Durga and Some Special Features, Observed During the Project

This book is a 20th-month report from 18th April to 17th May 2015 on how Durga Puja in Bengal celebrates the universal resurgence of the power of creation over the power of destruction. The buffalo demon Mahisasura was destroying the earth and was invincible. Then all the Gods combined their powers to create a beautiful maiden, and each of them gave her their most potent weapons in her ten hands. Her return each year in the Bengali month of Aswin commemorates Rama’s invocation of the Goddess Durga before Rama went into battle with Ravana in Sri Lanka. This story is mentioned in Ramayana written by Bengali poet Krittibas Onjha. According to some art historians “The traditional image of the Bengali Durga follows the iconographic injunction to the shastras. This publication is an outcome of the project under Lalit Kala Akademi, Ministry of Culture, Government of India which is titled as "Preservance and Digitising Art Activities During Puja Festival in Kolkata."