Uma Agamani at Eden Gardens: 3,000 dhakis, a drone Durga and the start of Durga Puja 2026

About 3,000 dhaks at once, inside a cricket stadium. With them, conch shells and the ulu, the ululation Bengali women raise at a puja. After dark, some 3,000 drones gathered over Eden Gardens into the figure of Durga. Then fireworks. That was Mahalaya evening, Saturday 10 October, and with it the West Bengal government formally opened this year's Durga Puja.

The name is worth a moment. News On AIR, the news service of Prasar Bharati, calls the programme Uma Agamani: Uma's coming home. Agamani, or agomoni as Kolkata says it, is the daughter's homecoming to her parents, and a whole family of Bengali Puja songs is about it. Our reading: a Mahalaya evening could hardly have carried a better title. The songs themselves are in our guide to agomoni gaan.

One more thing before the evening itself. The photograph above is not from Eden. It shows dhakis, the drummers who play the dhak, waiting with their drums outside Sealdah station during the Puja of 2011. It is here anyway, because nothing tells Kolkata the Puja has come quite like a dhaki and his drum.

Afternoon: the walk from Red Road

The day began in the afternoon with a procession from Red Road to Eden Gardens, and Chief Minister Suvendu Adhikari walked in it. Along Red Road stood pavilions on the heritage, folk culture and crafts of the state's districts. Two state departments put the day on together: Information and Cultural Affairs, and Tourism.

The lamp and the dhak

Inside the stadium, Governor R N Ravi lit the lamp that formally opened the programme. The Chief Minister inaugurated the festivities and spoke. Entry to the ground was by invitation, and he put the number invited at 40,000.

The heart of it was the dhak. About 3,000 dhakis played together, and the women's conch shells and ulu rose with them. The gathering had been entered for a Guinness World Records title, and the Chief Minister was handed a certificate on stage.

About 3,000 dhaks at once, and then Durga drawn in the sky.

Durga in the sky

After dark the drones went up, about 3,000 of them, and drew Durga over Eden. News On AIR describes the image as Mahishasuramardini, the goddess slaying the buffalo demon. Fireworks followed over the stadium. On the ground, dancers brought folk forms from the districts.

Shantanu Moitra, Shaan and Dohar

The music came from the composer Shantanu Moitra, the singer Shaan and Dohar, the Kolkata folk band. Dohar's own agomoni is the first song below. The evening ended with the Chief Minister's prayer to the goddess.

What was announced for the pujas

In his speech the Chief Minister said the state's grant of ₹1 lakh for each puja committee would start reaching committees that had applied, from Sunday. He said electricity charges and fire-service fees for pandals had been waived and that there will be awards for the best idol, the best puja and environmental awareness, and the administration has ordered immersion by 24 October.

If you missed it: what comes next

The Puja proper is five days away. Panchami is Thursday 15 October. Shashthi begins before dawn on Friday 16 October, and Belur Math keeps Bodhon, the awakening of the goddess, on Friday evening. Dashami is Wednesday 21 October. Every day, with its rites and its songs, is in our Durga Puja 2026 day by day.

For the nights out, our Puja Guide keeps the pandals, the Metro and a plan for each day in one place. Metro Railway announced on 8 October that its Blue and Green Lines will run through the night from Saturday 17 to Tuesday 20 October. The hours for every line are on the guide's Metro page. If you are still choosing where to start, our Kolkata Durga Puja pandals guide is the shortlist.

And if the radio Mahishasura Mardini passed you by on Saturday morning, the recording is in our Mahalaya post. It still works on any morning between now and Shashthi.

Dhak and agomoni to play now

5:00

Gouri Elo

Bengali Music Directory | BMD

Dohar's agomoni, sung with Anupam Roy, Upal Sengupta, Lopamudra Mitra and others. Five minutes of Uma arriving at her father's house. That, after all, was what Mahalaya evening was about.

▶ Play hereMore in the Pujo mood

5:05

Ashtami, Pujar Dhak

Saregama Bengali

Saregama's recording, credited to Phani Natta, Joydeb Nandy, Manindra Das and Brajakanta Nandy. Five minutes of dhak, four drummers rather than 3,000, and still enough to fill a room.

▶ Play hereMore in the Pujo mood

4:21

Aay Maa Uma

Aalo | আলো 🪔

Rahul Dutta sings, 4 minutes 21 seconds. Aalo credits the words and tune to Kazi Nazrul Islam. A song that calls the daughter home, for the days between Mahalaya and Shashthi.

▶ Play hereMore in the Pujo mood

The Pujo mood carries on from there with the season's songs. At Eden the dhaks played in their thousands. Next week they play in every para, as Kolkata calls its neighbourhoods.

Pictures: Not Eden Gardens: dhakis with their drums outside Sealdah station on the morning of Maha Saptami, 3 October 2011.: Biswarup Ganguly, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY 3.0, cropped

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