UNB, Dhaka

The biggest festival of the Bangalee Hindu community, Durga Puja, ended yesterday with the immersion of idols of Goddess Durga and her children in rivers, ponds and the sea across Bangladesh.

According to Hindu belief, the immersion symbolises Durga’s return to her husband’s abode at Kailash.

In Dhaka, the Buriganga river turned into the heart of the celebration as thousands gathered to witness the final phase of the festival. Devotees from different neighbourhoods carried the idols on trucks to the riverbanks, singing hymns and playing instruments such as shankha, khol and dhak.

Amid chants and prayers, worshippers bid farewell to the mother goddess and her children -- Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh -- immersing their idols in the water with hopes of her return next year.

One of the highlights of the concluding day was Shidur Khela, a traditional ritual where female devotees offered vermilion at the feet of the goddess and then smeared it on one another.

The act symbolises blessings of prosperity and pays tribute to the divine feminine power embodied in Durga.

This year’s Durga Puja was celebrated at around 33,355 mandaps nationwide, including hundreds in Dhaka alone. The five-day festival began on September 28 with Bodhon (the invocation of the goddess) on Shashthi and culminated on Dashami with the immersion ceremonies.

Durga Puja, also known as Sharadiya Durga Utsab, is regarded as the worship of Shakti -- the divine force. It symbolises the eternal triumph of good over evil, as the goddess defeats the forces of darkness.