Overview
- Mahashashthi on Friday marked the formal start of Durga Puja, with pandal doors opened and rituals such as Kalparambha and Bodhan performed across cities in India and in diaspora hubs like New York’s Times Square.
- Kolkata alone is hosting roughly 2,700 community pujas and 5,000 family pujas while Guwahati has about 550 committees with police permission to hold celebrations, creating large, citywide crowds.
- Institutions and governments are active this year: Belur Math began traditional Swami Vivekananda–style rites and arranged live TV streams, Tripura sanctioned Rs 7.5 lakh for the Durgabari royal puja, and Uttar Pradesh launched Mission Shakti recitation and cultural programmes.
- Many pandals are built around explicit themes that mix religious stories with social, cultural or nationalist messages and local traditions, from tributes to historic figures in Kolkata to Bathukamma elements in Hyderabad.
- Organisers and authorities have issued safety appeals, set traffic and permit rules, and activated crowd management for the coming days as Saptami–Navami programmes continue and Dashami idol immersion is scheduled for October 21.