Kali Puja

Kali Puja is a significant Hindu festival celebrated in the Hindu calendar month of Kartik which coincides with the months of October-November. The festival is also called by other names – Shyama Puja or Mahanisha Puja. On this day Goddess Kali is venerated by the devotees. The festival is celebrated on the day of Diwali and coincides with Lakshmi Puja. The festival is grandly celebrated in West Bengal. Devotees venerate clay idols of Goddess Kali and keep them in large pandals along with the idols of other deities like Shiva. Offerings are made to the Goddess in the form of sweets, fruits and other eatables. Mostly the offerings to the Goddess contain fruits, rice, lentils etc, but at some places the custom of offering animal sacrifice is also followed. Temples dedicated to Goddess Kali are visited by thousands of devotees on the day of Kali Puja. Goddess is dressed in her ritualistic attire, wearing a garland of skulls. Devotees also mediate the whole night until the arrival of dawn. Kali Puja is a very significant religious commemoration, which celebrates one of the most ferocious forms of Goddess Durga, which is Maa Kali. She is considered as the epitome of power and the destroyer of evil. How is Kali Puja Celebrated? Kali Puja is celebrated with extreme devotion and reverence to Goddess Kali in the states of West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Bihar in India. It is also observed in some of the divisions of Bangladesh. Large pandals are erected in which the clay idol of Goddess Kali is kept. The idols are painted in black to depict Kali. She is also shown wearing a necklace of skulls and her tongue is shown red. The eyes of Goddess Kali, even that of an idol, reflects anger and rage. Some of the devotees even meditate for the whole night until dawn. Offerings like sweets, rice, lentils are made to the Goddess to take her blessings. Red Hibiscus flower is also the prescribed offering to the Goddess Kali. She is worshipped using Tantric mantras and rites. In the tantric form of worship of Goddess Kali, animal sacrifice is made. The non tantric or Brahmanical form of worship is also performed. This type of worship is done as per Hindu style of worship in which no animal sacrifice is made. Kali Puja is a significant Hindu festival which reflects the deep rooted faith of devotees in the Goddess and their belief that Goddess will take the most ferocious form in order to save her disciples and the world from evil. While most of the country observes Lakshmi Puja on Diwali, there are some parts that celebrate Kali Puja with equivalent reverence.