Durga Puja ends with immersion of goddess Durga

Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Bengali Hindus, has come to an end on Wednesday with the immersion of Goddess Durga’s idols across the country amid tight security.

According to Hindu belief, the goddess Durga has returned to her husband's house at Kailash in Devaloy (heaven) through immersion.

In the capital, thousands of people thronged the Buriganga River in the city’s Bosila area today to observe the final phase of the festival -- immersion of the goddess.

Hindu devotees from different parts of the city came to the ghat in trucks carrying idols while singing hymns to Durga with the sounds of musical instruments such as ‘Shankha’, ‘Khol’, ‘Dhak’.

Devotees were seen bidding farewell to the mother deity and her children – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh – through the immersion of their idols, wishing Durga’s return next year.

In the port city, idol immersion was held at Patenga Sea Beach, Karnaphuli River, Firingi Bazar and Salimpur Beach area at Kalurghat and Sitakunda.

Durga Puja celebrations have been organised at 282 places in the Chattogram metropolitan area. Besides, the leaders of Chattogram Puja Udjapon Parishad said Durga Puja has been celebrated in 15 upazilas of the district in a total of 2,062 mandaps.

Visitors have been thronging Puja mandaps to celebrate Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the festival, recite the mantras, offer flowers to the goddess Durga and pray for her blessings since morning. On Bijoya Dashami, Hindu families visit each other.

As part of the main rituals of Dashami Puja celebrations, female devotees offered vermilion at the feet of Durga at mandaps and temples across the city, which is part of the traditional ‘Shidur Khela’. The ritual follows Hindu women putting vermilion on each other, wishing for prosperity in lives, as a tribute to the power of Goddess Durga.

In Bangladesh this year, the religious festival was celebrated at some 32,168 puja mandaps spread throughout the country, including 241 in capital Dhaka.

The five-day festival started on October 1 with incantation (Bodhon), marking Sashthi.

Durga Puja, the annual Hindu festival also known as Sharadiya (autumnal) Durgotshob, is the worship of "Shakti" [divine force] embodied in goddess Durga.

It symbolises the battle between good and evil where the dark forces eventually succumb to the divine.