[10][11] A 2019 study by the British Council estimated the economic value of creative industries associated with Durga Puja in West Bengal at ₹32,377 crores (2.6% of the state's GDP in that financial year).

[12][13] West Bengal's capital city Kolkata's Durga Puja has been inscribed on the intangible cultural heritage list of UNESCO in December 2021.

[14] In addition to West Bengal, Hindu Bengalis are native to Bangladesh[15] and Indian state of Tripura,[16] Assam (Barak Valley),[17] Jharkhand[18] and Bihar (Kosi-Seemanchal);[19] Therefore, Durga Puja is performed with great devotion in these places as well.

The festival is also marked by scripture recitations, performance arts, revelry, gift-giving, family visits, feasting, and public processions called a melā.

The festival ends on the tenth day (Vijaya Dashami), when devotees embark on a procession carrying the worshipped clay sculpture-idols to a river, or other water bodies, and immerse them, symbolic of her return to the divine cosmos and her marital home with Shiva in Kailash.

][27] The prominence of Durga Puja increased during the British Raj in the provinces of Bengal, Odisha, Bihar, Jharkhand, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Assam.

[citation needed] Over the years, Durga Puja has morphed into an inseparable part of Indian culture with a diverse group of people celebrating this festival in their unique way while on tradition.

[27] The 11th or 12th-century Jain text Yasatilaka by Somadeva mentions an annual festival dedicated to a warrior goddess, celebrated by the king and his armed forces, and the description mirrors attributes of Durga Puja.

[20][38] According to some scholars, the worship of the fierce warrior goddess Durga, and her darker and more violent manifestation Kali, became popular in the Bengal region during and after the medieval era, marked by Muslim invasions and conquests.

[58] The significance of Durga and other goddesses in Hindu culture is stated to have increased after Islamic armies conquered regions of the Indian subcontinent.

[59] According to yet other scholars, the marginalization of Bengali Hindus during the medieval era led to a reassertion of Hindu identity and an emphasis on Durga Puja as a social festival, publicly celebrating the warrior goddess.

[61] The puja rituals involve mantras (words manifesting spiritual transformation), shlokas (holy verses), chants and arati, and offerings.

[33] The festival is a social and public event in the eastern and northeastern states of India, where it dominates religious and socio-cultural life, with temporary pandals built at community squares, roadside shrines, and temples.

Rituals typically performed on the sixth day include: Bodhana: Involves rites to awaken and welcome the goddess to be a guest.

A layer of a fiber called jute, mixed in with clay, is also attached to the top to prevent the statue from cracking in the months ahead.

[93] Then, starting about August, the local artisans hand-paint the sculpture-idols which are later dressed in clothing, are decorated and bejewelled, and displayed at the puja altars.

[103] In certain instances, devotees consider animal sacrifice distasteful, and practice alternate means of expressing devotion while respecting the views of others in their tradition.

[105] In Nepal, West Bengal, Odisha and Assam, animal sacrifices are performed at Shakta temples to commemorate the legend of Durga slaying Mahishasura.

[107] The Rajputs of Rajasthan worship their weapons and horses in the related festival of Navaratri, and some historically observed the sacrifice of a goat, a practice that continues in some places.

[111][better source needed] Months before the start of Durga Puja, youth members of the community collect funds and donations, engage priests and artisans, buy votive materials and help build pandals centered around a theme, which has rose to prominence in recent years.

Durga Puja pandals have also been centered around themes to acknowledge political events such as the 2019 Balakot airstrike and to protest against the National Register of Citizens of India.

[137] Durga Puja is a widely celebrated festival in the Indian states of West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Uttar Pradesh (eastern parts), Assam, and Odisha.

[140] Durga Puja is also a gift-giving and shopping season for communities celebrating it, with people buying gifts for not only family members but also for close relatives and friends.

[145] According to some scholars, the ritual of immersing the Durga sculpture-idol into the river attracted the attention of colonial era travelers to the Bengal region from Europe, such as Garcin de Tassy and Emma Roberts.

[155] In 2019, Kolkata's Durga Puja was nominated by the Indian government for the 2020 UNESCO Representative list of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity.

[158] A 2013 report by ASSOCHAM states West Bengal's Durga Puja to be a ₹25,000 crores worth economy, expected to grow at the compound annual growth rate of about 35 per-cent.

[165][166] The factors responsible for this economic boost are mainly the increase of earning in transport, tourism, industry, business, shopping and other fields.

Bengalis traditionally wake up at four in the morning on Mahalaya to listen to the radio show, primarily involving recitations of chants and hymns from Devi Mahatmyam (or Chandi Path) by Birendra Krishna Bhadra and Pankaj Kumar Mullick.

[181] According to BBC News, for community celebrations in London in 2006, these "idols, belonging to a tableau measuring 18ft by 20ft, were made from clay,straw and vegetable dyes".

At the end of the puja, the sculpture-idols were immersed in River Thames for the first time in 2006, after "the community was allowed to give a traditional send-off to the deities by London's port authorities".