chandrima.dhar
Goddess Durga and her children
Durga Puja, C.R. Park, New Delhi, India
Durga, a Hindu goddess, is one who redeems us of evil and distress. She is fierce, invincible and a mother. She is the main deity for Hindu Bengalis who primarily worship goddesses or the female divine form which symbolises energy (shakti) amongst other things. According to mythology, every year in the autumn month of the Hindu calendar (ashwin) the mother arrives at her parental home with her children. The rigorously constructed idols of clay and straw are painted, sometimes in traditional colours like in the picture above and sometimes in more contemporary ones. After the worship these idols are submerged in the river as the goddess is symbolically returning home only to come back again the next year.
Goddess Durga and her children
Durga Puja, C.R. Park, New Delhi, India
Durga, a Hindu goddess, is one who redeems us of evil and distress. She is fierce, invincible and a mother. She is the main deity for Hindu Bengalis who primarily worship goddesses or the female divine form which symbolises energy (shakti) amongst other things. According to mythology, every year in the autumn month of the Hindu calendar (ashwin) the mother arrives at her parental home with her children. The rigorously constructed idols of clay and straw are painted, sometimes in traditional colours like in the picture above and sometimes in more contemporary ones. After the worship these idols are submerged in the river as the goddess is symbolically returning home only to come back again the next year.