Durga Puja also known as Durgotsava or Sharodotsav, is an annual Hindu 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.[6][7] It is celebrated all over the world by the Hindu community but it is particularly popular and traditionally celebrated in the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Assam, Tripura, Odisha, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh (eastern parts) and some other countries like Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka. The festival is observed in the Indian calendar in the month of Ashwin, which corresponds to September–October in the Gregorian calendar.[8][9] Durga Puja is a ten-day festival,[10][6] of which the last five are of the most significance.[11][9] 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 , Melā.[6][12][13] Durga Puja is an important festival in the Shaktism tradition of Hinduism.[14][15][16] Durga Puja in Kolkata has been inscribed on the Intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO in December 2021.[17] As per Hindu scriptures, the festival marks the victory of goddess Durga in her battle against the shape-shifting asura, Mahishasura.[18][19][A] 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.[21][22] Durga Puja coincides with Navaratri and Dussehra celebrations observed by other traditions of Hinduism.[23][24][25] 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 and Odia 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 body, and immerse them, symbolic of her return to the divine cosmos and her marital home with Shiva in Kailash of the Himalayas. Regional and community variations in celebration of the festival and rituals observed exist.
