Overview of Durga Puja

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Food fills the air, there are smiles on people’s faces and idols of a beautiful goddess are all around, Durga Puja has arrived. This is a time of great festivity in India and in other countries as well because it is a celebration of the goddess Durga , the slayer of the Buffalo demon. There are many rituals that correspond with the festival; many types of foods are served, the myth of Durga causes the people to come together and it all originated from Bengali.
The Durga Puja festival is a celebration of the goddess Durga who helped the Gods eliminate many demons like Madhu, Kaitabha and Mahishasura, the most famous demon (Jones, 139). The festival mostly commemorates the victory over Mahishasura also known as the Buffalo demon (Jones, 140). Hindu mythology states that Mahishasura was once granted a blessing from the destroyer God Shiva where neither male nor god would be able to kill him. The only way for life to be taken away from him was if a woman were to kill him. The demon took advantage of the blessing, creating chaos in the world and defeating the gods becoming the Lord of the heavens (Mythology of Durga Puja, par 1). The gods having their home taken away had no choice but to create a woman who would be able to defeat Mahishasura (Mythology of Durga Puja, par 2). With Brahma, Vishnu and Shiva combining their energies as well as other gods, they formed the ultimate power Durga (Mythology of Durga Puja, pars 2-3). To aid the goddess in battle against the demon, the gods gave her various weapons and gifts including new clothing, a garland of immortal lotuses and more (Mythology of Durga Puja, par 4). She was now prepared to engage in combat. Armed by the weapons and gifts of the gods she starts into battle (Mythology of Durga...

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...er religions; they are unique and bring a warm feeling to the heart.

Works Cited

Azmi, Neha. “DURGA PUJA- The Festival.” Sharod info. n.p. n.d. Web. Jan 12. 2014.
Das, Subhamoy. “The History & Origin of Durga Puja.” About.com. n.p. n.d. Web. 12 Jan, 2014.
Jones, Constance, and Ryan, James. Encyclopedia of Hinduism. New York: Facts On File, 2007. Infobase eBooks. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Mudi, Aparna. “The Days of Durgotsav.” Zeenews. India. n.p. 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
“Mythology of Durga Puja.” Durga Puja. n.p. n.d. Web. 12 Jan, 2014.
Pandey, Jhimli. “Kolkata's first community puja going strong for 104 years.” The Times of India. n.p. 2013. Web. 16 Jan. 2014.
Robinson, James. Hinduism. New York: Chelsea House, 2004. Infobase eBooks. Web. 19 Jan. 2014.
Sen-Handley, Shreya. “ Durga Puja cam be as magical as Christmas.” The Guardian. n.p. 2012. Web. 18 Jan. 2014.

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