Durga Puja Festival

Durga Puja also known as Durgotsab is celebrated in most parts of India and abroad marking the worship of Hindu Goddess Durga. It is mainly celebrated through six days Mahalaya, Shasti, sptami, ashtami navami and vijaya dashami. Debi pokkho succeeds Mahalaya, the last of pitri pokho and is finished by kojagori lakhi purnima in the next full moon. This puja includes worshipping of idols of Shiva ( the husband of goddess Durga) ,Lakhsmi, Saraswati, Karthick and Ganesha. Nowadays it has also become a tradition to make highly decorated pandals and worship well designed idols and distribution of love and sweets on vijayadashami day.

Other Names
Durga puja is referred by various names in Bengal itself like Akalbodhan, Sharadiya utsav, Maha Pujo, Mayer pujo or simply pujo. In Bangladesh it is also referred as Bhagabati pujo. In Punjab, gujarat, it is celebrated as navaratri. As Kullu dashera in himachal Pradesh. And is celebrated as Bommai Kollu in Tamil Nadu and Andhra.

The Story Behind
The Durga Puja celebrated in autumn is the largest festival celebrated in Bengal. It is said that on this auspicious Rama worshipped Godess Durga in autumn for gaining power for his battle against Ravana. Since Durga Puja was generally done in the spring season, this puja is also known as Akal bodhan. Nowadays this day is celebrated as Durga Puja across the globe and the previous day is celebrated as Basanti Puja nowadays.

In India the first large scale Durga Puja was started by Raja Nabakrishna Deb of the Shobhabazar Rajbari honoring the victory of Lord Clive in the Battle of Pallasey in 1757.

Celebrations
The biggest celebration of Durga Puja is done in Kolkata, where the entire city is lightened up. Highly designed and decorated pandals and its idol are created to gain the competition of mass popularity. This is the scenario in various other districts of west Bengal where more and more spell bounding and mesmerizing pandals are created.

Durga Puja is celebrated in some or the other form in almost all states in India. Recently it is gaining popularity in Abroad also. Durga puja is celebrated with great enthusiasm in Mymensingh. In Nepal and even in united states the puja is celebrated with great excitement.