Hindus in Bangladesh prepare to bid farewell to goddess Durga on Bijoya Dashami

The biggest annual festival for Hindus will end with the immersion of Durga's idols in the afternoon

Durga Puja, the biggest annual festival for the Hindu community in Bangladesh, is coming to an end with the Bijoya Dashami rituals, which mark the triumph of good over evil.

Chants for the mother goddess's return next year reverberated Dhaka's Dhakeshwari National Temple on Wednesday as devotees smeared each other with 'abir' (dry colours) at puja venues across the capital.

The Bihit and Darpan Bisarjan rituals mark the end of the Durga Puja festival, culminating with the immersion of the deity's idols in rivers in the afternoon.

Devotees will lead processions with the idols of the goddess Durga from various parts of Dhaka and converge on the Dhakeshwari Temple. Another procession will be brought out from the national temple at 4 pm ahead of the immersion ceremony at Waizghat in Dhaka.

The idols will also be immersed in the Turag River in Mirpur’s Beribadh area.

The Durga Pura celebrations were subdued over the last two years due to the coronavirus pandemic. Processions to mark the immersion ceremony and the rituals of 'shindoor khela' or 'vermilion sprinkling', in which married women smear each other in vermilion in playful jest, were restricted to puja venues.

But the celebrations were full blown this year as devotees at Dhakeshwari Temple looked to end the festival on a high note.

“Bijoya Dashami rituals started at 9:11 am on Wednesday with Bihit Puja. Shodashopachara Puja was held after that with different offerings to the goddess Durga followed by Pushpanjali and other rituals,” said Tapan Bhattacharya, chief priest at state-run Dhakeshwari Temple.

“This year’s puja was a bit different for us. The last few days were really exciting. We are saddened by the immersion of the goddess, but the goddess Durga will be back home again next year,” said Swapan Mojumder, who came to Dhakeshwari Temple for the first time with his wife Priyanka Nath.

“I offered prayers for everyone’s happiness and for the well-being of my family,” Priyanka said.