# Agomoni and Bijoya songs: Uma comes home, Uma leaves

> Agomoni (arrival) and Bijoya (farewell) songs are Bengali devotional songs that tell Durga Puja as a family story: Uma, the goddess as a married daughter, comes home from Shiva's Kailash to her mother Menaka and father Giriraj Himalaya for three days, and then must leave. They belong to the Shakta padavali, the 18th- and 19th-century tradition of songs to the goddess associated with poets such as Ramprasad Sen and Kamalakanta Bhattacharya. Agomoni songs fill the weeks before the puja on radio, television and in homes, and Bijoya songs the sad evening of Dashami.

Source: https://pujoparikramaguide.in/durga-puja/agomoni-bijoya-songs/ (updated 2026-10-06)

In Bengal the goddess Durga has two faces. In the scriptures she is the ten-armed slayer of [Mahishasura](/durga-puja/mahishasura-story/). In song she is **Uma**, a young married woman coming home to her parents. **Agomoni** songs (*agomoni*, also spelled *agamani*, arrival) welcome her; **Bijoya** songs (*bijoya*, from *vijaya*, the tenth day) mourn her going. Together they turn a cosmic festival into a family story, and they are the reason so many Bengalis feel the puja less as a ritual than as a homecoming.

## The story the songs tell

The songs draw on the household of the mountain. Uma (Parvati) is the daughter of **Giriraj** (*giri-raj*, king of mountains) Himalaya and his queen **Menaka**. She has married **Shiva**, the ascetic god who lives far away on Mount Kailash, and she may visit her parents only once a year, for the three days of the puja, bringing her children with her.

Agomoni songs usually take Menaka's point of view. She has dreamed of Uma and wakes weeping. She begs her husband to go and fetch their daughter; she frets about the life Uma leads with a husband who smears himself with ash, wanders cremation grounds and owns nothing. Then the news comes that Uma has arrived, and the songs burst into joy: the mother runs to the door, takes her daughter in her arms, and the whole mountain kingdom celebrates.

Bijoya songs come at the end. The three days have flown. Menaka pleads with the night of Navami not to end, because with dawn comes Dashami and Shiva will come to take Uma away. The final songs are of parting, of a mother watching her daughter go and counting the months until she returns.

## Why the songs move people

The emotion is drawn directly from Bengali family life. In the past, girls were often married young and sent to live with their husband's family, sometimes far away, and visits home were rare. Every mother knew Menaka's longing; every daughter knew Uma's few days of freedom at her parents' house. The songs made the goddess a member of the family, and the puja a reunion.

That is why the emotions of the festival follow the songs so closely: excitement building from [Mahalaya](/durga-puja/rituals/mahalaya/), the joy of the middle days, the ache of Navami night, and the tears of [Bijoya Dashami](/durga-puja/rituals/dashami/), when married women bid the goddess farewell with sweets and vermilion in [sindoor khela](/durga-puja/rituals/sindoor-khela/), exactly as they would a daughter returning to her in-laws.

## The poets and the Shakta tradition

Agomoni and Bijoya songs belong to the **Shakta padavali**, the body of Bengali devotional songs to the goddess that flourished from the 18th century. Its other great strand is songs to Kali, now often called *Shyama sangeet*. Where the Kali songs speak to the goddess as a fierce but loving mother, the Uma songs reverse the relationship: the devotee becomes the parent, and the goddess the beloved child.

Two poets stand at the head of the tradition:

- **Ramprasad Sen** (18th century), the poet-saint of Halisahar, is best known for his songs to Kali, the *Ramprasadi* songs, whose simple tune and direct, intimate language shaped the whole genre. Songs on Uma's homecoming are also attributed to him in the tradition, though, as with much of his work, attributions of individual songs are not always certain.
- **Kamalakanta Bhattacharya** (late 18th to early 19th century), associated with the court of the Maharaja of Burdwan, is the poet most often credited with developing the Agomoni and Bijoya songs as a distinct form, with vivid scenes of Menaka's dreams and Uma's departure.

Many later poets, composers and anonymous folk singers added to the tradition. Some songs are known by heart across Bengal while their authorship is uncertain or disputed between sources, so it is fair to treat them as a shared inheritance as much as the work of any one poet.

## Agomoni in the countryside

In rural Bengal, songs of Uma's arrival were once carried from village to village before the puja by wandering singers, including mendicants and folk performers, who would be given rice or a little money in return. Folk forms such as Baul and other regional styles have their own Uma songs. The arrival of these singers, like the flowering of *kash* grass and *shiuli* (night jasmine), was one of the signs that the goddess was on her way.

## Where you hear them today

- **On the radio and television.** The [Mahishasuramardini](/durga-puja/mahishasuramardini-radio/) programme broadcast at dawn on Mahalaya, in 2026 on Saturday 10 October, weaves Sanskrit recitation with Bengali songs in the spirit of Agomoni. In the weeks before the puja, radio and television channels run special Agomoni programmes.
- **In homes.** Older family members sing them; younger ones learn them in music classes. Many households play recordings of classical and devotional singers through the puja days.
- **At pujas.** Neighbourhood and [diaspora pujas](/durga-puja/around-the-world/) hold cultural evenings with Agomoni songs, dance dramas on Uma's homecoming and, on Dashami, Bijoya songs as the goddess is taken for immersion.
- **As a word.** "Agomoni" has come to mean the whole pre-puja season: shops run Agomoni sales, and clubs hold Agomoni events to mark the pandal opening.

## Listening with understanding

You do not need Bengali to feel these songs; the melodies carry the emotion. If you want to follow the words, look for recordings with translations, or ask a Bengali friend to explain the scene: is Menaka dreaming, waiting, welcoming or saying goodbye? Once you know that, you know the song.

For the greetings exchanged after the farewell, see [Bijoya Dashami wishes](/durga-puja/bijoya-dashami-wishes/). For the drumbeat that carries the goddess to the river, read about the [dhak and dhaki](/durga-puja/dhak-and-dhaki/).

## Frequently asked questions

**What is an Agomoni song?**
Agomoni (agamani) means arrival. Agomoni songs are Bengali songs about the goddess Uma, or Durga, coming home to her parents for the puja, usually voiced by her mother Menaka longing for her daughter or rejoicing at her return.

**What are Bijoya songs?**
Bijoya (vijaya) songs are the songs of farewell, sung around Navami night and Dashami, when Uma must return to her husband Shiva in Kailash. Many voice Menaka's grief, or plead with the night of Navami not to end.

**Who wrote Agomoni songs?**
The tradition grew within the Shakta padavali of 18th- and 19th-century Bengal. Ramprasad Sen and Kamalakanta Bhattacharya are the poets most associated with it, though authorship of individual songs is often traditional or disputed, and many later poets and folk singers added to it.

**Who is Uma in Durga Puja?**
Uma is another name for Parvati, daughter of Giriraj Himalaya and Menaka and wife of Shiva. In Bengal Durga is identified with Uma, so the puja is also her annual visit home with her four children.

**Where can I hear Agomoni songs?**
On Bengali radio and television in the weeks before the puja, in the Mahishasuramardini broadcast on Mahalaya, at cultural programmes in neighbourhood and diaspora pujas, and in recordings by classical, devotional and folk singers.