As per the Hindu calendar, Mahalaya 2021, which marks the last day of Pitru Paksha, will be observed on October 6, a week prior to Durga Puja celebrations. The Amavasya Tithi of Mahalaya will begin on October 5, 2021 at 07:04 PM and it will end at 04:34 PM on October 6, 2021. The day will mark the end of 16-day long Pitru Paksha, with people remembering the departed souls by offering ‘tarpan’ and the beginning of Devi Paksha. For the residents of West Bengal and other states, Mahalaya begins the countdown of Durga Puja.
Mahalaya also plays host to a cultural event with the All India Radio program ‘Mahishasura Mardini’, which is a beautiful recitation of the scriptural verses of the ‘Chandi Kavya.’ The recitation is followed by devotional songs. Devotees wake up in the pre-dawn hours just to listen to the Mahishasura Mardini broadcast. Every year, since 1931, a one and half-hour audio montage of Chandipath along with Bengali devotional songs, classical music, and acoustics, is aired on the All India Radio at daybreak. The Bengali radio programme, Mahisasurmardini first started off as a live performance, but has been in the pre-recorded format since 1966.
It is a special ritual for Bengalis as on the day of Mahalaya, they wake up at 4 am and tune in to listen to Birendra Krishna Bhadra reciting the holy verses of ‘Mahisasura Mardini.’ The holy verses in short narrates the story of the descent of Goddess Durga on earth.
Bhadra, who has immortalised the Chandipath in his evergreen voice, narrates that Durga is regarded as the primeval source of power — Goddess Chandika. It tells how she assumes a majestic manifestation only to restore the process of creation, provide a shield from the evil incarnates, and restore Dharma to the world.
The Chandipath recounts, when Mahisasura, the king of the Asuras, defeated the gods and threw them out of heaven, they went to Brahma to seek help. Brahma guided them to Vishnu, the God of preservation, and Mahadeva, the God of destruction.
The gods then projected their energy, and which collectively gave birth to a strong form of energy, the ten-armed-goddess. The recitation by Bhadra tells us how Mahadeva gave her the trident, Vishnu gave her the Chakra, Kalbhairav (or Veerbhadra) gave the Khadga, Surya gave bow and arrows, Yama gave her the Kaal Danda, Vishwakarma a protective armour called as kawach, Kuber gave her ornaments and necklaces, Brahma gave her the rosary and the Kamandalu (container of sacred water). Now one can wonder why Goddess Durga sits on a Lion. It is because the Himalayas gave her the lion to act as her mount.
On receiving powers from all gods, the 10-arm Goddess and her mount went to war with the demon king and slew him.
After the mythical text is narrated, singers like Manabendra Mukhopadhyay, Sandhya Mukhopadhyay, Dwijen Mukhopadhyay, Arati Mukhopadhyay, Supriti Ghosh, Utpala Sen, and Shyamal Mitra sing some enchanting songs, which are composed by Pankaj Mullick.
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