When autumn arrives in Bengal, Durga Puja becomes an occasion of devotion to Mahamaya. For Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, Goddess Durga also represented Mahashakti—the power to break the shackles of subjugation and a metaphor of Bharat Mata. This national and revolutionary dimension of her worship was manifested in several episodes of his life. In 1925, Bose was exiled to Mandalay Jail in Burma with revolutionaries including Satyendra Chandra Mitra…