Held in between late September and mid October, the Durga Puja is the biggest religious festival for the Bengalees. Being held in the autumn, which is known as Shorotkal in Bengalee, the Durga puja is also known as Sharodotsav and is the best time of the year for Bengalees, living in all parts of the world. Though it is actually a religious tradition, Durga Puja turns into a four-day grand carnival in Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, as majority of the city population is Bengalee. They do worship Goddess Durga and celebrate the victory of the good over the evil but the celebration does not end there. It is a festive season that starts from the morning of Mahalaya and ends at Diwali, the occasion when Goddess Kali is worshipped.
According to Hindu mythology, Devi Durga is the Goddess who killed Mahishasura (the buffalo demon) to save the paradise from his evil hands. Mahishasura impressed Lord Shiva by his tapashya (meditation) and beg immortality to him and after getting he started creating menace all over the world. After dominating the earth, Mahishasura targeted the throne in paradise and got into battle with the Gods. Getting assaulted and defeated in the hands of Mahishasura and his warriors, the Gods gather in front of Lord Brahma, Lord Shiva and Lord Vishnu and sought their help. Mahishasuras evil activities made them furious and huge amount of positive energy generated from their body and got assembled at one place creating a beautiful woman with 10 hands. The Gods felt she is the one who can slew the demon and named her Durga or Durgatinashini, (one who can put an end to all sufferings). The Gods decorated her with everything they had and surrendered their weapons to battle Mahishasura. After a long battle, Goddess Durga ultimately killed Mahishasura and set the Gods free from his evil rule. It is believed, that the battle between the Goddess and the demon lasted for nine nights and came to an end on Navami and the Goddess announced her victory over the evil on Dashami. Thats why the day Dashami or the last day of the festival is also known as Vijaya Dashami as in Bengali vijaya means victory.
Another mythology that surrounds Durga Puja is the worship of the Goddess by Sri Ramchandra of Ayodhya. The Hindu mythology says that struggling to beat the Ravana of Lanka, a frustrated Ramchandra started worshipping Goddess Durga in the autumn to seek her help. Impressed by Ramchandras way of worshipping and supporting his cause, the Goddess woke up from her sleep and blessed him with the deadly weapon that ultimately helped Ramchandra achieve victory over Ravana. As it was an untimely awakening, Durgapuja is also known in Bengali mythology as Akal Bodhan (untimely worshipping). This is the reason why Non-Bengalees, who are mostly worshippers of Lord Rama celebrate Dashera on Vijaya Dashami. In states like Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan, large figures of Ravana are made with fire crackers and a celebrity is chosen to play the role of Lord Ram. The figure of Ravana is lighted,the firecrackers blast and the figure burns out, which the Non-Bengalees consider as the destruction of all evils.
