Though Durga Puja is a Hindu festival, its celebration is secular, as people from all religions and communities join in the festivities. Cities, towns and villages take on a carnival air. Pandals - elaborate, temporary structures of bamboo, canvas, cloth - are set up on street corners, in parks and gardens, or wherever there is some empty space. The image of the goddess is installed in these pandals with great ceremony, and hundeds gather for the evening puja. This kind of 'sarvajanik' or community puja began during the nineteenth century. Family pujas, which are a tradition much older than the community pujas, are still held by some of the older families, though the puja is open to all the public.

The preparations for the Puja start on Pratipada, the first day of the waxing moon. An earthern pitcher filled with Ganga water, its mouth covered with green mango leaves, is installed with great ceremony and with an invocation to Ganesh, the God of Beginnings. Then the goddess Durga is invoked, and worshipped with flowers, leaves, durva grass, newly harvested grain, and earthenware lamps or diyas. Barley seeds are planted in little pots. An earthenware lamp is kept burning in front of the pitcher during the remaining nine days of the Puja.

On Panchami, the fifth day, the invocation, or Bodhan, of the goddess begins. On Sashthi, the sixth day of the waxing moon, the image of the goddess Durga is installed in the pandals with great ceremony. The eyes of the image are painted on, signifying that the goddess is 'alive', or that divinity has entered the image. Now the Pujas begin in earnest: Bodhan is complete, the drums of the dhakis start beating, and the festivities commence. From Saptami, the seventh day, the actual worship of the goddess begins. People wear new clothes and visit the puja pandals. The next day, Maha-ashthami, the eight day of the waxing moon, a goat is sacrificed to Durga. This is symbolic of the slaying of the demon Mahishasura by the goddess. Some sects, like the Ramakrishna Mission, hold a 'kanya puja' on this day: little girls held to represent the goddess herself, are given gifts and served a ceremonial and lavish meal. The ninth day, Mahanavami, is the most sacred. On this day the goddess is closest to the people.

The celebration of the Puja...cont'd

Durga Puja cont'd... 
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