What is Durga Puja?
Durga Puja is the biggest festival of Hindus in West Bengal, East Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, UP and Bengali Hindus all over the world. It is also called Akalbodhan, Vijaya Dashami, Dashain, and Dussehra (Or Dasara). The actual period of the worship however may be over the preceding nine days Navaratri or five days (“Sasthi”, “Saptami”, “Asthami”, “Nabami” & “Vijaya Dashami”). The worship of Durga in the autumn (‘Sharad’) is the year’s largest Hindu festival of Bengal, Orissa, Tripura, Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand and other parts of East India as well as in Bangladesh. Durga Puja is also celebrated in Nepal and Bhutan according to local traditions and variations. Puja means “worship,” and Durga’s Puja is celebrated from the sixth to tenth day of the waxing moon in the month of ‘Ashwin’, which is the sixth month in the Bengali calendar. Occasionally however, due to shifts in the lunar cycle relative to the solar months, it may also be held in the following month, Kartik. In the Gregorian calen
