Durga Visarjan 2021: Date, Shubh Muhurat and Puja Vidhi

The Durga Puja festival ends with the Visarjan of Ma Durga. The Durga Visarjan Muhurat begins in the morning or afternoon when Vijayadashami begins. Therefore, when the Vijayadashami occurs in the morning or afternoon, then the idol of Maa Durga should be immersed. For many years, Visarjan has been done in the morning time. However, the best time for Ma Durga's Visarajan is when the Shravan Nakshatra and Dashami Tithi occur together in the afternoon. Durga Puja is a religious festival in India celebrated grandly by the Hindu religion throughout the world. Durga Puja lasts for nine days, and some people celebrate it for five or seven days. People start worshiping the idol of Goddess Durga Devi on Shashti and end it on Dashami with Ma Durga's Visarjan. Durga Puja is also known as Durga Utsav or Navratri. The festival of Durga Puja is widely celebrated in Assam, Orissa, Bengal, Jharkhand, Manipur, and Tripura, India. Apart from Bengal, Durga Puja is celebrated in the name of Navratri Puja in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Maharashtra, etc. India. Durga Puja or Navratri Puja is celebrated twice a year in the month of Chaitra and Ashwin.

Durga Puja is an important Hindu festival that has religious, philosophical, cultural, and worldly importance. People start the worship of Ma Durga with Shashti and end it on Dashami. All the temples are decorated during these days, and the whole ambiance gets devotional and pious. Some people worship all the nine forms of Ma Durga with all the arrangements in their homes and observe fast. We worship female power in the form of Durga Puja. In many places, fairs are organized during this festival.

What is the Importance of Durga Visarjan During Navaratri? 

Visarjan has particular importance in our Sanatan tradition. Visarjan means perfection, the perfection of life, spiritual meditation, or Nature. When an entity gains completion, it must be necessarily immersed, or its visarjan has to be done.

In the spiritual arena, Visrajan does not stand for an end but completion. This is the only main reason behind Ma Durga's Visarjan. We make Goddess's statue as soon as the Sharadiya Navratri starts and then decorate it with clothes and ornaments. We worship the same idol for nine days with full devotion, and then one day, we perform its visarjan.

The tradition of Visarjan is followed only in our Sanatan Dharma. This tradition involves a lot of courage. Sanatana Dharma believes that a form is only the beginning, and completion is always formless. Here, the meaning of the formless is not shapeless, but in being an all-encompassing form. The formless means all the forms of the universe belong to one God. 

Being formless does not mean limiting to one form but to represent all forms. When a devotee completes the spiritual meditation, she/he goes beyond any form or rituals. Hence, all the legendary people have said, "Chaap Tilak Sab Cheeni, ToseNainaMilayke."

The nine days of Navratri symbolize the fact that we should not limit ourselves to worshipping one form. Instead, we must complete our spiritual meditation, immerse our deity so that it can attain formlessness. When the devotee attains such a formless state, then he can witness it in the entire universe. You can give any nomenclature to this formlessness; it will not have any impact on its formlessness. At this stage of spirituality, we get reminded of SarvaKhalvidamBrahm; this is the only truth of God.

How did Durga Puja Begin? History of Durga Puja

In the 17th and 18th centuries, zamindars and rich people organized Durga puja on a vast scale, where everyone gathered under one roof to worship Goddess Durga. For example, Achala Puja is very famous in Kolkata, which was started by landlord Laxmikant Majumdar in 1610 from 33 Raja Nabakrishna Road of Chhoti Rajbari, Kolkata's Sobha Bazaar, which got mainly began in 1757. Not only this, the idol of Ma Durga used to be set in the pandals outside Bengal, and She used to be worshipped grandly.

Myths related to Durga Puja

It is believed that Goddess Durga killed the demon named Mahishasura on this day, who became very powerful after getting Vardaan of Lord Brahma. Lord Bramha gave Mahishasura the Vardaan that no god or demon can defeat him. After getting this Vardaan, he started troubling the Gods in heaven and terrorized the people on the Earth too. He made a random attack in heaven and defeated Indra, and began ruling heaven. All the Gods became worried and approached the Trimurti Brahma, Vishnu, and Mahesh for their help. All the gods fought together to defeat him but in vain. When no solution could be found, the Gods created Goddess Durga for his destruction. She is also known as Shakti and Parvati. Goddess Durga fought with Mahishasura for nine days and killed him on the tenth day. On this occasion, Hindus celebrate the festival of Durga Puja, and the tenth day is known as Vijayadashami.

Durga Puja is the celebration of the will to amass all the power to remove all the evil. People believe that Goddess Durga will bless them and keep them away from all problems and negative energy. Every festival of Hinduism has a social reason behind it. Durga Puja is a festival that plays an essential role in filling our lives with positive energy and happiness.

Ritual of Visarjan

After Kanya Pujan, take a flower and a few rice grains in the palm and take a pledge.

Take the coconut placed in the container as a prasad itself and offer it to the family.

Sprinkle the container's holy water in the entire house, and then the whole family must consume it as a Prasad.

Keep the coins in your bowl; you can keep them in your savings container too.

Distribute betel nut as prasad in the family.

Now, organize Mata ki Chowki at home and keep the Singasan again at its place in the temple.

Women of the household can make use of saris and jewelry etc.

Place the idol of Shri Ganesh at His place in the temple of the house.

Distribute all the fruits and sweets in the family as an offering.

Collect rice on the Chowki and the lid of the container. Offer them to the birds. 

Bow down in front of Ma Durga's idol or photo and seek her blessings. Also, seek the blessings of the container in which you had sown jowar and other Puja essentials. Then, perform the ritual of Visarjan in a river, lake, or sea.

Give away a coconut, Dakshina, and clothes of the Chowki to a Brahmin after Visarjan. 

Keep these points in mind while performing Visarjan

It is considered very auspicious to perform Visarjan in a river or lake. Immerse the mother's statue, container, or Jawar with full faith. All the Puja essentials should also be immersed in the holy waters.

Take care of Ma Durga's idol while taking Her for Visarjan in the same way you had taken care of Her when you brought Her. No harm should be caused to the Divine Ma Durga's idol before Visarjan. Proper Aarti should be performed before Ma Durga's Visarjan.

The divine light of Aarti should be received as the blessings of Ma Durga and as pure Prasad. It is considered auspicious to donate a coconut, Dakshina, and clothes of the Chowki to a Brahmin after Visarjan.

Why do we perform Ma Durga’s Visarjan

It is believed that a daughter is ParayaDhan. She needs to leave her maternal house and head forth to live with her husband in his house, which is her Sasural. Daughters visit their maternal house like guests after marriage. This is an ancient tradition. Even Ma Durga visits her maternal home on this Earth and her children, and after spending a few days, she goes back to Lord Shiva, to her Sasural.

After rains, in September and October, the crop is ready for the harvest. The farmers complete their duties and responsibilities by bringing the produce to their homes and cleaning the factories to store them. At this juncture, the wives of the farmers visit their maternal homes along with their children, spend some happy times, and go back to their Sasural. The women are sent back from the maternal homes with blessings and goodwill. 

Similarly, along with her children, Lakshmi, Saraswati, Karthik, and Ganesha, Mother Durga comes to her home to spend four days on the Earth, and then she goes to her Sasural to Lord Shiva. This moment is celebrated as Visarjan wherein the devotees perform Visarjan of the idol according to tradition. Mother Durga is fully adorned before the Visarjan. Women apply vermilion to each other's Maang and chudas as a sign of prosperity. 

This festival has special importance in Bengal, where it is called SindoorKhela. This vermilion symbolizes the long life of the husbands. This ritual creates an ambiance of joy and happiness, and then after some time, everyone gets emotional during the time of Ma Durga's Visarjan. The Pandal ambiance suddenly changes, and everyone sings the songs of Ma Durga's departure, "Ma CholecheSoshur Bari," meaning Ma Durga is heading towards her Sasural. She will again visit us in the coming year. She is sent to her Sasural through the process of Visarjan.

SindoorKhela

SindoorKhela, during Durga Puja, is a unique ritual that is celebrated in West Bengal. The ritual of SindoorKhela is performed before Durga Visarjan on Vijayadashami. On this occasion, married women apply vermilion to each other and wish each other goodwill. The sindoor festival is also known as sindoorkhela.

Why is the idol of Ma Durga Made with the soil of Sonagachi?

India is a country of festivals. Every province has its festivals. Durga Puja is a festival that fills all the people living in Bengal with energy and enthusiasm.

Durga Puja is an essential festival of the Bengalis. This festival lasts for four days. The preparations begin in advance. During the festival, pandals are installed, and cultural programs are arranged. People buy new clothes. Durga Puja has been significant in Bengal for centuries.

In the eighteenth century, when our country was captured, even then Durga Puja got celebrated in Jabalpur.

From the day of Mahalaya, the mantra of Chandipath is played in every Bengali household. The practice of listening to Chandipath on the radio is still prevalent in Kolkata. The Chandipath is sung by Birendra Krishna Bhadra wherein he narrates the story of Mahishasura Mardini melodically and rhythmically in the form of Sanskrit and Bengal chants. Today he is not alive, but his voice is immortal.

No matter how piously Durga Puja is celebrated, the idol of Ma Durga gets its form only through the soil of Sonagachi. 

Durga Maa gave a Vardan to a devout prostitute that her idol will be made from the smooth clay of the Ganges provided by her hand. She did this to save the woman from social insults. Since then, the tradition of making the statue of Goddess from the soil of Sonagachi got started.

On the day of Mahalaya, eyes are carved on the incompletely made statue of Mother Durga, called Chakshu-dan. On this day, people perform Tarpan offering to their dead relatives, and only then the Devi Paksha begins. Ma Durga leaves her Sasural and husband Shiva's home in Kailash and accompanies Ganesha, Karthikeya, Lakshmi, and Saraswati to her home on Earth for ten days.

People observe the planets and stars' positions to find out how Ma Durga is riding on towards Earth. If She comes riding on an elephant, farming gets blessed along with the humans' lives on Earth, spreading happiness. If She comes sitting on a horse, then there isn't any rain and 

it's all dry.

If She comes on a swing, then it symbolizes diseases spread all around, and if She comes on a boat, it is believed that the rain will be good, the harvest will be good, the arrival of the new year will also be good, there will be happiness around the Earth.

On the sixth day, the idol of Durga is brought to the pandal. Kumartuli of Bengal is famous for making beautiful idols of Durga, where these idols are made from clay. About 95 percent of the idols in Durga Puja in Kolkata come from Kumaratuli.

To make these idols, a frame is first prepared by tying jute on the wooden structure, and then that the idol is prepared by mixing paddy with clay. Then the idol is decorated with jewelry and clothes.

Not only the idol of Durga, but the pandals are also very beautifully made. The Golden Temple of Amritsar in Kolkata is made of bamboo and cloth. The Durga Pandal look as grand as the Eiffel Tower in Paris. The lights of the pandals make the whole city look as bright and beautiful as a bride.

On the evening of Shashthi, the cover is removed from Durga's mouth with the ritual of Bodhon. Then on the morning of Mahashashti, women worship wearing red bordered sarees. The day of Mahashtami has its significance. Sandhipuja occurs on Ashtami.

It has its own auspicious time, and sacrifices are offered at that time. In olden times people used to offer goat sacrifices, but this practice is no more observed. In some places, sacrifices of any fruit or pumpkin, etc., are offered. People lighten up 108 diyas amidst Sandhikshan by observing Nirjala fast. It feels like the entire universe becomes silent for a while. It is believed that during Sandhikshan, the idol of Maa Durga becomes alive. 

Dhunuchi Dance is performed in Bengal. A Dhunchi is a big pot cum Diya made of clay. Coconut peels are burnt in these pots along with the fragrance oriented Dhuno. Then, these pots are held in hands, and dance is performed in front of Ma Durga. People carry 4-5 Dhunuchi together and dance amidst falling fires. 

On the morning of Dashami, the married women come to Pandal to put vermilion on the idol of Ma Durga, and they play with vermilion like Holi. It is called sindoorkhela. The idol of Maa Durga is immersed by reciting chants.

At the time of Visarjan, it seems as if the beloved daughter Ma Durga is heading to Sasural from her maternal home. On the day of Dussehra, the younger ones seek the blessings of the family's elder members by touching the latter's feet. They offer each other sweets. People go to each other's homes to meet and greet each other. And, this is how the festival of Durga Puja gets completed and celebrated.

You can read similar write-up on relevance of astrology in indian festivals for all other major Indian Festivals.