What is Puja?

2020

Finding: This first-person account follows three women through a Goddess puja within a Women's Spirituality graduate program, describing it as an embodied, relational ritual rather than a seated meditation. The author found that the step-by-step offering of flowers, light, and other substances to a sacred image drew participants into sustained devotional attention, and that this ritual focus opened into further reflection, learning, and inquiry. For someone curious about puja, this suggests the practice can be engaged contemplatively through its multi-sensory structure, not only as formal worship. Keep in mind this is a single reflective narrative with no measurement of attention, mood, or physiology, so it illustrates how puja can be experienced rather than proving any specific benefit.

2026

Finding: This case study of Kolkata's Durga Puja describes how the festival temporarily transforms the city, turning streets and public spaces into shared sites of collective worship and celebration that draw communities together and reinforce a shared regional identity. For someone drawn to communal puja, it points to something the ritual offers beyond private devotion: a strong sense of belonging and connection that comes from worshipping alongside others. Keep in mind this is a cultural and sociological account of a large public event, not a measure of individual health, so it speaks to community experience rather than any personal clinical benefit.

2021

Finding: This piece is a commentary rather than a controlled experiment, so it discusses puja rather than measuring its effects. Like most of the research on puja, it approaches the practice through its devotional, community, and cultural roles rather than testing it as a contemplative meditation, and there are no randomized trials to draw firm conclusions from. If you are considering puja, treat any claims about specific mental or physical benefits as unproven for now, and approach the practice for its own meaning rather than for a measured outcome.

2023

Finding: This environmental study looked at what happens when Plaster-of-Paris idols coated in chemical paints are immersed in rivers at the close of Durga Puja, and found that the practice releases toxic heavy metals, including neurotoxic lead, into the water, disrupting river life and creating health risks for people downstream. The researchers point to a practical fix: returning to idols made from natural clay and organic dyes, which break down harmlessly. Worth knowing that this is a caution about festival materials and the immersion ritual, not about the act of worship or contemplation itself, so choosing eco-friendly idols and natural colours lets you keep the tradition while avoiding the pollution.

2025

Finding: This paper examines Chhath Puja through the lens of Hindu Vedantic thought, describing how the festival ties communities together around shared devotion, family ritual, and a common relationship to the natural world. For someone drawn to puja, it points to the practice as a way of deepening a sense of belonging and connection to community and place, rather than a solo exercise. This is a cultural and philosophical account of collective worship in North India, not a clinical study, so it speaks to shared meaning and social bonds rather than any measured effect on individual health.

2015

Finding: This clinical review looked at what happens to blood sugar when people with diabetes take part in the fasting and feasting cycles common during Durga Puja and Navratri, and it warns that swinging between ritual fasting and celebratory binge eating can trigger dangerous drops in blood sugar and other serious metabolic problems. For anyone managing diabetes, that means fasting during these festivals is not automatically safe, especially if your blood sugar is hard to control or you have other health conditions. The authors advise talking with a doctor about whether to fast at all and how to time medications around it. Because this is a review of existing clinical knowledge rather than a controlled trial, it flags a real risk rather than measuring how often harm occurs.

2024

Finding: This fieldwork study in Varanasi, Patna, Munger, and Sahibganj gathered the stories that worshippers tell about the goddess of Chhath Puja, portraying her as a healer, protector, and feminine energy linked to the Sun. It found that these local narratives, which sit outside the formal religious texts, weave regional tradition together with devotion and give the festival much of its shared meaning and sense of belonging. For someone drawn to Chhath Puja, this suggests the practice is as much about participating in a living community story as about the ritual steps themselves. This is a cultural and sociological account of how communities in North India experience the festival, not a measure of individual health or mental-health outcomes.

2009

Finding: This study documents how lead, a heavy metal that can pass into the brain and disrupt the developing nervous system, poses a particular danger to children because no exposure level is considered safe. That matters for Durga Puja practice because Plaster-of-Paris idols painted with chemical colours release lead and other toxic metals into rivers when they are immersed, contaminating water that communities and aquatic life downstream depend on. This is a caution about the physical materials of the festival, not about the contemplative act itself, and choosing clay idols with natural dyes avoids this pollution entirely.