Article: Why Durga Puja Is Celebrated: The Story Behind the Five Days
Why Durga Puja Is Celebrated: The Story Behind the Five Days
Every year the dhak starts somewhere down the road and something in the chest shifts. Durga Puja is the largest festival in eastern India and one of the biggest anywhere in the world — but ask most people why it is celebrated and the answer usually stops at "the goddess killed a demon." That is true. It is also the smaller half of the story. Here is the rest of it, what each of the five days actually means, and how that shapes what women have worn to Pujo for generations.
Durga Puja 2026 dates
- Mahalaya — Saturday, 10 October 2026
- Maha Shashthi — Saturday, 17 October 2026
- Maha Saptami — Sunday, 18 October 2026
- Maha Ashtami — Monday, 19 October 2026
- Maha Navami — Tuesday, 20 October 2026
- Bijoya Dashami — Wednesday, 21 October 2026
West Bengal fixes these days by its own reckoning, which in 2026 runs a day later than the all-India calendar. If your family follows the latter, shift everything back by one.
Why Durga Puja is celebrated
Mahishasura, a shape-shifting asura, won a boon that no man and no god could kill him. He had not thought to include a woman. As he took the heavens apart, the gods poured their combined energy into a single form — and Durga stepped out of it, ten-armed, each hand holding a weapon one of them had given her.
They fought for nine nights. On the tenth day she killed him. That day is Vijaya Dashami — vijaya meaning victory — and it is why she is called Mahishasura Mardini, the slayer of Mahishasura.
The reason the story has lasted is not the violence. It is that the gods, out of options, made a woman and handed her everything they had.
The other reason — a daughter coming home
In Bengal, Durga Puja is not primarily a victory celebration. It is a homecoming.
Durga lives in Kailash with Shiva. Once a year she comes back to her father's house, and she brings the children — Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, Kartikeya. That is why the idol has all five figures. The songs sung at Mahalaya, the agomoni, are songs about a mother waiting for her married daughter to arrive.
It explains everything about how the festival feels. The cooking, the new clothes, the four days of everyone being at home at once, and the particular grief of Dashami — which is not the sadness of a story ending, but of a daughter going back to her husband's house.
One more layer: Durga's proper season is spring. Rama woke her in autumn, out of turn, before facing Ravana. That out-of-season invocation is called Akal Bodhon, the untimely awakening, and it is the reason the whole festival happens in October at all.
The five days, and what each one asks of you
Mahalaya opens Devi Paksha. People go to the river at dawn for tarpan, offering water to their ancestors. In Kumartuli the artisans paint the eyes onto the idols — chokkhu daan — and the goddess is considered to have arrived.
Shashthi is bodhon, the awakening. The face is unveiled. The pandals open, and the city stops sleeping for four days. This is the night for something crisp and new.
Saptami begins before sunrise with the nabapatrika — nine plants bound together, bathed in the river and dressed in a white saree with a red border. You will hear her called kola bou. Everything Bengali Puja dressing descends from that bundle of leaves in red and white.
Ashtami is the big one. Anjali in the morning, barefoot, flowers in folded hands. Sandhi Puja at the junction of Ashtami and Navami. This is the day the family photograph gets taken, and the day most women wear their best saree.
Navami is the last full day — aarti, dhunuchi naach, bhog, and an unspoken agreement not to mention tomorrow.
Dashami is devi boron, sindoor khela, and then the walk to the water. Married women feed her sweets, touch her face, and smear each other with sindoor. Then everyone touches feet, eats mishti and says Shubho Bijoya.
Why red and white
The laal paar shaada saree — white ground, red border — is the oldest Puja dress code there is, and it is not a fashion convention. White is purity and the beginning of things; red is shakti, fertility, married life, the sindoor itself. Together they are the two halves of the goddess, and the nabapatrika is dressed in exactly that on Saptami morning.
This is why a white and red cotton saree never looks like a trend at Pujo. It looks like belonging.
The rest of the week is looser. Pastels and whites for the morning anjali — a white chiffon with hand gota patti does that beautifully. Strong colour for Ashtami and Navami evenings, when the light is low and the cameras are out; a red georgette with gold print reads well in both. And red on Dashami, always — a red satin for the evening, or back to the laal paar for sindoor khela.
One more thing worth knowing
In 2021, UNESCO inscribed Durga Puja in Kolkata on the Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity — the first festival from India to be listed. The citation notes the art, the craftsmanship and the way the festival collapses class and religion for a few days each year.
Durga Puja FAQ
Why is Durga Puja celebrated for five days?
The five days mark the goddess's arrival, her stay at her parental home and her departure — from bodhon on Shashthi to immersion on Dashami.
What is the difference between Durga Puja and Navratri?
Same goddess, different observance. Navratri spans nine nights of fasting, garba and dandiya across western and northern India; Durga Puja concentrates on the last five days, with idol worship, pandals and feasting.
What should I wear for Durga Puja?
Laal paar shaada for Ashtami morning and Dashami. White or pastel for anjali. Strong colour for the evenings. Comfortable flats throughout — you will walk.
Can non-Bengalis take part?
Yes. Pandals are open to everyone, anjali is open to everyone, and the bhog queue does not check.
Our Durga Puja edit and the Dasham 26 festive collection are both open now — hand gota patti, handwoven cotton and pure silk chiffon, made in Delhi and shipped worldwide.