Durga Puja festival begins today
Wednesday, 17 October 2007
The five-day celebration of Durga Puja, the major Hindu religious festival, begins today (Wednesday). The goddess Durga arrives from her husband's domain to her father's on this day of Shashthi and will return on the day of Dashami riding an elephant, according to a calendar followed by Hindu priests and religious scholars. It is said when the deity makes her return trip on an elephant, the good earth becomes replete with granaries. A total of 21,649 puja pavilions, outnumbering the 2006 count by 134, have been built to celebrate the arrival of the great goddess. — bdnews24.com.