What to wear for Durga Puja: pujor jama, tant, jamdani and Baluchari saris, garad for Ashtami anjali, lal-paar sada for sindoor khela, dhuti-panjabi and shoes.
A woman in a red-bordered white sari walks past a giant Durga face in Kolkata. Photo: Surajits photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
In the weeks before the puja, Kolkata's markets, from Gariahat and Hatibagan to New Market, are crowded with shoppers.
Night crowds on the pandal trail in Behala. Photo: Snehangshu36, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Bengal's weaving traditions give puja wardrobes their character.
A woman in a red-bordered white sari walks past a giant Durga face in Kolkata. Photo: Surajits photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
For the Ashtami pushpanjali, people traditionally wear clean, freshly washed or new clothes, and many fast until they have offered flowers.
Devotees raise flowers for pushpanjali on Maha Ashtami at a Kolkata pandal. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Bisarjan (immersion) processions are joyful, loud and messy. People dance with the dhak, colours and vermilion fly, and the ghats can be wet and slippery.
Women smear sindoor on each other on Bijoya Dashami. Photo: Diganta Talukdar, CC BY 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
You may walk many kilometres in a night, often on uneven, crowded roads.
A woman in a red-bordered white sari walks past a giant Durga face in Kolkata. Photo: Surajits photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
Children get the most excited about pujor jama, but long evenings test any outfit.
Durga with her family, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartik, at Maddox Square, Kolkata. Photo: Biswarup Ganguly, CC BY 3.0, Wikimedia Commons.
You don't need traditional clothes to enjoy Durga Puja, but many visitors love buying a tant sari or a cotton panjabi as a souvenir and wearing it out.
A woman in a red-bordered white sari walks past a giant Durga face in Kolkata. Photo: Surajits photography, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.
What to wear for Durga Puja: pujor jama, tant, jamdani and Baluchari saris, garad for Ashtami anjali, lal-paar sada for sindoor khela, dhuti-panjabi and shoes.
What to wear for Durga Puja, day by day → Next story: Durga Puja with children, elderly and disabled visitors All photo storiesMusic: Rhythm of Dhak a huge membranophone instrument from Bengal and Assam, used in Hindu religious festivals, especially Durga Puja, Sumita Roy Dutta, CC BY-SA 4.0, Wikimedia Commons.