East India · September–October
Also known as Durgotsav · Sharadotsav · Pujo
When it’s celebrated
The exact date shifts each year — it’s fixed from the panchang. Cast your free kundli or check the calendar for this year’s muhurat.
Significance
Durga Puja celebrates Goddess Durga's victory over the buffalo-demon Mahishasura and her annual visit to her parental home with her children. The grandest festival of eastern India, it blends intense devotion with art, culture and community, venerating the Divine Mother as the supreme power (Shakti) who restores cosmic order.
The story
Granted near-invincibility by Brahma, the buffalo-demon Mahishasura conquered the heavens and could not be defeated by any god. The combined fury and energy of the gods coalesced into the resplendent ten-armed Goddess Durga, equipped with each deity's weapon and mounted on a lion. After a fierce battle she slew Mahishasura, earning the title Mahishasuramardini. Durga Puja also marks the goddess's annual descent to her earthly home with her children before returning to Mount Kailash.
Rituals
Across India
Durga Puja is the defining festival of West Bengal, Assam, Odisha, Tripura and the wider East, famed for spectacular community pandals (notably in Kolkata, where it is recognised by UNESCO), cultural performances and the dhak drumbeat. In the rest of India the same days are observed as the latter part of Navratri, but the elaborate idol-worship and pandal culture are distinctly eastern.
Questions
Durga Puja celebrates Goddess Durga's victory over the buffalo-demon Mahishasura and her annual visit to her earthly home. It venerates the Divine Mother as Shakti, the supreme power who restores cosmic order.
Goddess Durga is the central deity, depicted slaying Mahishasura and accompanied by her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya.
The main rites run from Shashthi to Dashami of the bright fortnight of Ashwin, usually in September or October, within Navratri. The dates change each year with the Hindu lunar calendar.
Elaborate clay idols of Durga are installed in artistic pandals and worshipped from Shashthi to Navami with anjali, aarti and the dhak drum. The festival ends with Sindur Khela and the immersion of the idols on Vijayadashami.
Both fall in the same period and celebrate Durga's victory over Mahishasura. Navratri is observed across India over nine nights with fasting and dance, while Durga Puja is the eastern Indian form centred on elaborate idol-worship and pandals from Shashthi to Vijayadashami.
Book a pooja in your name, find the muhurat, or read the day’s panchang — bring the festival into your own practice.
