Durga Pooja in Bangladesh!

Durga Puja Festival

In honor of the lion-riding, 10-armed goddess Durga ,Hindu festival held annually in northeastern India in September–October. Idols of the Goddess are made by clay, worshiped for nine days, and then immersed in water.

Durga Puja is the most colourful festival celebrated in Bangladesh. Durga Puja celebrates the triumph of good over evil.Durga Puja's spread on the other hand reaches the remotest villages of Bangladesh.Last year I was in Calcutta to celebrate the event with my friend Sudipta. We have visited almost all the Puja Mandaps scattered around the city.

Hundreds of Hindus sang and danced in the streets throughout Bangladesh to commemorate the story of the goddess Durga's. Others gathered around rivers, ponds and lakes to immerse clay idols.
Kali Mandir's Mandap is nearest to our home. I guess, it was the best Mandap of the town.
All devoties wore new dresses that day.All boys were requesting for more Prasad. At some places food stalls were there.I bought books and souvenirs of goddess Durga.


This was my experience with Calcutta's religious festival.Share some of your experience.

Dear Mrignayani,

Beautiful post on Durga Puja in Bangladesh. After all, Dacca is an Anglicised version of Dhakhineshwari. One of the names of Ma Durga..

It really must be nice with the smell of Prashad cooking everywhere & the festive atmosphere. Reminds me of my childhood in Kolkata....

Ah! Those were the days..

Thanks for the post...it really took me back to my childhood where every orchestra had to sing their musical version of "Omar Shonar Bangla ".....

Regards,

Corallux

Hi Ladies!

This thread remembered my childhood trip of Calcutta.

Once in Childhood, I attended Durga Pooja of Calcutta with my Parents.What I remember After reaching Kolkata we receive a traditional welcome from Dutta aunty.She is my mother's close friend from childhood. Then we took a guided tour of the city. Saw some classical and modern dances in the evening.

On next day, we walk around Dalhousie Square, the commercial and colonial hub. Took a Heritage tram ride.Then discovered the myths and legends of the Mahotsav first hand from a guide. At last, saw illuminations and pujas by night.

Visited Puja sites, attended rituals, then went Hooghly and end the day with a sumptuous local dinner.

On our trip, we always make sure one day for shopping.
A Special Interested Day. We did lots of shopping, golfing, exhibitions, museums or films. In the evening we went for arts and crafts, music and dances of rural Bengal.

We enjoyed the Navaratri festival in the next morning. Followed the ritual of SindurKhela(a vibrant play of colours) as the ladies bid goodbye to Durga.
In the evening: see the wonderful Dussera Festival and craker show and later watched the amazing immersion ceremony of the idol in the river.

And departed for mumbai.By and large our Calcutta trip was gr8

hi all....

we love Durga pooja....Mrigyani your write up post brought my childhood memories back....we were in gujrat near bhuj in air force amp there every festival was celebrated in such a traditional way that noone can forget the memories...we used to celebrate for all the ten days with morning pooja to evening dance show all performed by the childrens of all age group and drama by elder people.......what i used to like was vandana performed before starting all the program ...for Durga pooja it will be Durga vandana--"jaago tumi jaago" i love that one....as kids we used to love last sindur khela and before immersing we used to have khichuri and all...enjoy and enjoy...those days are gone but one thing is sure Goddess will be blessing us every moment.

Hi
Nice Thread.
I had been a Kolkatian but now settled in US but equally eager to know more about the Puja of Bangladesh.
Amra ki ektu banglay kotha bolte pari? ektu khani banglay kotha bolte parle keno mon ta halka hoy.
janar echa roilo as ami konodino Bangladesh jaini ,sudhu kolkatar pujo e dekhechi.