Durga Puja

Durga Puja is the biggest socio-religious festival of West Bengal, India. It coincides with ”Navaratri” festival. Goddess Durga is worshipped for 5 days during this festival in various places. Pandals (structures made from bamboo, colored cloth, clay and other decorative materials) are temporarily erected in numerous places and the Image of Goddess Durga is places inside these pandals. Various artistic forms can be seen in the images as well as the construction of Pandals. Fun time for people, food stuff, toys and gathering of friends and relatives colorful fireworks etc mark this wonderful occasion.

I propose to share a total of 49 photo-shoots which I took during 2009 Durga Puja festival in Kolkata in this thread. Hope you enjoy. Your comments are solicited.

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Some Images of Durga

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My favorite form of any art is learning of the different cultures. This is wonderful to share with your Bhatta!  Happy Navratri!!! I find all of these very interesting…especially the little girl in the pink dress taking a photo & the outfits the women are wearing for the celebration. 

I found a good description on a link about Goddess Durga “She who is incomprehensible or difficult to reach.”  “Goddess Durga is a form of Sakti worshiped for her gracious as well as terrifying aspect. Mother of the Universe, she represents the infinite power of the universe and is a symbol of a female dynamism. The manifestation of Goddess Durga is said to emerge from Her formless essence and the two are inseparable. 


She is also called by many other names, such as Parvati, Ambika, and Kali. In the form of Parvati, She is known as the divine spouse of Lord Shiva and is the mother of Her two sons, Ganesha and Karttikeya, and daughter Jyoti. Destroyer of demons, she is worshiped during an annual festival called Durga puja, especially popular among Bengalis.” 

Looking forward to more photos.  ~Kes

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Thanks ~KES for your encouragement. I may post a blog someday narrating the mythological story from Markandeya Purana about Durga and her war with the demon Mahisasura. In my first set of images above you can see the image of this demon (symbol of all evils) who is being killed by Mother Goddess Durga with a Trident.

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Security Guard at the Pandal

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Festival time - Toys

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Fun Time

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What a wonderful gallery of photographs! Thank you so much Bhattaji. Thank you for sharing Durga Puja and “Navaratri” festival. I am looking forward to the blog you mention

love

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This is total Spirit of Play, Bhatta. Thanks for this delightful tour & cultural exchange from India.

Namasté

What wave most closely approximates Spirit? It would be one of nearly infinite smallness, and that wave is found  to be aesthetic, the wavelength of the arts.

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Outstanding pictures and comments…
I think this may be a link..

Namasté

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Thank you Anna, ~KES and lars for your kind appreciation.

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Durga Puja in this form is so special to Bengal, one part of India that I have never been to; that I am really enjoying visiting vicariously through your lens, Bhatta. Thanks a lot for sharing; and looking forward to more.

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I love viewing pictures from different cultures around the world, it brings us closer as a global community - thank you Bhatta
blessings Tai

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Just a few more pictures to post. Meanwhile, I have posted a new blog Goddess Durga briefly narrating the mythological story about Durga.

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“Just”… Bhatta.. I can only imagine the work put behind these pictures… taking them, uploading, cropping… the whole of what it takes.  Good Job and shows us as if we were there with you sharing this documented event. Your picture below… I rendered as one of my favorites but enjoyed the entire event!

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Oh Lee, your picture is absolutely amazing !!!!! Thank you for this gift.

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Kumari Puja:

On Maha Astami (the 8th day of the bright moon cycle of Durga Puja) a young virgin is dressed like Mother Goddess Durga and is worshiped by the priest. The word Kumari means virgin.  Here are pictures of Kumari Puja.

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Bhatta, I enjoyed on your blog when you told: Dear Anna, the divine feminine power, Durga, Kali, Parvati, Tara etc are all ONE. They manifested on different occasions in different forms from the SAME light.  This is from her comment I googled and found that between Hinduism and Buddhism Tara and Durga are related. 

II also found that Kali and Durga are associated. Some time ago I wrote this poem Divine Kali ~ HummingBird

The poem is beautiful and helped explain more of this holiday. Namasté

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Kathy, perhaps someday I will blog about the various manifestations of the divine feminine power as described in Hindu mythology. The Hindu scripture indeed considers ”Mahamaya” as the main Divine feminine light, the mother, and there are many stories of how these other different female forms manifested on different occasions fulfilling different prophecies and symbolizing the many different aspects of life.

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You can also chill the sugarcane in the fridge for a cold sweet snack. Or boil it for a naturally sweet drink.  Thanks for such a sweet ending of the festival, Bhatta. This is the first time I knew of a sugarcane extractor. These pictures are a treasure to look at of your town.  Thanks so much! I look forward to your next cell phone gallery tour. ~Kes

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Kathy, I am not done yet :)

The final rituals are yet to be posted .. I am so glad you all are enjoying this trip. It is a great encouragement for any artist when appreciation is received. Thank you very much.

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Hi Bhatta, Oops.. I jumped to the end on that sweet tooth section and now to the final immersion.  My first thought was all of that artwork getting wet but I truly do feel the magnitude and importance of this ceremony.  When I saw all of those arms I thought of Siona  our Director as I read that feature.She handles that much traffic here in a day :-) That is no disrespect to this ceremony but shows you how my mind works some days.

You have documented this so beautifully.  I feel as though I had an armchair tour of your city during this event. It makes me feel closer to you too as you bring your part of the world to us.  When I shot my first film for Bollywood, it opened the door to India for me.  As I was reading the script, I needed to use the dictionary for words covering the traditions but once I looked up about 10 words, the script just flowed for me.  After our film came out, the stars came to Hollywood and used me as an ambassador to help tour places here and set up the publicity tour.  The man that hired me was having a difficult time with the green card rudiment.  So what did he do as a solution?  He bought the law firm here to make it easier to have a cultural exchange.  I always loved that idea as a work around for some of the stops for artists but see on a political level & terrorist thing why the good guy get caught up from a few bad or evil intentioned types.

Thanks for this.
Love to you and your family,
Kathy

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Festivals are such a wonderful time of acknowledgement and celebration, also they offer us deep spiritual insight and deepening recognition of the divine truth of which each deity speaks.  Any event that brings our various communities together offers us grace and deep communion with one another.
We are indeed blessed by your grace and communion within our Gaia community Bhatta

In celebration, acknowledgement and grace for your contribution to Now I Can See the Moon
Love and many blessings
Tai

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Love those traffic controllers made of what looks like bamboo and the colorful pictures are wonderful to see.  I agree with Tai on sharing celebrations here.  It's so important as we all learn of each others culture and what better way to share than via a celebration & through a cell phone… look how far tech has come… That alone is a very spiritual thought… that we can have community like this.

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Thank you all for your appreciation. This is the biggest festival in the State of West Bengal. If and when possible, I will try to share other cultural events also.

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Bhatta - I had to join this group to be able to leave a comment.  And I dearly wanted to leave a comment.  Your post is a treasure chest filled with precious gems.  YOU, my friend, are amazing!  I mean that in the truest sense of the word:

Amazing:

1.
to overwhelm with surprise or sudden wonder; astonish greatly.

2.
to cause amazement: a new art show that delights and amazes. 

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME amasen, OE āmasian to confuse, stun, astonish.

Synonyms:
1. astound, dumfound, stun, flabbergast.

Bhatta, The highest and best in me – my Divinity – bows to the highest and best in you – your Divinity.  Namaste'

Listen with your heart,

- Laurie

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Oh Laurie, I feel soooooooooooo humbled !!!!! It is your generosity and divine self which pours out such blissful love.

I am deeply honoured.

Deep and humble bows

Bhatta

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I have since posted my blog Divine Feminine - some narrations from Markandeya Purana

This blog describes some incarnations of Divine Feminine to kill the various demons. You are all invited to read it.