Mahalaya 2026: listen to Mahishasura Mardini by Birendra Krishna Bhadra, in Kolkata or abroad

Mahalaya's best-known sound keeps a timetable. At four in the morning, Kolkata time, the radio plays Birendra Krishna Bhadra reciting the Chandi. A family in Kolkata hears it in the dark. A family in New Jersey hears it the evening before, around dinner. Nearly every date in its history is disputed. The voice is not. In 1976 Akashvani tried to change it.

What is Mahalaya, and when is it in 2026?

Mahalaya is the Amavasya of Ashwin. It is the last day of Pitri Paksha, the fortnight when Hindus honour their ancestors, and the eve of Devi Paksha, the fortnight of the goddess. Drikpanchang's Kolkata calendar runs Pitri Paksha 2026 from Saturday 26 September to Saturday 10 October. Chandi Path and Durga Puja begin the day after Mahalaya, the same site says.

The tithi keeps its own clock. In Kolkata the Amavasya begins at about 9.35 pm on Friday 9 October and ends at about 9.20 pm on Saturday. Drikpanchang and the Bisuddha Siddhanta reckoning differ by a minute or two.

The morning's ritual is tarpan: water with black sesame, offered in the names of the ancestors. Thousands do it at the ghats along the Ganga. Driving that morning? Plan around it. Kolkata Police's traffic notification for Mahalaya (TP/47, dated 30 September 2026) keeps goods vehicles out of the city from 3 am to 10 pm on Saturday 10 October, except those carrying essentials such as LPG, fuel, oxygen, vegetables, fruit, fish, milk and medicine; small goods vehicles of up to 1,600 kg may come in from 4 pm. From 4 am to 4 pm no vehicle goes south of the Kiran Shankar Roy Road crossing on Strand Road, Babu Ghat buses turn off at the Hare Street crossing, and Auckland Road is closed from Government Place West. Kingsway from the Plassey Gate Road crossing, and Strand Road between Auckland Road and Commissariat Road, may be shut to everything but vehicles carrying devotees. Red Road is a separate closure: shut, as and when needed, from 10 pm on Tuesday 6 October until late on the 10th or early on Sunday 11 October, for a Durga Puja event there, under a second notification (TP/48). Metro runs extra trains that Saturday, 272 on the Blue Line instead of 252, but its first and last trains keep their usual times, Metro Railway Kolkata said.

When did Mahishasura Mardini start on the radio?

On the makers, the sources agree. Bani Kumar wrote it. Pankaj Kumar Mallick set the music. Birendra Krishna Bhadra narrated and recited the verses of the Chandi. The Sanskrit verses run into Bengali devotional songs and orchestral passages, with Pratima Bandyopadhyay and Shyamal Mitra among the singers.

1. 1931 or 1932

   The first dawn programme at the Calcutta station. The encyclopaedias disagree, and the station's own schedule for 22 September 1931 shows no dawn programme that day.

2. 1936

   On 8 June the Indian State Broadcasting Service becomes All India Radio.

3. 1937

   Betar Jagat lists "Mahishamarddini" at 6 am on Mahalaya, 4 October 1937, written by Bani Kumar and produced by Pankaj Kumar Mallick.

4. 1962 to 1976

   The live performance gives way to the recording. Sources give 1962, 1966, 1972 or 1976.

5. 1976

   On 23 September, Devim Durgatiharinim with Uttam Kumar takes the slot. Listeners object.

6. Within a year

   The Bhadra recording is back.

7. Today

   Akashvani plays it at 4 am on Mahalaya morning, as it did on 21 September 2025.

Now the year, and here even the encyclopaedias disagree. The English Wikipedia article gives 1931; the Bengali Wikipedia article gives 1932, and Bengali histories put the first dawn broadcast in Ashwin 1339, on Shashthi rather than Mahalaya. The station's own programme journal, Betar Jagat, which Akashvani Kolkata has put online, settles part of it. Its printed schedule for Tuesday 22 September 1931, the date usually given for the first broadcast, has no dawn programme at all: the day opens at 8 am with records. The issue of 1 October 1937 is the earliest available issue that lists the programme by name, at 6 am on Mahalaya, Monday 4 October 1937: "Mahishamarddini", written for Mahalaya by Bani Kumar and produced by Pankaj Kumar Mallick. The issues of 1931 and 1932 that would settle the first year are not online, so the first year stays open.

For years it went out live, with the performers in the studio before dawn. The Calcutta station worked from 1 Garstin Place from 1927 until it moved to Akashvani Bhavan, in 1958 by one account and 1961 by another. When the live performance stopped is disputed too: 1962, 1966, 1972 or even 1976, depending on the account. Either way, the tape Akashvani plays is about half a century old, and perhaps older.

Nearly every date in its history is disputed. The voice is not.

Then came 1976. On the morning of 23 September the slot carried a new programme, Devim Durgatiharinim, often written Durga Durgatiharini. Uttam Kumar narrated it; Hemanta Mukhopadhyay set the music. Listeners objected, loudly. Within a year the Bhadra version was back. Our reading: nobody was rejecting Uttam Kumar. They were rejecting the loss of the voice they had set their alarms for.

How can you listen to Mahishasura Mardini here?

Each of these plays right here, and when it ends the Pujo mood carries on.

1:29:19

Mahalaya (Mahishasura Mardini), the full programme

Saregama Bengali

The first track, and the one to keep: 89 minutes, Saregama's upload. If you play one thing, play this, start to finish, with the lights off.

▶ Play hereMore in the Pujo mood

30:07

Chandipath, Mahisasurmardini

Saregama Bengali

Saregama's 30-minute Chandipath: Bhadra's recitation on its own.

▶ Play hereMore in the Pujo mood

6:50

Narayani Namastute

Saregama Bengali

A shorter Bhadra recording, which Saregama titles Durga Vandana.

▶ Play hereMore in the Pujo mood

3:44

Bajlo Tomar Alor Benu

Saregama Bengali

We end with a song: Saregama credits it to Pankaj Mullick and Supriti Ghosh.

▶ Play hereMore in the Pujo mood

The recordings belong to Saregama; when you play them here, they play from Saregama's own YouTube uploads.

What time is Mahishasura Mardini outside India?

If Akashvani keeps its 4 am slot, this is when the broadcast starts where you are, counted from 04:00 IST on Saturday 10 October with each country's own clock-change dates; Canada and Victoria change on the same days as the US and New South Wales. The UK stays on BST until 25 October. Sydney and Melbourne move to summer time on Sunday 4 October. North America keeps summer time until 1 November.

To hear it live, start at Akashvani's own live page, which lists the Kolkata streams, among them Akashvani Kolkata Geetanjali, Sanchayita and Maitree. Prasar Bharati's NewsOnAir app carries the same stations. Which Kolkata stream carries the broadcast should be on Akashvani's schedule nearer the day, so check it that night. In 2025 it could also be heard on All India Radio's YouTube channel.

There are two ways to do it. Listen live, at the same minute as Kolkata, even if that is half past six on a Friday in Toronto. Or wait for your own Saturday dawn and play the Saregama recording from the Pujo mood. We would go live if the hour allows. The recording is the same either way; the shared minute is the part you cannot replay.

The recording is the same either way; the shared minute is the part you cannot replay.

What else to hear this Devi Paksha

These three are Mirchi Bangla stories.

▶10:27Play: Mahalaya Special Audiobook: Debi Katha

Mahalaya Special Audiobook: Debi Katha

Mirchi Bangla

Featuring Jagannath Basu. Short enough for the walk back from the ghat.

▶ Play hereWatch on YouTube · Mirchi Bangla

▶22:41Play: Kali Katha: Navaratri O Mahalaya-r Taatporjo

Kali Katha: Navaratri O Mahalaya-r Taatporjo

Mirchi Bangla

Times of Puraan, episode 1. The title promises the meaning of Navaratri and Mahalaya. Start here if a child asks why everyone was up at four.

▶ Play hereWatch on YouTube · Mirchi Bangla

▶50:00Play: Mahamayar Golpo: Mahishasur Bodh

Mahamayar Golpo: Mahishasur Bodh

Mirchi Bangla

Times of Puraan, episode 10. The killing of Mahishasura as a story, the same event the broadcast chants. Keep it for the afternoon.

▶ Play hereWatch on YouTube · Mirchi Bangla

More puran stories are on the puran page, and Mirchi Bangla's full list is on its channel page.

Where was Mahishasura Mardini first broadcast from?

The building did not last as long as the voice. 1 Garstin Place, where the programme was first performed live, was pulled down in January 1997. It had a reputation as a haunted house.

Bhadra's name is also on a ghost story we carry. Mirchi Bangla's Sunday Suspense Classics puts it on Garstin Place-er Saheb Bhoot, the sahib's ghost of Garstin Place.

▶8:30Play: Garstin Place-er Saheb Bhoot

Garstin Place-er Saheb Bhoot

Mirchi Bangla

Sunday Suspense Classics, eight and a half minutes. Play it after the Chandi, when the house is quiet again.

▶ Play hereWatch on YouTube · Mirchi Bangla

A YouTube channel called Akashvani Kolkata posts radio plays too. They are on our Akashvani Kolkata page.

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