Indian Institute of Science Bengaluru
শারদীয়া দুর্গোৎসব
IISc 2026
From the banks of the Ganga to the river of knowledge, five days when a campus becomes a home.
until Ma reaches the campus, 16 October 2026
আহ্বান The invitation
সেমেস্টার আর গবেষণার ব্যস্ত জীবন থেকে একটু সময় বার করে ক্ষণিকের জন্য চোখ দুটো বন্ধ করো, আর একটা গভীর শ্বাস নিয়ে দেখো, চোখের সামনে যেন ভেসে উঠছে শুভ্র শিউলি আর কাশফুল।
Close your eyes for a moment and the white of shiuli and kash appears, clouds turn from monsoon grey to drifting cotton, and the dhak is almost ready to sound. Bengalis begin the Puja a month early. Nobody is surprised by this.
But you are far from home. That is the whole point. For five days this campus stops being an institute and becomes the courtyard of a house, one where nobody is a stranger, the khichuri is free, and the queue for anjali is the friendliest queue in Bengaluru.
A Puja at night, Calcutta, nineteenth century
শিরোনাম পৃষ্ঠপোষক Title sponsor
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Five sponsorship levels are still open.
Sponsor the Pujaউৎসব The days
Six tithis, one long exhale
ষষ্ঠী থেকে দশমী
From the waking of the goddess out of season to the mirror in which she is watched leaving. Timings firm up closer to the day; the shape does not change.
দুই নদী Two rivers
One carries silt. One carries questions.
Durga Puja is a river festival. The clay comes from the riverbank, the Nabapatrika is bathed in the river, and on Dashami everything returns to it. Bengal measured its year by what the water brought and took away.
An institute is the same arrangement with a different current. Knowledge is deposited, carried, argued over and eventually given back. This one was vested in 1909 and took its first students in 1911. C. V. Raman arrived as its first Indian Director in 1933, and from 1939 to 1948 the Director was Jnan Chandra Ghosh, a Bengali chemist trained under Prafulla Chandra Ray, who left here to found IIT Kharagpur.
The campus was always a mixed inheritance. Its founder was a Parsi, its land was granted by a Hindu queen ruling as regent for a son still too young to rule, and the Tata Memorial that faces the Main Building carries an Avestan inscription, good thought, good word, good deed.
So when a Puja happens here, nothing is being borrowed. On Nabami the old rite is Ayudha Puja, where you put down your instruments and garland them. A laboratory has never needed a translation for that.
And there is a straighter line than that. Bengaluru's first Sarbojanin Durga Puja was held in 1950, and by the Bengalee Association's own account it happened under the initiative of a few professors of the Indian Institute of Science. The city's Pujo started here. We are only picking it back up.
Read the long historyমৃন্ময়ী হয়ে ওঠেন চিন্ময়ী
Clay becomes consciousness
The idol is river clay on a bamboo frame. What changes it is the eyes, painted last, on Mahalaya, by an artisan who has fasted for it.
শিল্প The crafts
A festival is a commission
বাংলার শিল্পের মরশুম
Behind five days of ritual sit a dozen trades, most of them seasonal, several of them endangered. These are the hands the Puja hires.
দান Give
Funded entirely by the people who show up
There is no minimum. Give what feels right; every rupee gets a numbered receipt.
কোনও ন্যূনতম অঙ্ক নেই। যা মন চায় দিন, প্রতিটি টাকার হিসেব প্রকাশ্যে থাকবে।
There is no payment gateway, so no percentage is skimmed off. You transfer directly to the committee account, we verify it against the bank statement, and a numbered receipt reaches your WhatsApp. Every verified rupee is recorded against your name, like everybody else's.
যা মন চায়, তাই দিন
There is no minimum and no suggested minimum. A hundred rupees from a first year and twenty thousand from an alumnus get the same receipt, under the same rules.
- Pay by UPI
- iiscsdc@sbi
The payee shows as IISC SHARODIYA DURGOTSAB. Then record it on the Donate page for your numbered receipt.
শারদ সম্ভার Official merchandise
The Puja T-shirt is here
পুজোর অফিসিয়াল টি-শার্ট
Pujo Hits IISc: Durga in alpona on the front, দেবী in gold on the back, ₹449. Free delivery to IISc hostel blocks, or collect at Aryabhatta or NGH. Campus orders only.
Made, sold and delivered by our merchandise partner, Meme Theory. More surprises before Shashthi; watch our Instagram.
প্রশ্নোত্তর Questions
What people ask before they come
Where, when, whether it is free, and how a donation becomes a receipt.
Where is the Durga Puja at IISc Bangalore held?
At the Tata Memorial Club (TMC) Ground, opposite the SBI branch, Indian Institute of Science, Bengaluru 560012. It is marked F3 126 on the IISc campus map. Walking directions from every campus gate are on the Thikana page, and security at any gate will point you towards the SBI branch.
Directions from every gateWhen is the IISc Durga Puja in 2026?
Mahalaya is on Saturday 10 October 2026. The Puja runs from Maha Shashthi on Friday 16 October 2026 to Bijoya Dashami on Wednesday 21 October 2026, with Sandhya Arati and a cultural evening every night at 6:30 PM.
Five days, hour by hourIs it open to everyone? Is there an entry fee?
Yes, everyone is welcome and there is no entry fee. Anjali, the evening programmes and bhog are open to all who come.
When are Anjali and Sandhi Puja?
On Maha Ashtami, Monday 19 October 2026: Pushpanjali at 6:00 AM and Sandhi Puja from 7:26 to 8:14 AM. Sandhi Puja follows the tithi, so the priest confirms the exact minutes closer to the day and the committee announces them on WhatsApp and Instagram.
Maha Ashtami in fullWhen is Mahishasuramardini broadcast on Mahalaya?
At 4 AM on Saturday 10 October 2026, on Akashvani Kolkata, as on every Mahalaya since the 1930s. The 1966 recording also plays on this site's Mahalaya page, from Saregama's own upload.
The Mahalaya pageHow do I donate, and how do I get a receipt?
Pay by UPI to iiscsdc@sbi; the payee name shows as IISC SHARODIYA DURGOTSAB. Then record the payment on the Donate page with your name, WhatsApp number and UPI reference. The treasurer matches it against the bank statement and sends a numbered receipt to your WhatsApp. There is no payment gateway, so nothing is lost to fees.
DonateIs there an official Durga Puja T-shirt?
Yes. Pujo Hits IISc, the official T-shirt, is ₹449 in regular or oversized fit, sizes S, M, L, XL, 2XL, 3XL. It is made, sold and delivered by the merchandise partner, Meme Theory: Free delivery to IISc hostel blocks, or collect at Aryabhatta or NGH. Campus orders only.
See the T-shirtHow can I volunteer?
Join one of eight volunteer teams, from decoration and bhog to the magazine. No experience is needed.
Pick a teamWho organises it?
The IISc Sharodiya Durgotsab Committee, run by students of the Indian Institute of Science and funded by the campus community. The 2026 Puja is powered by Genotypic Group.
জানা-অজানা Did you know
Things the Puja has quietly forgotten
Scattered through this site are facts with sources attached. Here are three to start with.
The first worshippers were two ruined men
In the Devi Mahatmya's frame story the first Durga Puja is performed by a deposed king, Suratha, and a merchant, Samadhi, cheated by his own wife and sons. At the sage Medhas's hermitage they make a clay image on a riverbank and worship it.
দেবীমাহাত্ম্যের কাহিনি-কাঠামোয় প্রথম দুর্গাপূজা করেন রাজ্যচ্যুত রাজা সুরথ এবং নিজের স্ত্রী-পুত্রের দ্বারা প্রতারিত বণিক সমাধি। মেধস মুনির আশ্রমে নদীতীরে মাটির প্রতিমা গড়ে তাঁরা দেবীর আরাধনা করেন।
The blood chapter that forbids itself
The Kalika Purana's Rudhiradhyaya, its 'blood chapter', is the rare Puranic text to discuss human sacrifice, and it hedges the practice about with conditions until almost nothing is left of it. It may be done only with a prince's consent, and only before a war or in imminent danger. Anyone physically disabled, anyone related to a Brahmin, and anyone unwilling to die is unfit for it.
কালিকাপুরাণের রুধিরাধ্যায় অর্থাৎ 'রক্তের অধ্যায়' সেই বিরল পুরাণ-অংশ যেখানে নরবলির আলোচনা আছে, কিন্তু শর্তের ভারে তা কার্যত অসম্ভব করে তোলা হয়েছে। রাজপুত্রের সম্মতি ছাড়া হবে না, আর তা-ও কেবল যুদ্ধের আগে বা আসন্ন বিপদের সময়ে। শারীরিক প্রতিবন্ধী, ব্রাহ্মণের আত্মীয়, আর মরতে অনিচ্ছুক — এরা কেউই এই আচারের যোগ্য নয়।
The Nadia Raj began with a puja
Bhabananda Majumdar founded the Nadia Raj in 1606 under Jahangir and began a celebrated Durga Puja at his capital, Matiyari. His descendant Raja Krishnachandra Roy, who ruled 1728-1782, moved the seat to Krishnanagar and expanded the puja into one of Bengal's grandest.
জাহাঙ্গিরের আমলে ১৬০৬ সালে ভবানন্দ মজুমদার নদিয়া রাজ প্রতিষ্ঠা করেন এবং তাঁর রাজধানী মাটিয়ারিতে খ্যাতনামা দুর্গাপুজো শুরু করেন। তাঁর বংশধর রাজা কৃষ্ণচন্দ্র রায় (১৭২৮-১৭৮২) রাজধানী কৃষ্ণনগরে সরিয়ে আনেন, আর পুজোকে বাংলার অন্যতম জাঁকজমকপূর্ণ উৎসবে পরিণত করেন।
যোগাযোগ Stay close
Come stand in the courtyard
আমাদের সঙ্গে থাকুন