Durga Puja 2026 दुर्गा पूजा

Why Durga Puja is celebrated

Durga Puja honours Goddess Durga as shakti, the power that protects the world from evil. Devotees believe that as Mahishasuramardini she destroyed the demon Mahishasura, whom no god could defeat alone. Her victory stands for the triumph of right over wrong and of courage over fear.

In Bengal the festival carries a second, very human meaning. The goddess is seen as a daughter, Uma, who comes home from Kailash to her parents for a few days each autumn, bringing her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya. The joy of her arrival and the sadness of her departure on Dashami shape the mood of the whole festival. For families it is a time of homecoming, new clothes and shared meals.

Durga Puja is also a celebration of art and community. Idol makers, drummers, lighting artists and cooks work for months, and neighbourhoods compete to build the most striking pandal. In 2021 UNESCO placed Durga Puja in Kolkata on its world list of intangible cultural heritage.

History and story of Durga Puja

The main story of the goddess comes from the Devi Mahatmya, a Sanskrit text that forms part of the Markandeya Purana. It tells how the gods, beaten by Mahishasura, pooled their anger and radiance to create Durga and handed her their weapons. Riding a lion, she fought the shape-changing demon and struck him down as he emerged from the body of a buffalo.

The autumn timing has its own legend. The Bengali Ramayana of Krittibas Ojha tells that Rama worshipped Durga before his battle with Ravana, although the goddess was traditionally worshipped in spring. This out-of-season invocation is called akal bodhon, and Bengalis repeat it on Shashthi. During that worship, the story goes, one of the 108 blue lotuses went missing, and Rama was ready to offer his own eye in its place before the pleased goddess blessed him.

As a large public event, the puja grew in Bengal from around the sixteenth century, when landlords and rajas held lavish household pujas. Raja Nabakrishna Deb of Shobhabazar in Kolkata is said to have held a famous puja in 1757 after the Battle of Plassey. Later, groups of residents began pooling money for barowari, or community, pujas, and in the twentieth century the sarbojanin puja, open to all, became the norm. During the freedom movement many pujas carried patriotic themes.

How Durga Puja is celebrated

The season opens on Mahalaya, the new moon that ends Pitru Paksha. Before dawn, Bengali households tune in to the radio programme Mahishasuramardini, with its Sanskrit chants and songs, and many people offer tarpan to their ancestors at river ghats. Devi Paksha, the fortnight of the goddess, begins the next day.

The main puja runs over five days. On Shashthi, the goddess is welcomed with the bodhon ritual and her face is unveiled in the pandal. Early on Saptami, a banana plant is bathed in a river, wrapped in a red-bordered saree as Navapatrika, often called Kola Bou, and placed beside Ganesha. Ashtami is the busiest day. Devotees fast until they offer pushpanjali, flowers with prayers, in the morning, and many pandals hold Kumari Puja, worshipping a young girl as the goddess. Sandhi Puja is performed at the meeting point of Ashtami and Navami with 108 lamps and 108 lotuses. On Navami, the bhog of khichuri, labra, fried vegetables and payesh is served to thousands.

On Dashami, married women offer sweets and vermilion to the goddess and smear sindoor on each other in Sindoor Khela. The idols are then carried in procession, with dhak drums and dancing, for immersion in a river or pond. People touch the feet of elders, embrace friends and share sweets, a custom called Bijoya. Throughout the festival, the evening arati with dhunuchi naach, a dance holding clay pots of smoking coconut husk and incense, is a sight to remember.

Symbols, food and customs of Durga Puja

The heart of the pandal is the family idol, often set in a single frame called ekchala. Durga stands with ten arms on her lion, driving her trident into Mahishasura as he breaks out of the buffalo. Lakshmi with her owl and Ganesha with his mouse stand on one side, and Saraswati with her swan and Kartik on his peacock stand on the other. The images are shaped from river clay over straw and bamboo, and the eyes are painted last, on Mahalaya, in a step called chokkhu daan.

Sound and scent mark the season as much as sight. The deep beat of the dhak, a large drum slung from the shoulder, announces every puja, and the conch is blown at each arati. Smoke from the dhunuchi, white kash grass swaying in open fields and the fallen orange stemmed shiuli flowers tell Bengalis that the goddess is near. Married women wear the white saree with a red border on Dashami.

Food is part of the worship. Bhog of khichuri, labra, fried brinjal, chutney and payesh is offered and then shared. Many families cook mutton on Navami, and after the immersion homes fill with narkel naru, nimki and sandesh for Bijoya visitors. Pandal lanes are lined with stalls selling phuchka, egg rolls and fish fries.

Durga Puja across India

Kolkata turns into a city-wide exhibition, with thousands of community pujas, idols shaped by the potters of Kumartuli and crowds that walk from pandal to pandal all night. Assam, Tripura, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand hold large celebrations too, and Delhi's Chittaranjan Park is famous for its Bengali pujas. In much of North and West India, the same nine nights are kept as Navratri, with Garba and Dandiya in Gujarat and Ramlila performances that end with the burning of Ravana's effigy on Dussehra.

In Uttarakhand, homes observe Navratri with fasting, kalash sthapana and kanya pujan on Ashtami or Navami. Many families sow barley in a pot on the first day and use the green shoots as a blessing on Dussehra. Kumaon is known for its musical Ramlila tradition, which keeps towns such as Almora and Nainital lively through the season. Bengali families in Dehradun have kept community Durga Pujas going for decades, with idols, bhog and cultural evenings that draw residents of every background.

Offices, banks, markets and travel during Durga Puja

The first day of Durga Puja is an observance in the central holiday list, not a public holiday across India. Vijayadashami (Dussehra) is a gazetted holiday, and West Bengal, Tripura, Assam and Odisha give several days of state holidays for the puja.

Durga Puja days are not one national holiday, so closures depend on the state and the office. In 2026 Bihar keeps its state offices closed from Saturday, 17 October, the Saptami public holiday, to Tuesday, 20 October, and Bihar schools begin their Durga Puja vacation on 17 October. Delhi government schools start their autumn break on the same day. Central government staff can pick Saptami on 18 October, Mahashtami on 19 October or Mahanavami on 20 October from the restricted holiday list, while Vijayadashami on 20 October is a compulsory holiday in all central offices.

Banks in Patna are closed on 19 and 20 October. In Dehradun, Lucknow, Kanpur and New Delhi, banks close only on 20 October. The NSE and BSE do not trade on 20 October.

West Bengal and other eastern states announce their own Puja holidays each year, so check the notice for your state. From Shashthi to Dashami, evenings bring big crowds and traffic diversions near large pandals. Trains and flights to Kolkata, Patna and Guwahati fill up early, and markets stay busy with clothes and sweets in the week before the puja.