DURGA PUJA

^28th September – 2nd October 2025

Hindu

Durga Puja is a celebration of the Mother Goddess, and the victory of the revered warrior Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura. The festival honours the powerful female force (shakti) in the Universe.

In Nepal, Bangladesh and West Bengal and other north eastern areas of India, Durga Puja is the biggest annual festival and lasts for several days.  In Kolkota (Calcutta) hundreds of pandals (decorated temporary shrines) are put up. The Goddess’s slaying of the demon is celebrated, and in Nepal the celebration may involve animal sacrifices. The festival frequently ends with the immersion of figures of Durga in rivers and in the sea.

The name ‘Durga’ means ‘inaccessible’, and she is the personification of the active side of the divine ‘shakti’ energy of Lord Shiva. In fact, she represents the furious powers of all the male gods, and is the ferocious protector of the righteous, and destroyer of the evil. Durga is usually portrayed as riding a lion, and carrying weapons in her many arms.

The celebration of total victory over this personification of evil, together with the role of the female goddess in achieving an annual victory as great as this, are grounds for widespread rejoicing throughout the Indian subcontinent. The immersion of the goddess in water is, however, an act of purification and adoration. It denotes cleansing and rebirth rather than drowning and destruction.