India, Sept. 26 -- As Bengal prepares for Durga Puja, the streets of Siliguri, Kolkata and Krishnanagar begin to hum with a familiar rhythm-clay being molded, pandals rising, communities gathering. But this is no ordinary festival. Durga Puja is Bengal's civilizational heartbeat: a sacred season where devotion meets artistry, and community becomes communion.

The Goddess as Mirror and Warrior

Durga, the ten-armed Goddess, is not merely a mythic warrior from ancient lore-she is Shakti, the living embodiment of divine feminine energy that confronts chaos, injustice and moral paralysis. Her descent each year is not a seasonal spectacle but a spiritual summons: to name evil, resist it, and restore balance-not only in scripture but in the sou...