Chants of Mahishasura Mardini echo as Durga Puja kicks off in Lucknow

The auspicious day of Mahalaya, which marks the beginning of Durga Puja festivities in the city, was celebrated with much fervour

The auspicious day of Mahalaya, which marked the beginning of Durga Puja festivities in the city, began with the 4am broadcast of over nine decades old Mahishasura Mardini Stotram that could be heard across Bengali households on Wednesday.

Artisans giving final touches to the idols of the deity across the city before onset of the festivities ( Deepak Gupta/HT)

“Mahalaya, the last day of 16-day Pitrupasksha, marks the beginning of Devipaksha. And this year too we started the celebrations listening to the radio broadcast. As it remains the age-old tradition to listen to the dawn relay from Kolkata station, though today many use digital means as well. So finally, it’s time to strengthen our bond with the Goddess as the Durga Puja celebrations begin today with a visit to Kalibari,” says Tuhin Banerjee from Trans-Gomti Dussehra and Durga Puja Committee, Aliganj. He also informs that the celebrations at their pandal will start from the day of Shashti.

Devanshu Choudhary from Rabindra Palli Puja Committee says, “Rabindrapalli Kalibari Temple Trust organised a program last evening based upon Mahishasur Mardini originally composed by Pankaj Mullick, written by Bani Kumar whereas narration was given by Birendra Krishna Bhadra. Also, we had a Chanidipath along with other musical performances by Pranab Srivastava, Oishani Ghosh, Sneha Ghoshal and others to mark Mahalaya. As the Mata idol has arrived on our premise, we are excited as the festivities have started.”

The festival of Mahalaya will be also celebrated by Ram Krishna Math with a drama titled Mahishasura Mardini, to be staged today in the evening by Animesh Mukherjee and group at math’s auditorium in Nirala Nagar.

A massive Durga Pandal at Jankipuram is all geared up for the festivities, a structure modelled on Ram Krishna Math building in New Delhi has come up for this year’s fest.

Also, Mahalaya celebrations were held across the committees and locations, including Kali Bari Ghasiyari Mandi.