The word Shakti means divine energy/force/power, and Durga is the warrior aspect of the Divine Mother/Brahman(Supreme Absolute Godhead).
As a goddess, Durga's feminine power contains the combined energies of all the gods. Each of her weapons was given to her by various gods: Rudra's trident, Vishnu's discus, Indra's thunderbolt, Brahma's kamandalu, Kuber's Ratnahar, etc.
Durga's Many Arms
Durga is depicted as having eight or ten hands. These represent eight quadrants or ten directions in Hinduism. This suggests that she protects the devotees from all directions.
Durga's Three Eyes
Like Shiva, Mother Durga is also referred to as "Triyambake" meaning the three eyed Goddess. The left eye represents desire (the moon), the right eye represents action (the sun), and the central eye knowledge (fire).
Durga's Vehicle - the Lion
The lion represents power, will and determination. Mother Durga riding the lion symbolises her mastery over all these qualities. This suggests to the devotee that one has to possess all these qualities to get over the demon of ego.
Durga's Many Weapons
The conch shell in Durga's hand symbolizes the 'Pranava' or the mystic word 'Om', which indicates her holding on to God in the form of sound.
The bow and arrows represent energy. By holding both the bow and arrows in one hand "Mother Durga" is indicating her control over both aspects of energy - potential and kinetic.
The thunderbolt signifies firmness. The devotee of Durga must be firm like thunderbolt in one's convictions. Like the thunderbolt that can break anything against which it strikes, without being affected itself, the devotee needs to attack a challenge without losing his confidence.
The lotus in Durga's hand is not in fully bloomed, It symbolizing certainty of success but not finality. The lotus in Sanskrit is called "pankaja" which means born of mud. Thus, lotus stands for the continuous evolution of the spiritual quality of devotees amidst the worldly mud of lust and greed.
The "Sudarshan-Chakra" or beautiful discus, which spins around the index finger of the Goddess, while not touching it, signifies that the entire world is subservient to the will of Durga and is at her command. She uses this unfailing weapon to destroy evil and produce an environment conducive to the growth of righteousness.
The sword that Durga holds in one of her hands symbolizes knowledge, which has the sharpness of a sword. Knowledge which is free from all doubts, is symbolized by the shine of the sword.
Durga's trident or "trishul" is a symbol of three qualities - Satwa (inactivity), Rajas (activity) and Tamas (non-activity) - and she is remover of all the three types of miseries - physical, mental and spiritual.
Durga stands on a lion in a fearless pose of "Abhay Mudra", signifying assurance of freedom from fear. The universal mother seems to be saying to all her devotees: "Surrender all actions and duties onto me and I shall release thee from all fears".
Durga puja (Bengali:দূর্গা পূজা,),‘Worship of Durga’), also referred to as Durgotsava.
Durga Puja festival marks the victory of Goddess Durga over the evil buffalo demon Mahishasura.Durga Puja is widely celebrated in the Indian states of Assam, Bihar, Jharkhand, Orissa, Tripura and West Bengal.
Somewhere inside these complex edifices is a stage on which Durga reigns, standing on her lion mount, wielding ten weapons in her ten hands. This is the religious center of the festivities
The word pandal means a temporary structure, made of bamboo and cloth, which is used as a temporary temple for the purpose of the puja.
Creation of the idols
The entire process of creation of the idols (murti) from the collection of clay to the ornamentation is a holy process,
supervised by rites and other rituals.
On the Hindu date of Akshaya Tritiya when the Ratha Yatra is held,
clay for the idols is collected from the banks of a river, preferably the Ganges (Hooghly in Calcutta/Kolkata).
There is age-old custom of collecting a handful of soil (punya mati) from the nishiddho pallis of Calcutta,
literally ‘forbidden territories’, where sex workers live, and adding it to the clay mixture which goes into the making
of the Durga idol.After the required rites, the clay is transported from which the idols are fashioned.
An important event is 'Chakkhu Daan', literally donation of the eyes.
Starting with Devi Durga, the eyes of the idols are painted on Mahalaya or the first day of the Pujas.
Before painting on the eyes, the artisans fast for a day and eat only vegetarian food.
Goddess Durga Rides a Lion and vengeance to kill a demon residing in city of Mysore ,named after Mahishasur,
the very demon which was slain by the Goddess.The original Indian name was Mahishur. Along with these central statues, Idols are also made of other Gods and Goddesses.
As it also includes the worship of Shiva, who is Durga's consort (Durga is an aspect of Goddess Parvati),
in addition to Lakshmi, Saraswati with Ganesha and Kartikeya, who are considered to be Durga's children are crafted.
Worship of mother nature is also done, through nine types of plant (called "Kala Bou"),
including a plantain (banana) tree, which represent nine divine forms of Goddess Durga.