Durga Puja Celebrations Begin As Pitru Paksha Ends: Devotees Bring Idols To Pandals Ahead Of Festivities

(MENAFN- Live Mint) As Durga Puja approaches, with main festivities beginning from September 28, the streets have come alive with pandals and devotees carrying intricately crafted idols of Goddess Durga to them. Today was Mahalaya, the beginning of Devi Paksha.

Mahalaya signifies the mythical departure of the goddess from the Himalayas to her paternal home. It is from this day that the Durga Puja fever begins. Durga Puja festivities peak on the seventh day after Mahalaya and end on the tenth day of Dashami or Dussehra.

Artisans spend months sculpting the Durga idols. The arrival of the idols are seen as the beginning of the festivities, filling everyone with joy and homecoming.

In Navi Mumbai, devotees carried the Goddess Durga idol through the pouring rain, towards the pandal amidst chants and celebration

In Mumbai, devotees were seen carrying a beautifully decorated idol of Goddess Durga to a pandal ahead of the Navratri festival with chants of devotion and traditional music filling the air.

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Devotees carry Goddess Durga idol to the pandal ahead of Navratri festival, in Mumbai
Devotees carry Goddess Durga idol to the pandal ahead of Navratri festival, in Mumbai

The same enthusiasm was visible in Noida, where people thronged artisans' workshops to select their Durga idols.

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People buy idols of Durga Maa in Sector 20 on the eve of Maa Shardiya Navratri festival.

At multiple places in Kolkata, Bengal, where every street lights up with numerous Durga Puja pandals, devotees brought their Durga idols to the pandals amidst chants, music, and festive celebrations, marking the official start of the much-awaited Durga Puja festivities.

People are seen taking an Idol of Goddess Durga to the pandal, in Kolkata on Sunday.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee on Sunday, September 21, wished people of the state on the occasion of Mahalaya. The Trinamool Congress supremo also launched the autumn number of TMC mouthpiece 'Jago Bangla' (Wake up Bengal).

She then offered puja at Lake Kalibari and also inaugurated their Durga Puja organised on the opposite side.

On the occasion of Mahalya Amavasya, a large number of devotees gathered in Kolkata for a holy dip in Ganga. They offered prayers to their forefathers and for departed family members on this Amavasya, marking the solemn ritual with devotion.

(With agency inputs)

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