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Published : 02 Oct 2025, 06:20 PM
The Durga Puja festival which began on Shashthi with the awakening of Anandamayi has drawn to a close on Dashami, as devotees bid farewell to the goddess with the solemn ritual of "mirror immersion".
On Thursday morning, after the Bijoya Dashami prayers were completed, worshippers offered flowers and sprinkled sanctified water before immersing the mirror.
According to Hindu belief, after Nabami Puja, Goddess Durga leaves the mortal realm and returns to her divine abode. The mirror immersion marks the official end of the Trinayani Puja.
Once the ritual was completed, pavilions across the city prepared to send off the goddess. With sindoor, betel leaves and sweets placed before her, devotees parted with moist eyes, awaiting the return of Durga -- the destroyer of evil -- next year.
Patenga sea beach, as in years past, was the main site of immersion. Additional immersions were held at Kalurghat, Abhayamitra Ghat on the Karnaphuli River, Parki Beach and local ponds.
From noon, idols of the goddess were carried by truck to Patenga. Despite light showers, large crowds thronged the beach, including Hindus and people of other faiths. RAB, police and army personnel maintained security, with police posted at intersections along procession routes.
In the afternoon, Chattogram Metropolitan Police Commissioner Hasib Aziz visited Patenga to oversee the process.
“We have extensive preparations to carry out the immersion activities smoothly,” he said.
“We asked to complete the immersion by 7pm. Even if it runs later, security will remain in place.”
Nikhil Kumar Nath, general secretary of the Chattogram Metropolitan Puja Udjapan Parishad, said immersions began at 12:30pm.
“Our volunteers are helping those arriving from different pavilions with idol immersion,” he told bdnews24.com.
More than a hundred of the city’s 292 pujas were set to conduct immersion at Patenga, while others used Abhayamitra Ghat, Kalurghat, Parki Beach and local ponds.
This year, the Puja committee said celebrations took place at 292 pavilions in Chattogram city and 1,508 in 16 Upazilas across the district, along with numerous smaller ghats.
For Bengali Hindus, Durga embodies both resistance and protest while symbolising motherhood and power. The festival began with Mahalaya on Sept 21, marking the transition from Pitri Pakkha to Debi Pakkha, and will end with Kojagari Purnima on Oct 6.
The central rituals are observed from the sixth to the tenth day of Ashwin. Scriptures note that this year Durga descended from Kailash with her family riding an elephant, symbolising peace, prosperity, abundant harvests and fortune. She will return in a palanquin -- a sign believed to foreshadow epidemic or disaster.
