Durga Puja rituals, day by day: from Bodhon to Sindoor Khela
What actually happens on each day of Durga Puja, explained for first-timers: Bodhon, Kola Bou, Pushpanjali, Sandhi Puja, Kumari Puja and Bijoya.
For most visitors Durga Puja is pandals, lights and food, but underneath it runs a sequence of rituals, each tied to a particular day and often to a particular hour. Knowing them makes the festival make sense. Exact timings change every year with the lunar calendar, and the dates page lists this year’s.
Mahalaya
Mahalaya marks the end of the fortnight of remembering ancestors and the start of the Devi Paksha, the goddess’s fortnight. In Bengal it is also the morning of the radio broadcast of Mahishasuramardini, which millions still wake before dawn to hear.
Shashthi: Bodhon
On Shashthi evening the goddess is formally awakened and welcomed in the Bodhon ritual, and the faces of the idols are unveiled. For many pujas this is when the festival properly begins.
Saptami: Kola Bou
Early on Saptami morning a banana plant, dressed in a red-bordered sari, is bathed in the river or a pond and brought back to stand beside Ganesh. This is the Kola Bou, often called Ganesh’s bride, though it is understood as a form of the goddess herself, carrying nine plants that stand for her nine forms.
Ashtami: Pushpanjali and Kumari Puja
Ashtami is the most important day for many devotees. In the morning, people fast and then offer pushpanjali, flowers offered to the goddess while repeating the priest’s mantras, at their local puja. Some pujas, Belur Math among the best known, perform Kumari Puja on Ashtami, worshipping a young girl as the goddess.
Sandhi Puja
Sandhi Puja is held at the juncture where Ashtami ends and Navami begins, a window of about 48 minutes. It marks the moment the goddess is said to have taken the form of Chamunda to slay the demons Chanda and Munda. It is performed with 108 lamps and 108 lotuses, and many people try to be at their puja for it. Its time falls differently every year, sometimes in the middle of the night.
Navami
Navami is the last full day of worship, ending with the havan, the fire offering. It is also the last big night out, and the mood mixes celebration with the knowledge that the goddess leaves tomorrow.
Dashami: Sindoor Khela and Bijoya
On Bijoya Dashami the goddess is bid farewell. Married women offer sweets and sindoor to the idol and then smear sindoor on each other’s faces in Sindoor Khela; Bagbazar’s is one of the best known in the city. The idols are then carried to the river for immersion. Afterwards people greet each other with “Shubho Bijoya”, touch the feet of their elders, embrace friends and share sweets.