Durga Puja

The Hindu Goddess Durga is the goddess of power and the mother of all female deities. For ten days, Durga tents and Shrines go up all around the city, housing statues of Durga or enactment of her, slaying the evil demon, Mahishasura, who aimed to take over the world. Durga Puja is famous for beautiful pandals. Every year, puja organizers come up with myriad themes to surprise and delight the visitors with creative concepts and ideas. TOI takes a tour of most creative, attractive and unique pandals across the city. Known for its creative skills and desire to present something new every year, the 38-year old pandal of Baageshwari Devi Durga Puja Samiti at Jaitpura has been drawing a milling crowd. This time around, the pandal theme revolves around Bhool Bhulaiya, a labyrinth of about seven passages to surprise the devotees, give a feeling of contentment to the visitors after finding their way to the main pandal housing eco-friendly idols of goddess Durga and other deities. "Every year we show a glimpse of prominent temples and sites to the devotees. This time we have showcased one of the tallest temple towers and a UNESCO world heritage site, Brihasdeswara temple of Tanjore. "Our theme is 'Save nature' and goddess Durga will be seen emerging from lotus crafted by using papers. A 90-minute long light and sound show has also been arranged," Club treasurer Sanjay Gupta said. The 36-year old Sai Durga Puja Samiti of Sanatan Daram Inter College has erected an enormous pandal showcasing the popular Ramnagar Fort built in Mughal style by the then Kashi Naresh Balwant Singh. Another attractive puja pandal is that of Baba Macchodaranath Durgotsav Samiti that celebrates its 25th festival at Macchodari Park. The theme of the pandal is the must-visit Govind Dev temple in Vrindavan that was built in 1590 by Raja Man Singh. The organizers said that a special cultural programme will be organized on Navmi (October 10) in which noted artist from Delhi, Kumar Vishu will perform. The replica of Pashupatinath Temple of Nepal, set up by Gym Sporting Club at Bhelupur also stands out from others. The interiors of the pandal are a treat to watch and showcase Thakur Badi of Rabindra Nath Tagore in Kolkata. Special programmes are organized every evening with Dhunuchi dance being the major attraction. Known for its creative skills and desire to present something new every year, the 38-year old pandal of Baageshwari Devi Durga Puja Samiti at Jaitpura has been drawing a milling crowd. This time around, the pandal theme revolves around Bhool Bhulaiya, a labyrinth of about seven passages to surprise the devotees, give a feeling of contentment to the visitors after finding their way to the main pandal housing eco-friendly idols of goddess Durga and other deities.