Barishal Correspondent :
Married women of Hindu community converge at the temples and pandales set up across the Barisal city to bid farewell to the Goddess Durga and her four children with vermilion (Sindur) and sweets on Friday evening .
On this day known as Mahadashmi, the day called as Bijoya Dashami, Goddess Durga departs with her four children — Laxmi, Sarswati, Kartik and Ganesha– to the house of her husband and it is marked with ‘Sindur Khela’ or, smearing of the vermilion.
The day formally starts with the special puja, yajna and Maha Aarti.
After bidding farewell to Devi Durga, the married women smear one another with Sindur and pray for their long and happy married lives.
It is believed that Sindur Khela dates back to time when the tradition of Durga Puja started nearly 400 years ago, said Bishu Ghosh, executive member of Jagannath Dev Durga Puja Committee.
The Bengali women folk adorning traditional dresses here offer vermilion at the feet of the Goddess Durga and then pray with betel leafs, sweets. After praying they smear each other with the red vermilion on hairs and faces, wishing long life for their husbands and peace and prosperity for their families, he told.
This is performed in front of Goddess Durga before she departs for her husband’s house.The significant of Sindur Khela is not only a farewell to Goddess Durga, but it also a prayer to her for the longevity of the spouses of the women taking part in this Khela and for peace and prosperity for their family, said Rakhal Chandra Dey, president of district puja udjapon parishad.
“The Sindur is a symbol of married life. We first apply it on the idol of Goddess Durga on Vijayadashami and then on other Bengali women while wishing them a happy married life and good luck,” explains Tapankar Chakraborty, former principal of Amrita Lal Dey College in the city.
Gouripur( Mymensingh) Correspondent reports: Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community was ended on Friday evening with the immersion of the idols of Goddess Durga in Gourpur Upazila.
As it is the biggest festival of the year and the most significant cultural event in Hindu society, devotees in their tearful eyes bade farewell to the mother deity and her children – Lakshmi, Saraswati, Kartik and Ganesh
The ceremonial worship of the goddess ended with the celebrations of Bijoya Dashami and devotees immersing the idols of the deity and her children in the pond named Annanta Sagor and other water bodies in this upazila.
The annual religious festival began on October 15 with incarnation of goddess Durga . To Hindus, Durga represents the embodiment of shakti, the powerful feminine force that governs all cosmic creation, existence and change.
BSS from Khulna says: The five-day celebration of Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Bangalee Hindu community, ended in the city and nine upazilas of the district through immersion of the idols with due religious fervour, gaiety and solemnity.
The Hindu community members celebrated Durga Puja this year amid unprecedented enthusiasm and festivities through performing religious rituals at record number of puja mandaps in the city and district.
The city and district unit Puja Udjapon Parishad and mandap authorities brought out Shuvo Bijoya Dashami processions last night, carrying idols of Devi Durga, other gods and goddesses on trucks and pick-up vans for immersions into the rivers.
BSS from Rangpur adds: The Sanaton community completed five-day celebrations of Durga Puja peacefully through immersion of the idols with due religious fervor, gaiety and solemnity in all eight districts under Rangpur division on Friday.
The greatest religious festivity of Durga Puja, the Santan community, was celebrated this year through performing religious rituals at record number of 5,265 Puja mandaps in the division amid huge enthusiasm and tight security measures.
Thousand of female devotees today thronged Puja mandaps to have last look at goddess Durga and seek her blessings for the nation, people and humanity as whole, fed her with sweets, put vermilion on her face and exchanged the same among themselves.
