Durga Puja ends with immersion of images of deities

Durga puja, the biggest religious festival of the Hindu community, concluded on Thursday through ceremonial immersion of images of goddess Durga after five days of worship and festivities.
The Hindu devotees celebrated Bijoya Dashami in the morning in over 22,000 puja mandaps across the country. Of the total, 165 mandops were set up in the capital alone.
In the evening, the devotees bade solemn farewell to the mother Durga and her children Laxmi, Saraswati, Kartic and Ganesh through the immersion of their images in river waters while inviting her to return to them next autumn.
The Hindus observed the concluding day as Bijoya and exchanged Bijoya greetings before joining the final pageantry, which came in close succession to the Eid festival of the Muslims.
The day was a public holiday.
It is believed by the devotees that goddess Durga descended on earth by riding palanquin (palki) and departed on elephant back. According to Hindu mythology it symbolises that the country will harvest abundant crops this year.
In the capital, thousands of men, women and children joined the traditional idol-immersion procession brought out from near Dhakeswari National Temple with 100 trucks carrying images of Durga at 5:10pm. The procession drew to a close at Waizghat after parading through main streets of the city.
Later, the images were laid under the Buriganga waters in tears.
Special security measures were taken as members of different law-enforcement agencies escorted the procession until the immersion of the images.
Advocate Tapash Paul, general secretary of Mahanagar Sarbajaneen Puja Committee, said images of goddess Durga from around 30 mandaps were gathered at Dhakeswari Temple for the Bijoya march.
Hindu revelers, many painting their forehead in red, sang and danced in circles to the rhythm of bands while marching along the route.
Durga Puja is the worship of ‘Shakti’ or divine power embodied in Devi Durga. It symbolises the battle between good and evil.
On the occasion, the president Iajuddin Ahmed and his wife Anwara Begum hosted a reception to the Hindus at Bangabhaban. The state-run and private television channels and radios aired special programmes while newspapers published supplements on the great religious festival.