Did Durga Puja originate in Bihar, not Bengal? Viral claim sparks historical debate

Did Durga Puja originate in Bihar rather than West Bengal? A claim circulating on social media ahead of this year's festivities has revived a historical debate over the origins of one of eastern India's most important religious and cultural celebrations.

The claim suggests that the tradition of worshipping Goddess Durga during the autumn festival originated in the Mithila region of present-day Bihar before becoming widely associated with Bengal. However, historical accounts, religious literature and archaeological evidence point to a more complex evolution of the festival across eastern India.

Although Durga Puja is now closely identified with Bengal, particularly Kolkata's elaborate celebrations, the worship of Goddess Durga and other manifestations of Shakti has deep historical roots extending across Bihar, Bengal, Assam, Odisha and neighbouring regions.

Scholars distinguish between the ancient worship of the goddess, the development of autumnal Durga Puja rituals and the emergence of the large public celebrations familiar today. These traditions evolved over different periods, making it difficult to identify one geographical location as the festival's definitive birthplace.

𝗠𝗶𝘁𝗵𝗶𝗹𝗮'𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗦𝗵𝗮𝗸𝘁𝗶 𝘁𝗿𝗮𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

The Mithila region, encompassing parts of northern Bihar and southern Nepal, has a longstanding tradition of goddess worship. Religious practices associated with Shakti have occupied an important place in the region's spiritual and cultural life for centuries.

The area's religious heritage includes the worship of Durga, Kali and other forms of the Divine Mother, alongside distinctive rituals preserved through generations of Maithil families.

Medieval religious texts and regional traditions provide evidence of the importance of goddess worship in Mithila. However, the existence of these traditions does not, by itself, establish that the annual autumnal Durga Puja festival originated there before spreading elsewhere.

The viral claim appears to draw upon Mithila's historical association with Shakti worship, but historians caution against treating the antiquity of a religious practice as conclusive proof of the birthplace of a particular festival.

𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗹'𝘀 𝗗𝘂𝗿𝗴𝗮 𝗣𝘂𝗷𝗮 𝗵𝗮𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝗲𝘃𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗼𝗼𝘁𝘀

Bengal also possesses a centuries-old tradition of worshipping Goddess Durga. Historical accounts trace organised Durga worship in the region to the medieval period, with elaborate celebrations becoming increasingly prominent under wealthy landowning families.

Among the figures associated with the development of grand Durga Puja celebrations is Raja Kangsanarayan of Taherpur, in present-day Bangladesh, who is traditionally credited with organising an elaborate festival during the late 16th century.

Another prominent name is Bhabananda Majumdar of Nadia, whose family is associated with early aristocratic Durga Puja celebrations in Bengal.

Kolkata's Sabarna Roy Chowdhury family traces its Durga Puja tradition to 1610, making it one of the city's oldest surviving family celebrations.

These accounts demonstrate the festival's established presence in Bengal several centuries ago, although historians continue to debate the precise chronology of individual celebrations and the reliability of some origin stories.

𝗙𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝗽𝗿𝗶𝘃𝗮𝘁𝗲 𝘄𝗼𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝘁𝗼 𝗽𝘂𝗯𝗹𝗶𝗰 𝗰𝗲𝗹𝗲𝗯𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀

The Durga Puja familiar today underwent major changes during the colonial period, when elaborate celebrations became symbols of social standing among Bengal's wealthy zamindars and merchant families.

During the 18th and 19th centuries, aristocratic households organised lavish festivities featuring decorated idols, religious ceremonies, music and large gatherings.

One of Kolkata's most famous celebrations, the Sovabazar Rajbari Puja, is popularly associated with Maharaja Nabakrishna Deb and the period following the Battle of Plassey in 1757. However, historians have questioned aspects of the commonly repeated story linking its origins directly to British military commander Robert Clive.

The festival subsequently acquired a broader public character as nationalist movements encouraged collective participation and the use of religious and cultural gatherings to promote social unity.

By the early 20th century, community-organised Durga Pujas were becoming increasingly prominent. These sarbojanin celebrations gradually transformed the festival from an occasion dominated by affluent families into a major public event.

𝗕𝗶𝗵𝗮𝗿 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗹 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲 𝗰𝘂𝗹𝘁𝘂𝗿𝗮𝗹 𝗹𝗶𝗻𝗸𝘀

The religious histories of Bihar and Bengal have long been interconnected through migration, scholarship, trade and shared traditions of goddess worship.

Durga Puja celebrations in Bihar also developed distinctive local characteristics. In Patna and other urban centres, Bengali communities played an important role in popularising elaborate idol-based celebrations during the colonial period.

Railway expansion and the movement of workers between Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand and Assam contributed to the spread of community Durga Puja celebrations beyond Bengal's major cities.

These developments illustrate how religious traditions evolved through interaction between communities rather than following a simple pattern of originating in one location and spreading unchanged to another.

𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗨𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗖𝗢'𝘀 𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗴𝗻𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻?

In 2021, UNESCO inscribed Durga Puja in Kolkata on its Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, recognising the festival's distinctive artistic, religious and community traditions.

The recognition highlighted the craftsmanship of idol-makers, the creativity of pandal designers and the participation of communities in organising the annual celebrations.

However, UNESCO's recognition does not establish that Durga Puja originated in Kolkata or Bengal. It acknowledges a living cultural tradition rather than determining the geographical birthplace of the festival.

𝗛𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗲𝘃𝗶𝗱𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝗲𝘀 𝗻𝗼𝘁 𝘀𝗲𝘁𝘁𝗹𝗲 𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗴𝗶𝗻 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝗮𝘁𝗲

The distinction between goddess worship and the development of Durga Puja as an annual festival remains central to understanding the controversy.

Religious literature, archaeological discoveries and regional customs demonstrate that Shakti worship flourished across eastern India long before modern political boundaries were established.

While Mithila's religious heritage provides evidence of longstanding devotion to Goddess Durga, Bengal's medieval and early modern records document the evolution of elaborate autumnal celebrations.

Neither body of evidence conclusively establishes that one region invented Durga Puja before the other adopted it.

The viral claim that Durga Puja began exclusively in Bihar rather than Bengal therefore remains historically unproven. What emerges more clearly is a shared religious and cultural heritage that developed over centuries across eastern India, with different regions contributing their own rituals, artistic expressions and community traditions to the festival.