How is Durga Puja celebrated?

The festival's mythic core is the Devi Mahatmya (Durga Saptashati) account of the goddess's victory over the buffalo demon Mahishasura — the great asura no man or god could defeat, who was finally vanquished by the combined shakti of all the gods manifested as Devi Durga. But the lived festival in Bengal is layered: alongside the cosmic war, Durga is also the daughter who comes home, accompanied by her children, for five precious days before returning to Kailash and her husband Shiva on Vijayadashami.

What seva is auspicious on Durga Puja?

Gau Seva during Durga Puja resonates with the goddess's own nature as Mother. In the Tantric tradition Devi is invoked as Annapurna, the giver of food; Gaumata is one of her most direct earthly forms. Offering food to a cow during the five Puja days — particularly on Mahashtami or Mahanavami — is understood as a direct offering to the Devi, and traditional families in Bengal observe the practice of distributing prasad to cows during the visarjan procession.

Festival Seva · 2026

Durga Puja

Q: Durga Puja 2026 kab hai?

Durga Puja 2026 17 October 2026 ko hai. Five days of Devi Durga in West Bengal — Mother returns to her natal home with her four children

दुर्गा पूजा

17 October 2026

“Five days of Devi Durga in West Bengal — Mother returns to her natal home with her four children”

144days

20hrs

38min

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Durga Puja — when is it where you are?

This festival follows the Hindu Tithi (lunar day), calculated from local sunrise. A festival can fall on a different calendar date depending on where you are. Below are calendar dates in major diaspora markets.

Your local time

Friday, 16 October 2026

America/New_York

USA (Eastern)16 Oct 2026
USA (Pacific)16 Oct 2026
UK (London)17 Oct 2026
Canada (Toronto)16 Oct 2026
UAE (Dubai)17 Oct 2026
Singapore17 Oct 2026
Australia (Sydney)17 Oct 2026
India (IST)17 Oct 2026

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Significance of Durga Puja

Durga Puja (দুর্গা পূজা · दुर्गा पूजा) is the largest festival of the Bengali Hindu calendar — five extraordinary days in autumn (Sharad Navratri) when Devi Durga, accompanied by her four children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Ganesha, and Kartikeya, returns from Kailash to her natal home on earth. It coincides with the last five days of Sharad Navratri (Saptami to Vijayadashami) and is celebrated with greatest intensity in West Bengal, Tripura, Assam, Odisha, Jharkhand, and across the Bengali diaspora worldwide.