Durga Puja

Durga Puja is one of the most outstanding religious, cultural and artistic events celebrated in India. Every year the city of Calcutta turns upside down with this colorful festival that is held in honor of the goddess Durga, one of the highest deities of Hinduism. And it does so by decorating its streets with spectacular temporary constructions - called pandals - which, for a few days, transform this city into a large open-air museum.

Towards the month of October (begins on 01st October in 2022), when the monsoon season ends, the Indian region of Bengal begins its festival. Hindus and non-Hindus alike get involved in Durga Puja to which tourists and travelers from all over the world are also invited. This festival is a beautiful celebration and an outstanding display of art, spirituality and joy. During the days that Durga Puja lasts, Calcutta is paralyzed with street closures in which large pandals (ephemeral constructions) are installed that, as performances, pay tribute to their greatest goddess. During the days of the festival, visitors from other parts of India, tourists and travelers who visit the pandals and discover the immense talent of the artists who have built them, arrive in Calcutta.

Each of them is dedicated to a theme: environmentalism, respect between religions, mistreatment of women, poverty, water scarcity or the abandonment of the elderly, are recurring themes every year, as well as many others. present. Thus, with the spiritual background that characterizes Hinduism, all the citizens of Calcutta, whatever their religion, participate in the construction of these pandals or in the elaboration and conservation of these constructions.

For ten days Calcutta preserves these pandals until, in a great farewell ritual, all these durgas (more than thousands) are taken to the river and thrown so that life returns to its natural cycle of death and resurrection. The durgas are made from mud and hay, so little by little they dissolve as if it had been a dream, establishing a beautiful metaphor about the ephemerality of life.