Durga Puja 2013 - Kolkata- India -By Zinnia
People who are from India , they already know about Durga Puja ( the Worship of Goddess Durga ). For all those who live outside of India or are unfamiliar with this festival , here is a small gist about this worship.
Every year during the months of October or late September (as per when the date of the praying in the Indian or hindu calender) Goddess Durga is worshipped and it is believed she comes down with her four children to earth and stays here till Dashami / Dussehra or the 10th day (Dus = 10) when the Goddess Idol is immersed into the water so that she can again come back next year.
It is said as per mythology that Mahishasura , who was a devil acquired with lots of praying the gift from Lords that no man will be able to kill him. He then started his tyranny on the kingdom of Gods driving them out of their places. So all the lords came together and decided they will create a Goddess instead of a Male God because as per Mahishasura's strengths No Male God could kill him. He never thought about the fact that even a Female God could have that much strength as to kill him.
So the Lords gathered together and created Goddess Durga whom every God bestowed with a weapon of theirs. She has 10 hands and lastly she slayed Mahishasura with her Trishul ( a spear with 3 sharp ends. Tri=3 and Shul meaning spear) . The day when Mahishasura was slayed by Goddess Durga was the 10th day of the war between Gods and Demons/devils. It is thus observed as Duhserrah and during that same time on earth it is said that Ram ( Lord Rama ) Killed and defeated Ravan ( Devil/Demon Ruler of Lanka , which is believed to be what is now Sri Lanka) .So dols made with hay having 10 heads (Ravan was believed to have 10 heads) are burnt with a fire lit arrow (Ram killed Ravan with an arrow) to observe Duhserrah celebration in some parts of India.
However in my City of Joy Kolkata , we mainly observe the Durga Puja Festival. Lord Shiva is Goddess Durga's husband and to her left and right stands her children. To her right stands Goddess Lakshmi with her pet owl ( The Goddess of wealth and prosperity) , to the further right stands Lord Ganesha (who has the head of an elephant and a pet mouse , also a wife who is a banana tree and worshiped and wrapped in a saree ) , To the left of Goddess Durga stands her other daughter Goddess Saraswati ( she has a pet swan and She is the Goddess of Art , Music and Knowledge ) , and to the furthest left stands Lord Kartika with his pet peacock. Lord shiva has a pet snake too. :) These were in short about the festival. Temporary structures are built every year all over the city in thousands of numbers and different idols of Goddess Durga are kept and worshiped there for 10 days after which we bid farewell to Goddess Durga into the water of the Ganges just so that we can see her again next year :) it's called Visarjan (the immersing of the idol into the water) .
Now u guys enjoy the clicks.. that i took when i was out with my classmates just one day.. i really am not fond of hopping around the city in too much crowd .. :-D - Zinnia
Starting with the one nearest to my house...
Another one
Another one
Another one
Another one...
A temporary structure based on some kind of a theme. This structure was made in the shape of a dome and Goddess Durga was placed inside of it. It has all sorts names of mythological characters written all over it. It has some sort of significance but i couldn't fig it out :-P cuz i donno too much detail about mythology .
Another one..
Here the ceiling was decorated with half human body type decorations who were holding a white Lotus or something. Probably seeking Goddess's blessings.. (giving u my conclusion, not sure what the theme was .. :-D )
Another one.. i really loved this one..the whole structure was made with hand crafted designs, made with ropes and glittery strings.. flowers , leaves, creepers.. it all looked just gorgeous..
Goddess Durga inside it :)
Hope u guys enjoyed the pics :) Happy Durga Puja to all..
People who are from India , they already know about Durga Puja ( the Worship of Goddess Durga ). For all those who live outside of India or are unfamiliar with this festival , here is a small gist about this worship.
Every year during the months of October or late September (as per when the date of the praying in the Indian or hindu calender) Goddess Durga is worshipped and it is believed she comes down with her four children to earth and stays here till Dashami / Dussehra or the 10th day (Dus = 10) when the Goddess Idol is immersed into the water so that she can again come back next year.
It is said as per mythology that Mahishasura , who was a devil acquired with lots of praying the gift from Lords that no man will be able to kill him. He then started his tyranny on the kingdom of Gods driving them out of their places. So all the lords came together and decided they will create a Goddess instead of a Male God because as per Mahishasura's strengths No Male God could kill him. He never thought about the fact that even a Female God could have that much strength as to kill him.
So the Lords gathered together and created Goddess Durga whom every God bestowed with a weapon of theirs. She has 10 hands and lastly she slayed Mahishasura with her Trishul ( a spear with 3 sharp ends. Tri=3 and Shul meaning spear) . The day when Mahishasura was slayed by Goddess Durga was the 10th day of the war between Gods and Demons/devils. It is thus observed as Duhserrah and during that same time on earth it is said that Ram ( Lord Rama ) Killed and defeated Ravan ( Devil/Demon Ruler of Lanka , which is believed to be what is now Sri Lanka) .So dols made with hay having 10 heads (Ravan was believed to have 10 heads) are burnt with a fire lit arrow (Ram killed Ravan with an arrow) to observe Duhserrah celebration in some parts of India.
However in my City of Joy Kolkata , we mainly observe the Durga Puja Festival. Lord Shiva is Goddess Durga's husband and to her left and right stands her children. To her right stands Goddess Lakshmi with her pet owl ( The Goddess of wealth and prosperity) , to the further right stands Lord Ganesha (who has the head of an elephant and a pet mouse , also a wife who is a banana tree and worshiped and wrapped in a saree ) , To the left of Goddess Durga stands her other daughter Goddess Saraswati ( she has a pet swan and She is the Goddess of Art , Music and Knowledge ) , and to the furthest left stands Lord Kartika with his pet peacock. Lord shiva has a pet snake too. :) These were in short about the festival. Temporary structures are built every year all over the city in thousands of numbers and different idols of Goddess Durga are kept and worshiped there for 10 days after which we bid farewell to Goddess Durga into the water of the Ganges just so that we can see her again next year :) it's called Visarjan (the immersing of the idol into the water) .
Now u guys enjoy the clicks.. that i took when i was out with my classmates just one day.. i really am not fond of hopping around the city in too much crowd .. :-D - Zinnia
Starting with the one nearest to my house...
Another one
Another one
Another one
Another one
A temporary structure built on the theme of Lord Shiva on top of the structure blessing people. Different structures are built based on different themes or just plain simply decorated .
Inside this structure
Another shot
Another one...
A temporary structure based on some kind of a theme. This structure was made in the shape of a dome and Goddess Durga was placed inside of it. It has all sorts names of mythological characters written all over it. It has some sort of significance but i couldn't fig it out :-P cuz i donno too much detail about mythology .
The inside of the huge dome had decorations of wooden sandals which mythological characters used to wear.
The center of the structure..the chandelier point.
Goddess Durga probably made with soil only , we ofcourse didn't get to touch the deity's idol but it looked like it is carved on wood even though it was made out of soil and there are chants written on the back wall.Two trishuls kept on the two sides..
Another one..
Here the ceiling was decorated with half human body type decorations who were holding a white Lotus or something. Probably seeking Goddess's blessings.. (giving u my conclusion, not sure what the theme was .. :-D )
Another one.. i really loved this one..the whole structure was made with hand crafted designs, made with ropes and glittery strings.. flowers , leaves, creepers.. it all looked just gorgeous..
Goddess Durga inside it :)
The chandelier point had lovely decorations, splendid sculpturing of some peacock heads at the sides, and also we see 4 figurines reaching out their hands towards the center probably seeking blessings from heaven.. just marvelous..
Hope u guys enjoyed the pics :) Happy Durga Puja to all..
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