What Durga Puja means: the Devi Mahatmya story of Mahishasura, Durga as Shakti, Uma's homecoming, Rama's akal bodhon and why the festival falls in autumn.
Durga with her family, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik, at Maddox Square, Kolkata. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The main scriptural source is the Devi Mahatmya (Glory of the Goddess), a Sanskrit text of about 700 verses that forms part of the Markandeya Purana.
An illustrated leaf of the Devi Mahatmya. Photo: SpeakingArch, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Mahishasura, a demon who could take the form of a buffalo, grows so powerful that he drives the gods out of heaven.
Mahishasuramardini, Durga slaying the buffalo demon: a 12th-century chlorite sculpture of the Pala school. Photo: SpeakingArch, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
In Hindu thought, Shakti is the active power of the divine, often personified as the goddess.
Durga with her family, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik, at Maddox Square, Kolkata. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Bengali religious culture adds a tender layer. Durga is identified with Uma (Parvati), daughter of Giriraj Himalaya and his wife Menaka, who married Shiva and lives far away on Mount Kailash.
Devotees raise flowers for pushpanjali on Maha Ashtami at a Kolkata pandal. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
In older practice the goddess was worshipped in spring, in the month of Chaitra, as Basanti Puja, which some families still hold.
Bodhon, the awakening of the goddess, on the evening of Shashthi. Photo: Goutam1962, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The festival is formally the Sharadiya (autumn) Durga Puja, held in the bright fortnight of Ashwin, which usually falls in late September or October.
Clay diyas lit for Diwali. Photo: Alokjain19883105, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
The season opens on Mahalaya, the new moon that ends the fortnight of remembering ancestors and begins the Devi Paksha, the fortnight of the goddess.
Tarpan on Mahalaya: offering water, til and kusha grass to the ancestors at the Ganga. Photo: Goutam1962, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
What Durga Puja means: the Devi Mahatmya story of Mahishasura, Durga as Shakti, Uma's homecoming, Rama's akal bodhon and why the festival falls in autumn.
What is Durga Puja? The meaning behind the festival → Next story: What to wear for Durga Puja, day by day All photo storiesMusic: Sitar sample yaman, Tito Dutta, CC BY-SA 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.