Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
The four most-awaited days in the Bengali calendar are here.
Ma Durga makes her entry into pandals and homes across Bengal, and into all our hearts, today.
Let's take a look at some of her most mesmerising avataars and the stunning pandals she is reigning over...
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
The idol of Ma Durga was formally unveiled by priests today, on the morning of Shashti, the sixth day of the Pujo.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
The pushpanjali, the practice of offering flowers to Ma Durga while chanting mantras, starts on Saptami, the seventh day.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
The pushpanjali, a morning ritual, is considered to be the most important part of Durga Pujo by many.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
Pujo organisers across Kolkata have gone to great lengths to create the most breathtaking pandals for the deity.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
The creativity of the organisers is evident from this pandal, where Ma Durga is bathed in neon lights, crowned by a giant trishul and towering over a Asura who looks suspiciously like Lord Voldemort from the Harry Potter series.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
Some Durga Pujos in Kolkata have become legendary for their breathtaking idols and outlandish pandals, like this one in Golf Green, which happens to be one of the city's most visited pandals.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
Thousands of people wait for hours in serpentine queues to catch a glimpse of their beloved deity and admire the ingenuity of the pandal designers and organisers.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
For these four days, Kolkata, much like its fellow metropolis Mumbai, becomes the city that doesn't sleep.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
Pandal-hopping becomes the city's night-time obsession as scores of people take to the streets to make the most of the festival.
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Durga Pujo turns Kolkata into City of Blinding Lights
Photographs: Dipak Chakraborty
The atmosphere is resplendent with the beat of the dhaak and the aroma of bhog, the special khichdi which is made for Ma Durga and later distributed to her devotees.
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