Mahāṣaṣṭhī opens the public Durgā Pūjā of Bengal, Assam and Odisha, when the Goddess is ceremonially awakened and welcomed into her image. The evening Bodhan recalls the akāla bodhana of the Kṛttivāsī Rāmāyaṇa, in which Rāma worshipped Durgā out of season, in autumn rather than spring, to gain her strength before his battle with Rāvaṇa. That story is why Bengal's principal Durgā Pūjā is kept in autumn. In Bengali homes the day is also felt as Umā's arrival at her parents' house for her few days' stay. How the day is fixed: Mahāṣaṣṭhī is the day on which Āśvina Śukla Ṣaṣṭhī prevails at local sunrise. Keep in mind: When a tithi is lost or repeated during Navarātri, the count of days shifts, so Mahāṣaṣṭhī is not always the sixth calendar day after Ghaṭasthāpanā. The Bodhan itself is timed to the evening of Ṣaṣṭhī, so follow the local pañjikā for the hour. This year: The 2027 date shown here is worked out from sunrise at the place you chose, so in another city the same day can fall a day earlier or later. Kalpārambha: In the morning the priest makes the formal resolve, the kalpa, to perform the pūjā through the coming days, and the ghaṭa is set in place. Bodhan, āmantraṇa and adhivāsa: At dusk the Goddess is awakened beneath a bel tree to the sound of the dhāk. She is then formally invited, and the adhivāsa consecrates the offerings and the image in readiness for Mahāsaptamī. Cakṣu-dāna and the unveiling: Cakṣu-dāna, the gift of eyes, is the moment the image-maker paints in the pupils, traditionally the last touch, after which the clay image is held to be the Goddess's abode for the pūjā. In Kumortuli many artisans are said to do this on Mahālayā, and on Ṣaṣṭhī the veiled faces in the paṇḍals are opened to the waiting crowds. Worth remembering: The Navapatrikā bath and the full worship begin the next morning on Mahāsaptamī, not on Ṣaṣṭhī. In most of India outside the east the same day is simply the sixth day of Navarātri, dedicated to Kātyāyanī. Every pūjā committee and family pūjā keeps its own customs for the Bodhan, from the tree it uses to the order of the rites, and regional styles differ between Bengal, Assam and Odisha. Elsewhere in India the day is kept according to each home's own Navarātri tradition. It is best to follow the way the elders of one's own house have kept it.
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