Durga

===Durga puja===
{{Main|Durga Puja}}
[[File:A Durga festival collage.jpg|right|thumb|upright=1.25|Durga festival images (clockwise from top): Durga Puja pandal with a Durga idol with 1&nbsp;million hands standing on top a bull's head to symbolize her victory over Mahishasura in [[Kolkata]], Dancing on Vijaya Dashami, women smearing each other with colour, and family get together for Dashain in Nepal.]]
As per the Markandeya Purana, Durga Puja can be performed either for 9 days or 4 days (last four in sequence). The four-day-long [[Durga Puja]] is a major annual festival in [[Bengal]], [[Odisha]], [[Assam]], [[Jharkhand]] and [[Bihar]].{{sfn|Wendy Doniger|1999|p=306}}{{sfn|James G Lochtefeld|2002|p=208}} It is scheduled per the Hindu luni-solar calendar in the month of ''Ashvina'',{{sfn|David Kinsley|1998|pp=106–108}} and typically falls in September or October. Since it is celebrated during Sharad (literally, season of weeds), it is called as Sharadiya Durga Puja or Akal-Bodhan to differentiate it from the one celebrated originally in spring. The festival is celebrated by communities by making special colourful images of Durga out of clay,{{sfn|David Kinsley|1997|pp=18–19}} recitations of ''Devi Mahatmya'' text,{{sfn|David Kinsley|1998|pp=106–108}} prayers and revelry for nine days, after which it is taken out in procession with singing and dancing, then immersed in water. The Durga puja is an occasion of major private and public festivities in the eastern and northeastern states of India.{{sfn|Wendy Doniger|1999|p=306}}{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|pp=172–174}}{{sfn|Lynn Foulston|Stuart Abbott|2009|pp=162–169}}

The day of Durga's victory is celebrated as [[Vijayadashami]] (Bijoya in Bengali), Dashain (Nepali) or [[Dussehra]] (in Hindi) – these words literally mean "the victory on the Tenth (day)".<ref>{{cite book |title= Religion & globalization: world religions in historical perspective |last= Esposito |first= John L. |author2=Darrell J Fasching |author3=Todd Vernon Lewis  |year= 2007  |publisher= Oxford University Press |isbn= 978-0-19-517695-7 |page= 341  }}</ref>

This festival is an old tradition of Hinduism, though it is unclear how and in which century the festival began. Surviving manuscripts from the 14th century provide guidelines for Durga puja, while historical records suggest royalty and wealthy families were sponsoring major Durga puja public festivities since at least the 16th century.{{sfn|Rachel Fell McDermott|2001|pp=172–174}} The 11th or 12th century Jainism text ''Yasatilaka'' by Somadeva mentions a festival and annual dates dedicated to a warrior goddess, celebrated by the king and his armed forces, and the description mirrors attributes of a Durga puja.{{sfn|David Kinsley|1998|pp=106–108}}

The prominence of Durga puja increased during the [[British Raj]] in Bengal.<ref>{{cite web|title=Article on Durga Puja|url=http://online.assam.gov.in/web/durga-puja|access-date=11 October 2013|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151228091628/http://online.assam.gov.in/web/durga-puja|archive-date=28 December 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref> After the Hindu reformists identified Durga with India, she became an icon for the [[Indian independence movement]].{{citation needed|date=February 2017}} The city of [[Kolkata]] is famous for Durga puja.<ref>{{cite news |date=6 August 2022 |title=Durga puja:আগমনীর ডাকে সেজে উঠেছে তিলোত্তমা শহরে এবার 'রক্তমাংসের দুর্গা' ভাইরাল ভিডিয়ো |work=The Bengali Chronicle |url=https://thebengalichronicle.com/makeup-artist-saroshi-bhattacharya-has-create-durga-with-the-help-of-her-art-mst/ |access-date=9 August 2022 |language=bn |archive-date=9 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220809111316/https://thebengalichronicle.com/makeup-artist-saroshi-bhattacharya-has-create-durga-with-the-help-of-her-art-mst/ |url-status=live }}</ref>