Kolkata:
People relished community feasts, visited friends and relatives and went pandal-hopping on Tuesday on Maha Navami, the fourth day of Bengal's biggest religious festival, Durga Puja.
After a whole night of revelry on Maha Ashtami on Monday, many chose to wake up late, but soon got into their best attire to hit the streets again and savour every moment of the puja spirit, in Kolkata as well as towns and villages.
Many people also visited homes of friends and relatives and indulged in light-hearted chats, before partaking 'bhog' (community feasts of food items offered to the Goddess first), which comprised a wide-range of food items from 'luchis' (as 'puris' are called in Bengal) to 'khichuri', vegetable items, to fish and even mutton.
The main puja for Maha Navami, or ninth lunar day, began after the end of 'Sandhi Puja' held at the confluence of Maha Ashtami (eighth lunar day) and Maha Navami at around Monday-Tuesday midnight.
As per Hindu mythology, Goddess Durga killed Chando and Mundo, two 'asuras' (demons) at the confluence (Sandhi) of Maha Ashtami and Maha Navami.
Around 2,400 community puja organisers in Kolkata erected massive and beautifully decorated marquees showcasing creative excellence.
Long queues were seen at Salt Lake's A H Block puja marquee where a pagoda was created using natural products like barks of trees, bamboo and ropes.
Naktala's Udayan Sangha, where the pandal was in the form of a large butterfly hanging in the air, was also a huge crowd puller. Depicting various stages in the life cycle of a butterfly in a kaleidoscope of colours, the pandal attracted hordes of foreign tourists as well.
Entering its 50th year, the Lake Town Adhibashi Brindo marquee, carved out of wood and resembling a village, artfully depicts life 50 years ago and how one cherishes the memories in the present.
Replete with figures of buffaloes and fish-nets etc (a part of everyday rural life), whittled out of bamboo, it has received huge footfalls despite its small size.
Mythology says that the puja celebrates the annual descent of the Goddess - accompanied by her four children Ganesh, Kartik, Lakshmi and Saraswati - on earth to visit her parents. She stays for four days to eradicate all evil from the earth before returning to her husband Lord Shiva at Kailash on Dashami.