The five-day celebration of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of Hindus, winds up today with the immersion of the goddess’ idols across the country.
Devotees will bid a solemn farewell to their deity Durga and her children Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh through immersion after inviting her to return next year.
Today, the Hindus also celebrate Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the festivities while thousands of devotees observed Maha Nabami with great enthusiasm at puja mandaps across the country yesterday.
Devi Durga was offered the Nabami Bhog of food and fruits which were later distributed among the devotees.
Bijoya Dashami is the special ceremony to reaffirm peace and goodwill among people.
Families visit each other to share sweets during the Dashami festivities. Married Hindu women put vermilion (sindur) on each other’s forehead on the eve of the occasion.
Hindus believe that Dashami is the day when goddess Durga accompanied by her children set off for Kailash, her husband’s abode.
After worshipping the Maha Dashami at different puja mandaps today, the devotees will bring out Bijoya Dashami procession carrying Durga and her children to riverbanks in the afternoon.
In the capital, thousands of devotees are expected to join the traditional procession scheduled at 4:00pm from Palashi intersection near Dhakeshwari Temple, the national temple. The procession will march through different city streets and end at Waizghat in old town before the immersion.
Nirmal Chaterjee, organising secretary of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, said most of the idols in 199 mandaps in the capital will be immersed in Buriganga and Turag rivers at Waizghat, Demra and Rayerbazar ghats.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina visited mandaps at Dhakeshwari Temple and Ramakrishna Math yesterday afternoon and exchanged greetings with the members of Hindu community.
In Bangladesh, Hindus celebrate the puja in around 28,000 mandaps this year.
Different organisations including Jatiya Sramik League, Jatiya Samajtantrik Dal, Bangladesh Jatiya Hindu-Moitree Parishad, Bangladesh Hindu-Buddha-Christian Kalyan Front, Gonoforum, Bangabandhu Sangskritik Jote, Bangladesh Workers Party in separate messages congratulated and greeted the Hindu community on the occasion of Durga Puja.
Courtesy of The Daily Star
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