Durga Puja is the autumn festival of the goddess Durga in her form as the slayer of the buffalo demon Mahishasura. It is kept most grandly in West Bengal, Assam, Tripura, Odisha and Bihar, and by Bengali communities in Delhi, London, New York, Sydney and many other cities. For five days, from Shashthi to Dashami, large clay images of the goddess with her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha and Kartikeya are worshipped in decorated pandals, and the streets fill with music, food and visitors. UNESCO has listed the Durga Puja of Kolkata as an intangible cultural heritage.
The five days
The festival belongs to the bright fortnight of Ashwina, the same fortnight as the nine nights of Sharad Navratri. It is preceded by Mahalaya, the Amavasya that ends the Pitru Paksha, when the goddess is invoked at dawn.
Maha Shashthi is the sixth day, when the goddess is welcomed. The eyes of the image are unveiled in a rite called Bodhon, and the ritual of the Kalparambha and the evening Amantran and Adhivas formally invite her. Maha Saptami begins the main worship, with the bathing of the Kolabou, a banana plant dressed as a bride, as a form of the goddess. Maha Ashtami is the grandest day, with the Pushpanjali offering of flowers, the worship of a young girl as the goddess in Kumari Puja, and the Sandhi Puja, which marks the meeting of Ashtami and Navami. Maha Navami is the day of the final puja and the Navami Homa. Vijayadashami, the tenth day, is the day of farewell, when the image is carried to a river or pond for immersion and married women smear one another with vermilion, which is called Sindoor Khela.
Sandhi Puja
The Sandhi Puja is held at the junction of Ashtami and Navami: the last 24 minutes of Ashtami and the first 24 minutes of Navami. This is the moment when the tradition says the goddess appeared as Chamunda to destroy the demons Chanda and Munda. A hundred and eight lamps are lit and 108 lotuses are offered in many pandals. The table shows the time for each city on the Ashtami row.
How the days are fixed
Durga Puja follows the Bengali panjika day count, in which each day is named by the tithi that is in force at sunrise. This is how Drik Panchang prints its Durga Puja calendar, and we use the same rule: each of the five days is the first civil day on which its tithi is in force at sunrise. Because tithis are not the same length, one tithi can cover two sunrises (and then the festival is spread over two days, but the first is listed) and, rarely, a tithi can be missed altogether.
This differs from the rule used for Dussehra in north India, which takes the afternoon, so the Vijayadashami listed here can be a day later than the Dussehra date for the same city. Both are correct by their own tradition: Bengal counts the day by sunrise, and north India by the afternoon. Many Bengali clubs and families announce their own timetable from a local panjika, and for the Sandhi Puja the exact minute is announced by the puja committee.
Why cities differ
The tithi begins and ends at the same moment worldwide, but sunrise is at a different clock time in each city. A city in Australia is hours ahead of one in the Americas, so the five days there can start a day earlier or later. The table shows all five days for each city. For a place not listed, use the any-city tool.
At home
Families who cannot go to a pandal keep a small puja at home or visit a temple on Saptami to Navami. The Durga Chalisa and the Durga Aarti are recited in many north Indian homes, and the Dussehra puja page describes the tenth day.
A calm note
Large gatherings are a joy and a strain. Take care on crowded days and keep the elderly and small children close. If your puja committee or family announces different hours, follow them.