Durga Puja to conclude on Bijoya Dashami today

The Durga Puja, the principal religious festival of the Bengali Hindu community, comes to a close today, Thursday, with the celebration of Bijoya Dashami.

The day’s rituals will be marked with grand offerings, arati, and worship. The concluding rites begin this morning with the Dashami Bihit Puja, followed by the darpon bisorjon (ritual immersion of a mirror after holding it in front the Durga idol), bringing to an end the five-day festivities that began last Sunday.

Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad adviser Kajal Debnath told Prothom Alo that the Dashami Puja at Dhakeshwari National Temple would commence at 9:57 am. After the darpon bisorjon, a voluntary blood donation campaign will begin at noon, as has become a tradition on Bijoya Dashami each year.

According to him, a grand Bijoya procession will set off from 3:00 pm, preceded by the arrival of idols from different mandaps across the capital to the Dhakeshwari temple.

Kajal Debnath further said that the immersion ritual (niranjan) will take place at the designated ghats on the Buriganga (Wise Ghat) in the evening.

This year the goddess arrived on an elephant, and her departure will be by palanquin.

Today, after the Dashami Puja and darpon bisorjon, many temples will host sindur khela (vermillion play). Traditionally, married women first offer sindur at the feet of the goddess, which they then collect and preserve in small boxes for use throughout the year.

They also smear this sacred vermillion, believed to carry the goddess’s blessings, on each other’s foreheads and faces.

Organisers confirmed that Sindur Khela will be observed at Siddheshwari Temple, the Banani Mandap, and the Krishibid Institute Mandap at Farmgate, among others.

Mandaps across Dhaka reverberated with the thunder of drums and resplendent with light and devotion, on Wednesday, the Maha Nabami, the penultimate day of the festival.

On the Nabami, the goddess is believed to have vanquished the demon Mahishasura in a fierce battle, and devotees regard this day of triumph as especially sacred. The central ritual of Nabami involves offering anjali (floral offerings) at the feet of the demon-slaying goddess.

Crowds of devotees gathered from early morning at Banani’s puja mandap in the capital.

Banani Puja Udjapan Committee convener Chandan Lodh said Nabami rituals began at 9:00 am with “bihit yajna and puja”, followed by anjali offerings at 12:15 pm.

Devotees clasped their hands in prayer, chanting with the priests, before collecting charanamrita (holy water) and blessings from the yajna fire.

Jadav Chandra Ghosh and his wife Archana Rani Ghosh travelled from Betila in Manikganj to offer anjali at Banani.

They told Prothom Alo that while their own village holds puja, the scale and grandeur of Banani’s celebrations were incomparable.

Likewise, Asim Guha and Rupa Guha of Gulshan came to offer their devotions, remarking that among the many mandaps they had visited, Banani’s stood out for its spaciousness, facilities, and security.

Yet, Asim added, the prevailing economic downturn had slightly dampened the festive spirit, as people were spending less freely this year.

This year, Banani mandap’s decorations were made entirely from eco-friendly materials, Banani Puja Udjapan Committee convener Chandan Dutt and Gulshan Puja Udjapan Committee general secretary Kanchan Kumar Dutt.

According to them, no artificial fabrics or ornaments were used for the idols, which were crafted entirely from clay. The idols featured primarily white hues with subtle pink tones, while the weapons and ornaments shone in bright silver.

The combination of white and silver imparted a serene grace. The mandap’s gates and interiors were adorned with traditional motifs using mats, straw, bamboo, and cane, evoking a rustic folk aesthetic.

Organisers said the Banani mandap welcomed an average of 140,000 devotees daily. From the opening day, prasad has been distributed to around 15,000 people each day.

On Nabami evening, rituals continued with chandi paath (recitation of the Chandi scripture), cultural performances, and arati from 9:00 to 10:00 pm.

They said 30 idols from Banani, Gulshan, and Uttara will be immersed at Ashulia following today’s Dashami Puja, with the Bijoya procession commencing after 3:00 pm.

Durga Puja has been organised at Farmgate’s Krishibid Institute ground by the Sanatan Samajkalyan Sangha for the past 34 years.

President Manotosh Kumar Roy told Prothom Alo that some 10,000 devotees offered anjali on Nabami morning alone, while prasad was distributed daily to between 3,000 and 5,000 people.

Among those present were Partha Bhowmik, his wife Subarna, and daughters Prakriti and Spriha, who live in Manipuripara. They said they would spend the day moving from mandap to mandap to offer their devotion to the goddess.

Today, as the five days of worship and festivity culminate in Bijoya Dashami, devotees across Dhaka and Bangladesh bid farewell to the goddess with prayers for her swift return next year.