Durga Puja

India is a land of festivals with more then one festival almost every month. Festival means to share the happiness and joy with each other. Festivals unite the nation in one color irrespective of cast and religion. It′s a time again to get colored and lost in the devotional zeal of Durga Puja celebration that is marked as one of the most awaited and biggest festival celebrations of the Bengalis and for the people belonging to the state of Assam and Bengal. However Durga Puja is also celebrated with much gaiety and grandeur in the state of Odisha, Tripura, Jharkhand, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat as well.

The festival represents the great victory of goddess Durga over the Buffalo demon named Mahishasura. Its a six days long festival observed as Mahalaya, Shashthi, Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Nabami and Vijayadashami.The worship of goddess Durga for the six days of celebration takes place on a magnificent scale among the people belonging to the state of West Bengal or other eastern part of the country. The huge and artistic pandals, magnificent idols of goddess Durga, people dancing on the beats of Dhaki (drum) and evenings surrounded with the divine tunes of Goddess Durga aarti are the unforgettable features of every Durga Puja celebration.

Moreover having a portion of delicious bhog, artistic views of pandals, colorful fireworks and mouthwatering food delights at various food corners held at every nook and corner.

Durga is honored with extreme fervor during the annual Navratri festival, which marks the beginning of autumn and occurs typically in September or October. Navratri means "nine nights" in Sanskrit, and on each day of the festival, nine different forms of shakti or Mother Durga are worshiped. 

Durga Puja in Bengal dated back to the middle ages.In 1757, an elaborate puja was held in honor of Robert Clive by Raja Nabakrishna Deb of Calcutta.  Lord Clive wished to pay thanks for his victory in the Battle of Plassey, which established East India Company rule in Bengal, but the only church in Calcutta had been destroyed in battle, thus a puja was held at Deb's home instead.  This was followed by subsequent pujas by other prominant Bengali families in which British Officers of the East India Company were the guests of honor.  By the early 20th century, these festivities had evolved into Sarbojanin ("involving all") pujas, in which people from all castes, creeds and religions could participate; these pujas further served to create a feeling of unity during the struggle for independence.  These pujas were organized by neighborhood committees, who traditionally went door-to-door seeking funds for icon and pandal construction and ceremonial activities, with some portion of the funds donated to charity.Today Durga Puja is not merely a festival its a life line of the people especially in bengal and eastern part if india.

Today we all need to learn from this festivals .In India women empowerment is a crucial point to talk about it.Indian people worship thousands of women goddess but why their perspective got changed towards their own women. They worshiped  to  the goddess but refuses the supremacy of any women over them. Women is an incarnation of Mother, Sister, Wife etc. Development of humanity depend upon the status of women in the society. Durga puja festival marks the power and love of a women. Women are the founding pillars of any society and if we destroy or damage the status of founding pillars then whole society will collapsed. In this Durga puja we all must take a pledge to respect all the women and help when ever they need.   

Happy Durga Puja