This festival is celebrated as a memory of the day where Durga came out victorious over the demon buffalo, Mahishasura. Devotees of Durga recite many mantras of Durga on this auspicious day and seek for her blessings. However the last six days are more festive than the first three.
From the day of Shashti i.e the sixth day, community gathering, celebrations and feasts begin with immense fervor. The last four days of Puja begins from the sixth day of the full moon phase that follows the Mahalaya and finishes with the Dashami or the tenth day.
In between these six days, there are different kinds of special ceremonies on Maha Saptami, Maha Ashtami, Maha Nabami. In the wee hours of ‘Saptami,’ the ‘Pran’ or life of the Devi is brought from a nearby pond or river in a banana tree and installed inside the idol.
Customs like ‘Sandhikshan,’ the crossover time between Ashtami and Navami are also done in accordance with the ‘ghadi and tithi’ as per the calendar. Then on the last day, Dashami is celebrated. It is four days short of thefull moon night, called Kojagori Purnima.
