Jagaddhatri Puja on Shukla Navami of Kartik: the goddess on a lion over an elephant, Krishnanagar and Raja Krishnachandra, Chandannagar's lights and procession.
A lit pandal at Chandannagar during Jagaddhatri Puja. Photo: Sourabh.biswas003, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Jagaddhatri is understood as Durga in her role as the one who supports and sustains the universe.
An illustrated leaf of the Devi Mahatmya. Photo: SpeakingArch, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The structure of the worship resembles Durga Puja. In some places all the rites of Saptami, Ashtami and Navami are performed on the single day of Navami; in others, especially Chandannagar, the festival is spread over four days, from Saptami to Dashami.
A lit pandal at Chandannagar during Jagaddhatri Puja. Photo: Sourabh.biswas003, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
In Krishnanagar, the old capital of the Nadia Raj, Jagaddhatri Puja is closely associated with Raja Krishnachandra Roy, the eighteenth-century ruler of Nadia and a major patron of Bengali arts and religion.
Festival of the Goddess Durga at Calcutta, a 19th-century print. Photo: Louis-Henri de Rudder / After Alexei Dmitriyevich Saltykov, Public domain, Wikimedia Commons.
Chandannagar, north of Kolkata on the Hooghly, was a French settlement until the mid-twentieth century.
Lanterns and lights over a Behala street during the pujas. Photo: Goutam1962, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Jagaddhatri Puja is also celebrated in other towns along the Hooghly and in parts of Kolkata, in temples and in some old family homes.
A lit pandal at Chandannagar during Jagaddhatri Puja. Photo: Sourabh.biswas003, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Chandannagar is on the Howrah to Bandel suburban railway line, and Krishnanagar is reached by train from Sealdah.
Howrah Bridge (Rabindra Setu) over the Hooghly. Photo: Ovjtphoto, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Jagaddhatri Puja on Shukla Navami of Kartik: the goddess on a lion over an elephant, Krishnanagar and Raja Krishnachandra, Chandannagar's lights and procession.
Jagaddhatri Puja → Next story: Kali Puja and Diwali: Bengal's new-moon night of the goddess All photo storiesMusic: Tomay hriday majhe rakhbo chere debo na - Baul Song Performance - Tarun Khyapa and Ananda Khyapa with Group - Saturday Haat - Sonajhuri - Birbhum 2014-06-28 5315, Gangulybiswarup, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.