Bengalis can’t keep calm as the Durga Puja celebrations approach. One of the most fascinating aspects of the festivities echoing the spirit of spirituality, enthusiasm, and vibrancy for tourists all around the world coming by flight tickets to India is the fabrication of idols, light displays, decorations, and the setting up of community pandals with themes ranging from Italian gondolas to France’s Eiffel Tower. Pujo preparations include everyone, from painters, potters, and artisans to carpenters, blacksmiths, and cleaners, crossing caste lines.
Shoppers clog the streets, and pandals and lights illuminate every corner. With Mahalaya approaching in a day, the whole of West Bengal cannot contain their enthusiasm to celebrate the largest festival. All of this purchasing and hard effort is to greet Maa Durga and enjoy these five days in the biggest way possible.
Importance
People annually celebrate Durga Puja in September or October, primarily in Kolkata, West Bengal, India, but also in other regions of India and among the Bengali diaspora. It commemorates the ten-day adoration of the Hindu mother-goddess Durga. Small artisanal workshops construct representations of Durga and her family out of unfired Ganga River clay in the months leading up to the festival. On the first day of Mahalaya, eyes are painted onto clay figures to bring the goddess to life. It concludes on the tenth day when the pictures are immersed in the river from which the clay was extracted.
The event also includes scripture recitations, performance arts, partying, gift-giving, family visits, eating, and public processions for tourists with cheap air tickets to India. Durga puja is a significant Hindu event in the Shaktism tradition. Durga puja in Kolkata has been added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage in December 2021.
The Mythological Significance
This event, which represents the triumph of good over evil, may be dated back to the Ramayana period. Many people think that Lord Rama was the first to worship Goddess Durga before embarking on his fight against Ravana. He was successful in defeating the Raksasha King on the day of Dusshera or Dashami, thanks to the graces of Mother Goddess (the last day of the festival).
The first trace of Durga Puja
Historians believe that the former zamindars (landlords) of Kolkata, the Sabarna Roy Chowdhury, worshipped Goddess Durga around 1610, marking the earliest known instance of contemporary Bengalis doing so.In 1608, Maharaja Man Singh appointed Laxmikanta Roy Chowdhury as the zamindar of a wide tract of land in Bengal. Some believe Laxmikanta started the celebrations a few years later as a thank you to the Divine Mother.
Durga Puja today becomes a consumerist social carnival, a large public spectacle, and a significant arts festival, riding the tide of commercialization, corporate sponsorship, and the passion for award-winning. For private residential pujas, families set up an area in their houses called Thakur Dalan, where they place and decorate sculpture-idols for worship with home-dyed cloth, sola ornamentations, and gold and silver foil decorations.
If you’re planning on visiting pandals to see Maa Durga, here’s a list of the top places in India to celebrate Durga Puja with flight tickets to India.
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Kolkata
Durga Puja 2022 is quickly approaching, and preparations for the celebration are in full gear in the country’s capital Kolkata, which is well-known for hosting the annual event.
Every year, Kolkata introduces a new theme to its Durga Puja pandals, each of which is distinctive and original in its way. This year’s Sree Bhumi Sporting Club pandal in Kolkata is themed “Vatican City.” The entire ‘pandal’ appears to be a stunning blend of the Durga Puja celebration and St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City. Durga puja in Kolkata is well-known across the world for foreign tourists, especially American travelers coming by USA to Kolkata flights, and it was just included in UNESCO’s representative list of humanity’s intangible cultural treasures in 2021.
Sreebhumi Sporting Club, Singhi Park, ChaltaBagan, Jodhpur park, and Baghbazar Sabojanin are the main center attractions for domestic tourists & international tourists. Vatican City
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Ahmedabad, Gujarat
Ahmedabad celebrates this occasion differently, celebrating Lord Ram’s victory over Ravana. Fireworks may be seen all night long throughout the celebration. Dramas are played on stages that have been built. People participate in those performances, songs, and dances in which they reenact Ram’s life and how he slew Ravana. Several locations across the city host Dandiya performances.
Laxmi Vilas Palace, Navlakhi Ground, Sarkhej-Gandhinagar Highway, and others are among the best venues to spend a cultural holiday in this city. Additionally, by the end of the night, they had constructed a massive Raavan out of hay and pyrotechnics. Subsequently, a person costumed as Lord Ram burns up the edifice, and worshippers watch the monster burn to ashes in spiritual pleasure.
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Mumbai, Maharashtra
Mumbai is one of the best destinations to visit in India to celebrate Durga Puja for international tourists & American NRI’s coming by direct flights to Mumbai from USA. Bengalis who were unable to travel to their home in Bengal during Puja established the custom of Durga puja here. As a result, exactly as in Kolkata, they raised pandals in Mumbai and began Durga Puja. During these four days, several celebrities visit pandals.
Since not all Bengalis in Mumbai can return home every year, they have organized over 100 ‘Sarbojonin’ or community Durga Pujas in Mumbai’s extensive suburbs like Santa Cruz, Vashi, and Andheri. Additionally, in the makeshift stalls around these pandals, mouthwatering Bengali culinary items like fish curry, ‘fish fry,’ ‘Lucchi,’ ‘Kosha Mangsho,’ ‘Rosogolla,’ and ‘Payesh’ are available.
To mention a few tourist attractions, there is the Gateway of India, Marine Drive, and the Elephanta Caves.
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Delhi
Delhi has one of the greatest Durga Puja festivities in India. You may experience the energy of Durga Puja by visiting C.R. Park, which will transport you to Kolkata by cheap flights from US to Delhi. C.R. These four days witness a bustling park, showcasing everything from pandals to a diverse array of traditional Bengali dishes. During this time, you can observe the contrasting side of Durga Puja celebrated at Ramlila Maidan, where they burn effigies of Ravana on Dussehra. People from all walks of life come to Ramlila Maidan to watch this festival.
Tourist sites include Birla Mandir, Akshardham Temple, Kalkaji Temple, and others.
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Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh
Ram Leela, an enactment of the Hindu epic Ramayana, takes place across Ramnagar, with enormous expanses assigned as distinct venues for the production. Additionally, the wonderful performance of veterans moves the audience to the next place of the play. Moreover, the Chitrakoot Ramleela of Varanasi preserves traditions and rituals, standing out among many communities currently enacting similar performances.
Tourist attractions with flight tickets to India include Shri Kashi Vishwanath Temple, Manikarnika Ghat, Dashashwamedh Ghat, and others.
The celebration has come to represent “homecoming,” or a seasonal return to one’s roots. Moreover, artists and designers collaborate extensively in Durga Puja, considering it the greatest example of public religious and artistic performance, offering a fertile ground for their creative endeavors. Additionally, large-scale urban installations and pavilions, along with traditional Bengali drumming and goddess adoration, distinguish the event. Consequently, as thousands of visitors meander around admiring the installations, socioeconomic, religious, and ethnic divisions dissolve.