celebrated in West Bengal and among Bengali communities worldwide, honors the goddess Durga’s victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura, symbolizing the triumph of good over evil.

During this time, elaborate pandals (temporary structures) are set up, showcasing artistic themes and intricate sculptures of Durga and her children. Cultural programs, traditional music, dance, and community feasts are integral parts of the celebration, attracting thousands of visitors.

Each day of the festival has its significance, with specific rituals and prayers. The immersion of the idols in water on the final day, known as Vijayadashami, marks the end of the festivities.

Are you looking for specific information about rituals, cultural practices, or something else related to Durga Puja.

Devi Durga killing Mahishasura with her trident riding her vahana (mount), the lion. Lakshmi and Ganesha flank the left while Saraswati and Kartikeya flank the right.
Nickname Durgotsava, Shaaradotsava
Status Public holiday in Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal, Odisha ,Tripura and Assam and the country Bangladesh and Nepal
Optional holiday in Pakistan
Genre Religious and cultural festival
Begins Mahalaya
Ends Vijaya Dashami
Frequency Annual
Founders Rama, according to the legends
Participants Mainly Eastern, Northeast India and Hindus in Bangladesh and Nepal
Major events Worshipping Hindu deities, family and other social gatherings, shopping and gift-giving, feasting, pandal visiting, and cultural events
Main observation Ceremonial worship of Goddess Durga

   **   Navratri Day 1: Orange (Shailaputri)

The “daughter of the mountains”, Shailaputri, is worshipped on the first day of Navratri. As the first incarnation of Goddess Durga, she embodies purity and nature. Wearing orange on this day signifies a person with lively and warm characteristics. This vibrant colour radiates positive energy and uplifts the spirit of the wearer.

** Navratri Day 2: Green (Brahmacharini)

The second day of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Brahmacharini, who represents the unmarried form of Goddess Parvati. She is known for her strict penance in order to win Lord Shiva as her husband. The colour of the day is green, which symbolises nature and evokes a sense of growth, fertility, peace and serenity.

  ** Navratri Day 3: Grey (Chandraghanta)

On the third day of Navratri, devotees worship Chandraghanta, who represents the married form of Goddess Parvati. Her name is derived from the half-moon adorning her forehead, symbolising serenity and beauty. The colour of this day is grey, which signifies strength, resilience, and the ability to overcome obstacles.

** Navratri Day 4: Orange (Kushmanda)

The fourth day of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Kushmanda, the creator of the universe. Worshipping her while wearing orange on this day is believed to bestow qualities of warmth, exuberance, and positivity upon the devotee.

** Navratri Day 5: White (Skandamata)

Skandamata is the fifth form of Goddess Durga, derived from two Sanskrit words: Skanda (the God of war) and Mata (meaning mother of Murugan). The colour associated with this day is white, which symbolises purity and innocence. Wearing white on this Monday is believed to help devotees become worthy of the Goddess’s blessings.

 ** Navratri Day 6: Red (Katyayani)

The sixth form of Goddess Durga is Katyayani, known for her fierce and powerful nature. The colour associated with this day is red, which symbolises passion, love, and strength. Red is also the most preferred colour of chunri (a traditional scarf) offered to the Goddess, representing devotion and reverence.

 ** Navratri Day 7: Royal Blue (Kalaratri)

The seventh form of Navratri is dedicated to Goddess Kaalratri, who is regarded as one of the destructive forms of Goddess Durga. On this day, devotees wear royal blue, a colour that symbolises richness, tranquillity, and depth. This colour reflects the powerful yet calming nature of Maa Kaalratri.

** Navratri Day 8: Pink (Mahagauri)

Mahagauri is the eighth form of Goddess Durga, worshipped on Ashtami Tithi. Her name translates to “extremely white,” reflecting her purity and beauty. The colour associated with this day is pink, symbolising universal love, affection and harmony. Wearing pink on this day fosters a sense of compassion and connection, embodying Mahagauri’s gentle and nurturing qualities.

 ** Navratri Day 9: Purple (Siddhidatri)

The ninth form of Goddess Durga is Maa Siddhidatri, known as the giver of supernatural and meditative powers. The colour associated with this day is purple, symbolising luxury, grandeur and nobility. Worshipping Navdurga while wearing purple is believed to bestow devotees with opulence, richness, and spiritual strength.

Day Ten
Sindoor khela and immersion: The tenth and last day, called Vijaya Dashami is marked by sindoor khela, where women smear sindoor 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.

Women at Nowgong Bengali Association Durga Puja joyfully smear each other with Vermillion as part of the exuberant Durga Puja festival celebrations in Nagaon, Assam, India.
Dhunuchi naach and dhuno pora: Dhunuchi naach involves a dance ritual performed with dhunuchi (incense burner). Drummers called dhakis, 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 aarati. 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,

Durga Puja (ISO: Durgā Pūjā), also known as Durgotsava or Shaaradotsava, is an annual festival originating in the Indian subcontinent which reveres and pays homage to the Hindu goddess Durga, and is also celebrated because of Durga’s victory over Mahishasura. It is particularly celebrated in the Eastern Indian states of West Bengal,Tripura, Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Assam, Odisha and by Hindus in Bangladesh. The festival is observed in the Indian calendar in the month of Ashvin, which corresponds to September–October in the Gregorian calendar. Durga Puja is a ten-day festival, of which the last five are of the most significance. The puja is performed in homes and public, the latter featuring a temporary stage and structural decorations (known as pandals). The festival is also marked by scripture recitations, performance arts, revelry, gift-giving, family visits, feasting, and public processions called a melā. Durga Puja is an important festival in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism. Durga Puja in Kolkata has been inscribed on the intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO in December 2021.

As per Hindu scriptures, the festival marks the victory of goddess Durga in her battle against the shape-shifting asura, Mahishasura. Thus, the festival epitomizes the victory of good over evil, though it is also in part a harvest festival celebrating the goddess as the motherly power behind all of life and creation. Durga Puja coincides with Navaratri and Dussehra celebrations observed by other traditions of Hinduism.

The primary goddess revered during Durga Puja is Durga, but celebrations also include other major deities of Hinduism such as Lakshmi (the goddess of wealth and prosperity), Saraswati (the goddess of knowledge and music), Ganesha (the god of good beginnings), and Kartikeya (the god of war). In Bengali traditions, these deities are considered to be Durga’s children, and Durga Puja is believed to commemorate Durga’s visit to her natal home with her beloved children. The festival is preceded by Mahalaya, which is believed to mark the start of Durga’s journey to her natal home. Primary celebrations begin on the sixth day (Shasthi), on which the goddess is welcomed with rituals. The festival ends on the tenth day (Vijaya Dashami), when devotees embark on a procession carrying the worshipped clay sculpture-idols to a river, or other water bodies, and immerse them, symbolic of her return to the divine cosmos and her marital home with Shiva in Kailash. Regional and community variations in celebration of the festival and rituals observed exist.

Durga Puja is an old tradition of Hinduism, though its exact origins are unclear. Surviving manuscripts from the 14th-century provide guidelines for Durga Puja, while historical records suggest that royalty and wealthy families were sponsoring major Durga Puja festivities since at least the 16th-century.self-published source? The prominence of Durga Puja increased during the British Raj in the provinces of Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh, Odisha and Assam. However, in modern times, the importance of Durga Puja is more as a social and cultural festival than a religious one, wherever it is observed. [citation needed]

Over the years, Durga Puja has morphed into an inseparable part of Indian culture with a diverse group of people celebrating this festival in their unique way while on tradition.

Names
In West Bengal, Odisha, Assam, Jharkhand and Tripura, Durga Puja is also called Akalbodhan (literally, “untimely awakening of Durga”), Sharadiya pujo (“autumnal worship”), Sharodotsab (“festival of autumn”), Maha pujo (“grand puja”), Maayer pujo (“worship of the Mother”),[citation needed] Durga pujo, or merely Puja or Pujo. In Bangladesh, Durga Puja has historically been celebrated as Bhagabati puja. Maa Durga is known as the Goddess of Power (feminine) which represents triumph of Goodness over evil.

Durga Puja is also referred to by the names of related Shakta Hindu festivals such as Navaratri, celebrated on the same days elsewhere in India; such as in Bihar, Jharkhand, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Kerala, and Maharashtra, Kullu Dussehra, celebrated in Kullu Valley, Himachal Pradesh; Mysore Dussehra celebrated in Mysore, Karnataka; Bommai Golu, celebrated in Tamil Nadu; Bommala Koluvu, celebrated in Andhra Pradesh; and Bathukamma, celebrated in Telangana.

History and origins
Further information: Durga and Akalabodhana
Durga is an ancient goddess of Hinduism according to available archeological and textual evidence. However, the origins of Durga Puja are unclear and undocumented.

The Dadhimati Mata Temple of Rajasthan preserves a Durga-related inscription from chapter 10 of Devi Mahatmya. The temple inscription has been dated by modern methods to 608 CE.

13th-14th century Durga statue from Ambari, Guwahati, Assam.
The name Durga, and related terms, appear in Vedic literature, such as in the Rigveda hymns and and in sections 10.1 and 12.4 of the AtharvavedaA deity named Durgi appears in section 10.1.7 of the Taittiriya Aranyaka. While the Vedic literature uses the word Durga, the description therein lacks legendary details about her or about Durga Puja that is found in later Hindu literature.

A key text associated with Durga Puja is Devi Mahatmya, which is recited during the festival. Durga was likely well established by the time this Hindu text was composed, the date of which scholars estimate as between 400 and 600 CE. The Devi Mahatmya scripture describes the nature of evil forces symbolised by Mahishasura as shape-shifting, deceptive, and adapting in nature, in form and in strategy to create difficulties and thus achieve their evil ends. Durga calmly understands and counters the evil in order to achieve her solemn goals.Durga, in her various forms, appears as an independent deity in the Indian texts.

In the Mahabharata, both Yudhisthira and Arjuna invoke hymns to Durga. She appears in Harivamsa in the form of Vishnu’s eulogy and in Pradyumna’s prayer. The prominent mention of Durga in such epics may have led to her worship.

A display of sculpture-idols depicting Rama and Narada praying with Durga
Some versions of the Puranas mention Durga Puja to be a spring festival, while the Devi-Bhagavata Purana and two other Shakta Puranas mentions it to be an autumn festival. The Ramayana manuscripts are also inconsistent. Versions of Ramayana found in the north, west, and south of the Indian subcontinent describe Rama to be remembering Surya (the Hindu sun god) before his battle against Ravana, but the Bengali manuscripts of Ramayana, such as the Krittivasi Ramayana, a 15th-century manuscript by Krttivasa, mention Rama to be worshipping Durga. As per the legend, Rama worshipped Durga in the autumn to have her blessings before defeating Ravana. While he was preparing for the worship of the goddess, Durga hid one of the 108 flowers of lotus, very essential for her worship. Having found only 107 of 108 lotuses at the time of the worship, Rama decided to offer one of his eyes in place of that lotus. When he was about to offer his eye, Durga appeared and told him that she had only hidden the flower in order to test his devotion and she was satisfied with it. She blessed Rama and he continued with her worship. Since the gods are believed to be sleeping during autumn, the awakening rite of the Durga puja is also known as akāla bodhana.

Surviving manuscripts from the 14th-century provide guidelines for Durga Puja, while historical records suggest the royalty and wealthy families to be sponsoring major Durga Puja public festivities, since at least the 16th-century. The 11th or 12th-century Jain text Yasatilaka by Somadeva mentions an annual festival dedicated to a warrior goddess, celebrated by the king and his armed forces, and the description mirrors attributes of Durga Puja.

According to some scholars, the worship of the fierce warrior goddess Durga, and her darker and more violent manifestation Kali, became popular in the Bengal region during and after the medieval era, marked by Muslim invasions and conquests.

The significance of Durga and other goddesses in Hindu culture is stated to have increased after Islamic armies conquered regions of the Indian subcontinent. According to yet other scholars, the marginalization of Bengali Hindus during the medieval era led to a reassertion of Hindu identity and an emphasis on Durga Puja as a social festival, publicly celebrating the warrior goddess.From the medieval era up to present-day, Durga Puja has been celebrated as a socio-cultural event, while maintaining the roots of religious worship.

Rituals and practices.

From top left to bottom right (a) Structure of a Durga sculpture-idol being made at Kumortuli; (b) Lady carrying offerings for the puja; (c) Sandhi puja on the day of Ashtami; (d) Immersion of the sculpture-idol on Vijaya Dashami.
Texts
The puja rituals involve mantras (words manifesting spiritual transformation), shlokas (holy verses), chants and arati, and offerings. The worship begins with a reading of the Sanskrit Devī Mahātmya from the sixth-century Mārkaṇḍeya Purāṇa.The shlokas and mantras praise the divinity of the goddess; according to the shlokas, Durga is omnipresent as the embodiment of power, nourishment, memory, forbearance, faith, forgiveness, intellect, wealth, emotions, desires, beauty, satisfaction, righteousness, fulfillment and peace.

Relation to harvest
Durga Puja as a harvest festival

Om you are rice [wheat…], Om you are life, you are the life of the gods, you are our life, your are our internal life, you are long life, you give life, Om the Sun with his rays (….)

— Hymn to start the Durga Puja,
Translator: David Kinsley

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. 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.

The rituals before the puja begins include the following:

Paata Puja: The process of making an idol usually begins with ‘Paata Puja’, on the day of the Rath Yatra that usually takes place around July. ‘Paata’ is the wooden frame that forms the base for the idols.