Bijoya Dashami being celebrated

Bijoya Dashami being celebrated

The five-day Durga Puja, the biggest festival of Bangali Hindus, will come to an end with solemn immersion of the Goddess Durga in Dhaka and other districts in Bangladesh.

Devotees are thronging at puja mandaps to celebrate Bijoya Dashami, the last day of the festival, on Tuesday.

They were reciting mantras and offering flowers to the goddess (pushpanjali) and praying for her blessings, reports UNB.

Each of the mandaps across Bangladesh has been ornamented with beautiful idols, showcasing the goddess in all her glory.

Bijoya Dashami is the special ceremony of reaffirming peace and good relations among people.

On this day, families visit each other, and married Hindu women put vermilion on each other's forehead on the occasion.

This year, the religious festival is being celebrated at over 31,000 puja mandaps throughout Bangladesh.

Devotees will bid farewell to the mother deity and her children - Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh - through the immersion of their idols in the water wishing Durga's return next year.

The five-day festival started on October 4 with the incarnation (Bodhon) of the Goddess Durga marking Sashthi.

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

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

mj/