Durga Pujo VS Navratri

October 18, 2023

Durga Pujo VS Navratri

Durga Pujo

“As the fragrance of Dhunuchi fills the air, let’s rejoice in the divine presence of Goddess Durga. Wishing you a joyful Durga Pujo!”

Durga pujo is around, biggest festive for Bengalis and us Bengalis wait for these 4 days for whole year and when they are around the joy gets extend to its full limits, we eat, we laugh, we play, it's kind of a reunion for us, whole family comes together and enjoy, long awaited children come home to their parents, to their hometown to celebrate this festival. Durga Pujo is a ten-day festival, usually in October, which starts from Mahalaya, the inaugural day of the event. Mahalaya is celebrated by Agomoni or songs of welcome. Festivities start five days later with the observance of Shashti, Shaptami, Ashtami, and Nabami. the Goddess is borne away to the sounds of the dhak, or traditional drum for immersion in nearby rivers or water bodies. The puja mandap or the main altar is essentially a platform inside a makeshift bamboo structure called a pandal. Durga pujo also means eat! eat! eat! we eat like anything and everything, nonveg to veg to every delicacy A lot of people get offended when they see people from West Bengal, Odisha, Bihar and Jharkhand partake non-vegetarian meals during durga pujo cause in North India this Durga pujo is celebrated as Navratri which is also a festival of Maa durga but there is a huge difference between both the festival and that’s the reason there is a difference in the way of celebrating it.

But what is Navratri?

Navratri which means “Nine Nights” is celebrated to honor the Mother Goddess Durga. Throughout this period, Mother Goddess Durga is worshiped in all of her divine forms including Goddess Durga, Goddess Kali, Goddess Saraswati and Goddess Lakshmi. It is one of the most significant Hindu Festivals which is celebrated twice a year. One at the onset of summer in March or April which is known as “Chaitra Navratri.” The second Navratri is celebrated in September or October and is known as “Sharad Navratri.” In North India Navratri is celebrated through nine days of continuous fast accompanied with worshipping the Mother Goddess in all her nine forms. In Western India especially in Gujarat and Mumbai people celebrate the festival with the famous Garba and Dandiya-Raas dance.

Navratri and Durga Puja celebrated during the same time marking the beginning of India's grand festival season, thus it also starts to get confusing as to why there is a difference between these two as it’s festival of the same idol, the reason for all this confusion lies behind its story of origin and culture. They are vastly different when it comes to religious rituals and practices.

The story behind durga pujo

Durga Puja. It is the festival of homecoming as Goddess Durga arrives on Earth along with her children (Ganesh, Kartikya,Saraswati,Lakshmi to spend time with her paternal family - us. The day of Mahalaya marks the arrival of Durga, who is considered the ultimate woman and the greatest source of power. The early morning radio announces, "Maa is here" (Agomoni) and the festival kicks off spreading happiness and joy.

Legend of Mahalaya

the arrival of Maa Durga marks the end of Pitri Paksha

On this day, all the sons and fathers pay homage to their ancestors of previous three generations by worshiping Goddess Ganga

The ritual is considered to be very auspicious. It is believed that doing so will earn one the blessings of his ancestors and he will be free from all evil. This ritual is called tarpan

it is that one day of the year when every Bengali household wakes up at 4 am to listen to the radio broadcast of Mahishasur Mardini. The script was written by Bani Kumar and Pankaj Mullick composed the music. Legendary radio show host Birendra Krishna Bhadra chants the soulful shlokas of Maa Durga's triumph over the demon king Mahishasura. "Bajlo tomar alor benu" (Your divine chord strikes), a line from the Mahishasur Mardini, signifies the awakening of a woman's powers and how it will eventually rid the world of all evil. Debi Durga is the image of female power and compassion. The arrival of Maa Durga is like a married daughter coming to her own house which is us thus the celebration and feasts happen, and which includes non-vegetarian food. Goddess Durga as a family member and a daughter she has to be entertained with delectable feasts and foods. In a lot of places, meat is offered as ‘prasad’ and symbolic sacrifices are held. In Bihar and Jharkhand meat is cooked on the ninth or the tenth day of the festival as it signifies the celebration of the victory of Lord Rama over demon Ravana. Last day on Dashami Bengali married woman performs Sindur Khela, they apply sindur on the forehead and feet of the goddess and offer sweets to her. Then they put sindur on each other's faces and offer sweets to each other.

The ritual worship of the goddess concludes with the Visarjan Puja. It is followed by Devi Baran, where the married women bid farewell to the goddess. The women are usually dressed in white saris with red borders and adorn traditional jewelries. Each of the women perform arti and smear the goddess' forehead and feet with sindur. They also offer her sweets and betel leaves.
Following that the women smear each other's foreheads with sindur. Then they put sindur on each other's shankha, pala and noa, the conch shell, coral and iron bangles respectively, which are worn by the married Hindu women. Then they smear each other's faces with sindur.

Thus, Durga Puja transcends from being just the worship of an idol and becomes the worship of women and their innate power.

The story behind Navratri

In Hindu mythology, it is believed that Lord Rama started the tradition of celebrating Navratri just before winter. He performed Durga Puja before he left for Lanka and returned victoriously. In both of these Navratri’s devotees invoke Mother Goddess Durga who represents the Supreme Energy of the Universe. She is the inherent energy which propels the work of creation, preservation, and destruction. The meaning of “Durga” is one who removes miseries. People worship her with full devotion so that Goddess Durga can remove miseries from their lives and fill their lives with happiness, joy, and prosperity. We worship various forms of Goddess Durga on Navratri with full devotion and dedication. Navratri honors the three essential aspects of the Supreme Mother Goddess Durga in the form of Kali, Lakshmi, and Saraswati. On the first three days, the Goddess is worshiped in the form of Kali who is the destroyer of all our impurities. In the next three days, we adore Goddess Mother in the form of Lakshmi who is considered as the giver of inexhaustible wealth. In the last three days, the Goddess is worshipped in the form of Saraswati, the giver of knowledge and wisdom. The eighth day of the festival is popularly celebrated as “Ashtami” and the ninth day as “Maha Navmi” and even as “Ram Navmi” on Chaitra Navratri. During the Navratri festival, people worship all nine avatars of Goddess Durga.

The legend

There are various legends attached with the celebration of Navratri. According to one popular legend, there was an immensely powerful Demon with the name Mahishasura. With the blessings of Lord Shiva, he became immortal, and no weapon can kill him. He then started killing innocent people on the Earth. Goddess Durga was born to kill this evil demon. Lord Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva and all the other Devas combined powers created the Goddess Durga. There was an intense war between Goddess Durga and Mahishasura for nine days, and on the tenth day, The Goddess beheaded the Demon. The nine days of Navratri symbolizes the battle between Goddess Durga and Mahishasura. According to another legend, Lord Rama worshipped all the nine forms of Goddess Durga to gain her blessings for killing the Demon Ravana. He worshipped the Goddess for nine days. The tenth day of the Sharad Navratri on which Lord Rama defeated and killed Ravana, we celebrate this day as Dussehra or Vijay Dashmi.

Among fasting customs are observing a strict vegetarian diet and abstaining from alcohol and certain spices. Dances performed include garba, especially in Gujarat. One popular ritual is Kanya Puja, which takes place on the eighth or ninth day. In this ritual nine young girls are dressed as the nine goddess aspects celebrated during Navratri and are worshipped with ritual foot washing and given offerings such as food and clothing.

Durga pujo Vs Navratri

India as it is a diverse country has different religious beliefs and cultural rituals associated with this festival as well, during Navratri, devotees observing this festival do not consume meat, eggs, onion, or even garlic for nine days. But for Bengalis, the Durga Puja celebration is all about good and rich food that includes non-vegetarian delicacies. This created a lot of stigma between the two communities and people start to get offend with the consumption of meat, also Bengali people get lot of criticism because of this and viewed in a very stereotypical way without knowing behind the story the legend of the festival. Whenever someone asked me how can I even consume non veg during Navratri I used to get upset thinking it’s wrong but it’s in my culture and I have to embrace it without feeling any guilt and ashamed.

also now you’ve become wiser and next time will not raise your eyebrows and ask stereotypical questions towards a Bengali, Assamese friend who eats non-vegetarian food during Navratri.

Shubho durga pujo !!!