Durga Puja to begin Monday
Durga Puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community, will begin on Monday with Maha Shasthi puja at temples across the country amid festivity and religious fervor with maintaining health guidelines.
The five-day long Durga Puja celebration will begin with the unveiling of the face of the deity and Kalparambho on the day of Maha Sashthi on Monday and it will end on 15 October with the immersion of the idols.
The incarnation (bodhon) of the goddess Durga will be held on Sunday ahead of the puja on the day of Maha Panchami.
Maha Saptami puja will be performed on Tuesday, Maha Ashtami, Kumari Puja and Sandhi Puja on Wednesday and Maha Nabami Puja on Thursday.
The Mahalaya, the auspicious occasion heralding the advent of goddess Durga, was celebrated on Wednesday last.
Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad leaders urged all devotees to properly maintain health guidelines and directives issued by the government in the wake of the global pandemic during the Durga Puja celebration.
In the capital, the main puja mandaps are Dhakeshwari National Temple, Ramkrishna Mission and Math, Kalabagan, Banani, Shakhari Bazar and Ramna Kali Mandir.
Exquisitely crafted and decorated life-size clay idols of the goddess Durga depicting her slaying of the demon Mahishasura are set up at temples and Durga Puja pandals. These idols are then worshiped for five days and immersed in the river on the fifth day.
The celebrations also include other major deities of Hinduism such as goddess Lakshmi (goddess of wealth, prosperity), Saraswati (goddess of knowledge and music), Ganesha (god of good beginnings) and Kartikeya (god of war).
Durga Puja will be celebrated at a total of 32,118 puja mandaps across the country this year while the puja will be arranged at 238 puja mandaps in the capital Dhaka, according to statement of Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad.
Earlier at a meeting on security measures during celebration of Durga Puja, home minister Asaduzzaman Khan Kamal said that law enforcement agencies will take tight security measures for ensuring peaceful celebration of the Durga Puja.