Scriptures stipulate different methods for worshipping Goddess Durga on each day during Durga Puja. Specific items are required for each day’s worship, which need to be arranged well before the beginning of the ceremony. The items necessary for each day of Durga Puja are listed below.
Items required for Kalaparamho Ritual:
Kalaparambho is a ritual carried out before the beginning of Durga Puja, for which the following items are essential:
Food Offerings : Main food offerings are Panchashasha, which consists of five types of grains (rice, mung or whole green gram, til or sesame, mashkalai or whole black leguminous seed, job or millet); and Panchagobbo, which are the five items obtained from the cow (milk, ghee or clarified butter, curd, cow dung and gomutra). Other necessary items include curd, honey, sugar, big noibiddo-3 , small noibiddo-1, madhupakka (a mixture of honey, curd, ghee and sugar) – 3 bowls, bhoger drobbadi, aaratir drobbadi, mahasnan oil, dantokashtho, sugar cane juice, an earthen bowl of atop (rice), til toilo (sesame oil).
Water Offerings: Different types of water including lukewarm water, water from oceans, coconut water, rainwater, water containing lotus pollen, spring water, Sarbooushodhi and mahaoushodhi.
Puja Items:
Puja items consist of vermillion, panchabarner guri or powders of five colours (turmeric, rice, kusum flowers, burnt rice chaff or coconut fiber, powdered wood apple leaves), panchapallab (leaves from five trees like mango, pakur, betal banyan, and Joggodumur), Pancha Ratna (five types of gems – diamond, gold, sapphire, ruby and pearl), panchakoshay (bark of five trees namely shimul, jaam, berela, kool and bokul of equal quantity powdered and mixed with water), green coconut with stalk, finger ring made of kusha grass – 3 nos.
Cloth Offerings: A piece of cloth to cover the pot, a cloth for Vishnu, and saris for bodhon and Chandi are essential.
Decorative Items: The items include a pot, kundohari, a mirror, four arrows, a triangular wooden frame, horitoki flowers (myrobalan), chandmala (garland with circular decorations), and a mattress of jute or hay.
Other Items: Other items include water camphor and perfumed sandalwood paste; Soil collected from different sources like elephant tusks, teeth of the pig, horns of the ox, riverbanks of Ganga and Saraswati, from both the banks of the same river, from the inter-junction of four roads, from palaces, from ant hill, and from the mountains.
Items required for Shashthi Puja:
Food Offerings: Food offerings include green coconut, a stem of wood apple with fruits, an earthen bowl full of atop, madhupakka – 3 bowls, sesame seeds, curd, honey, clarified butter, sugar, big noibiddo -3, small noibiddo-1, bhoger drobbadi, aaratir drobbadi, grain, fruits, banana – one dozen, white mustard seeds.
Puja Items : Puja items should consist of a pot, arrows – 4 nos, ashonanguriuk-2, panchapallab, panchagobbo, pancha ratna, panchashasha, tekatha, dubba grass, sindur, swastik pituli, conch shell, kajol, gorachana, yellow thread, camphor, a fly-whisk made of yak’s tail, earthen lamps, panch pradip for arati.
Cloth Offerings: Cloth to cover the pot, a cloth for the wood apple tree, a sari for bodhon, and a sari for amontron.
Decorative Items: These should include flowers, chandmala, Myrobalan, adibas oil, turmeric, perfume, soil from the bank of Ganga, stone, gold, silver, copper, iron, mirror and alta.
Items required for Saptami Puja:
Food Offerings: Food offering include flowers, sesame seeds, myrobalan, two earthen bowls full of atop, green coconut with stalk, wood apple leaves, white mustard, madhupakka- 40 or 22 bowls, noibiddos- 40 or 22, honey, sugar, one main noibiddo, fruits, items for bhog.
Puja Items: Puja items shall be complete with red thread, Jute ropes, alta, finger rings – 4, yadnyopaveet – 4, pot, mirror, tekatha, sandalwood, mashkolai, hibiscus flower, small noibiddo, big earthen lamp, panchapallab, Pancha Ratna, panchashasha, panchaguri, vermillion, items for arati, items for the yadnya including sand, wood, dry khorke grass, cow dung, kusha grass, ghee, 108 bel leaves and a bowl.
Cloth Offerings: Cloth for the Pundit, cloth for arati, finger rings made of kusha – 40 or 22, sari for nabapatrika, one sari for main puja, saris for Durga, Lakshmi, Saraswati, and Chandi; dhoti for Kartik, Ganesh, Shiva, and Vishnu; clothes for nine planets, clothes for peacock, mouse, lion, demon, buffalo, ox, and snake; chandmala, a nosering, iron, conch shell.
Plants and flowers: These include Belpatra garland, Flower garland, Banana plant, turmeric plant, colacassia plant, a stem of Jayanti plant, arum plant, wood apple stem, pomegranate stem, rice plant, Ashoka stem, twigs of white aparajita plant, two banana stems.
Items required for Ashtami Puja:
Food Offerings: Food offerings shall consist of fruits, items for bhog, items for arati, madhupakka -40 or 22 bowls, honey, sugar, curd, ghee, noibiddos -40 or 22, small noibiddos – 4.
Cloth Offerings: Sari for Durga, clothes for Lakshmi, Saraswati, Chandi, Kartik, Ganesh, Shiva, Vishnu, nine planets, lion, peacock, mouse, demon, ox, buffalo, snake, Jaya, Bijoya and Ram.
Puja Items: Flowers, Dantakashto – 1, finger rings made of kusha – 40 or 22, one nose ring, iron, conch shells – 2, a box of vermillion, a garland, belpatra garland, one chandmala, one ghoti.
For Sandhi Puja: Flowers, gold ring, bronze bowl for madhupakka, a small sari, main noibiddo, one small noibiddo, one plate, one pitcher, iron, one nosering, one pillow, a mat, a chandmala, earthen lamps – 108, items for bhog, and items for the arati.
Items required for Nabami and Dashami Pujas:
Food Offerings: Betel leaves, pan masala, madhupakka – 40 or 22 bowls, honey, sugar, curd, ghee, noibiddos – 40 or 22, small noibiddos – 4 nos.
Cloth Offerings: Clothes for Lakshmi, Saraswati, Chandi, Kartik, Ganesh, Shiva, Vishnu, nine planets, lion, peacock, demon, buffalo, ox, snake, mouse, Jaya, Bijoya and Ram, one dantakashto , one sari for the main puja.
Puja Items: Flowers, finger rings made of kusha – 40 or 22, ghoti , nose ring, iron, conch shells – 2, a box of vermillion, belpatra garland, flower garland, a chandmala, one plate, items needed for the fire sacrifice, bel leaves, gift for the Purohit.
Items required for the Dashami puja:
Puja items for Dashami puja include flowers, durba grass, basil leaves, bel leaves, perfume, incense sticks, an earthen lamp, noibiddo, curd, murki, sweets and items needed for arati.