A Quick Tour to the Durgostava in West Bengal

Gargi Mishra 22-02-2020 04:23 PM Culture

Navratri is a festival of Hindu to pray to Goddess Durga, the embodiment of shakti, the feminine force that governs all cosmic creation, existence and change. This nine-night festival marks the beginning of autumn, celebrated in September or October, according to the Hindu calendar. Each of Navratri is dedicated to nine different forms of shakti or Goddess Durga. In West Bengal, the celebration of Navratri begins on the 6th day and concludes on the tenth day, known as Vijayadashami, the day of Durga's victory over evil. This six-day celebration is called Durgotsava and is the largest festival of the year for Bengali Hindus.

Brief History

According to some references, the Durga Pooja has been in Bengali culture from the middle ages, but it was not as popular among the Zamindars or other wealthy families of Bengal. It was done in large scale for the first time by Raja Nabakrishna Deb in the honour of Robert Clive in 1757. Soon after this, it became a trend among the rich Bengali families, who invited the British Officers of East India Company as the guest of Honour. Each of them trying to outdo the other by adding more lavish facilities to the pandals. In the following years, it became a community festivity and puja, in which people from all communities could take part, became popular. The people of a neighbourhood would contribute funds for idol, pandals and ceremonial activities, with some portion donated to charity.

Today, the pandals have become more elaborate and there are competitions held among neighbourhoods for the best pandals. Not just that, there are certain themes for the pandals ranging from ancient Egyptians to Harry Potter.