An experience on traveling to the coveted festival in Bangladesh.

he Goddess Comes Alive: The Hindu Durga Festival in Bangladesh

As one of your reporter's previous articles on the Thaipusam festival will indicate, Hinduism probably has the most brightest, biggest and most colourful religious festivals among any major world religion. This is proved time and time again through the variety of events that mark the Hindu calendar worldwide.

Another such festival, and possibly the biggest and most important one in the subcontinent of India is the Durga Puja - literally 'Durga Worship'.

Durga is a powerful Goddess. She is what feminists would call the female proletariat, a full blooded embodiment of the empowered woman. My tryst with Durga happened on a trip to Bangladesh last September when the Durga Festival, as it is known, was held.

Bangladesh, being a part of the Indian subcontinent, has a thriving Hindu community - 10% of the population in fact. The festivals thrown by this minority community has as much pomp and sparkle as those held in India and Sri Lanka, as your reporter found.

The festival lasts for about ten days, however the build up to it is as much fun as the party itself.

The Vedic Traditions

The tradition of Durga Puja goes back 6000 years when the Vedic peoples arrived in northern India bringing the earliest form of Hinduism with them. The Goddess Durga has always been, and remains so among the most important deities on the Indian pantheon of Gods and Goddesses.

Often seen wielding several weapons on her many arms - a snake, sword, conch shell, mace, thunderbolt - you don't mess with this woman that's for sure. Referred to affectionately as Mother Durga, she is the embodiment of feminine force. Durga exists according to Hindu scriptures, independent from the universe and never loses her sense of humour, even during spiritual battles of epic proportion.

The prominence of Durga Puja increasd gradually further during the British rule in the previously Bengal province in India - which included Bangladesh. Hindu reformists indentified Durga with India, thus she became an icon for the Indian Independence Movement. After independence, Durga Puja became one of the largest celebrated festivals in the whole world.

The Durga Puja Festival

At the Durga Puja Festival, six days of celebrations and festivities are held all across Bangladesh. Your reporter, being in Bangladesh at the time, decided to check out the various events in the regional township of Barisal, a beautifully nestled area in the southern part of the country, near the breath taking Padma River.

Statues of Durga are displayed, her being depicted as the mother of Ganesha, Kartikeya, Lakshmi and Saraswati - the accompanying corresponding statues are also displayed, along with nine types of plants referred to as "Kala Bou" which represent the nine different divine forms of Goddess Durga.

To kick off the festival, Bengalis traditionally awaken at 4am to listen to traditional Hindu hymns being sung by preists and other worshippers on the streets. Your reporter witnessed Bangladesh come to a standstill - shops closing, playgrounds stop spinning, and elaborate structures called 'pandals' are set up, temporary, made of bamboo and cloth.

When travelers walk into temples or comes across a pandal, they will find the fearsome but very beautiful Goddess on top of a lion or tiger, with ten weapons in her hands, all the revellers and worshippers are in their element. Young talented boys and girls show off their Bengali dancing skills in a traditional manner, impressing the crowd. Ritual drummers begin drumming, filling the entire Bengali town into a reverberating ball of energy.

One of the best parts of this festival is the delicious food offered by the temples - these include traditional Indian/Bangladeshi sweets, savoury fried snacks, fritters. Boxes and boxes of these are given out for free to anyone and everyone - Hindu, Christan, Muslim, it does not matter - everyone is welcomed, especially foreigners. What foreigners can expect is to be treated like a bit of a celebrity in this regional town - that's the thing about Bangladesh.

The people are welcoming and friendly and want to proudly show you their home.

Time flies when you are having fun and it cannot be more true when it comes to the Durga Festival. The days are filled with feasts in Bengali houses, families and friends visiting each other, and at the same time at night the cities and towns and country villages come alive with fairy lights, colourful displays showing the Hindu legends to do with Durga Goddess visiting her family of Gods and Goddesses for this festival.

One the final night of this incredible festival, which brings most of Bangladesh together, the Hindu Bengalis take the pandals in a street procession with their Goddess and set her afloat in nearby rivers, ponds, seas and oceans, thanking her, chanting their appreciation of her divinity and praying for her to return the followin year.

The festival timing will vary from year to year, however it is usually held in September or October annually.

Your reporter recommends that the traveller visit Bangladesh to watch and participate in the Durga Festival. The gatherings are larger than millions, the food will melt in your mouth and your eyes will light up like rainbows. All the senses will be engaged and you will not be disappointed.