The Durga Puja, the biggest festival of the Bangalee Hindu Community, will conclude today (Thursday) with the celebration of Bijoya Dashami.

The day’s rituals began with the Dashami Bihit Puja, followed by darpon bisorjon—the immersion of a mirror placed before the Durga idol—marking the end of five days of worship that commenced last Sunday.

At Dhakeshwari National Temple, the Dashami Puja began around 10 am, according to Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad adviser Kajal Debnath. 

A voluntary blood donation campaign, a long-standing Bijoya Dashami tradition, began at noon. Later in the day, a grand Bijoya procession will begin at 3 pm, as idols from mandaps across Dhaka converge at the temple before heading for immersion. 

The final immersion rituals (niranjan) will take place at designated ghats on the Buriganga River, including Wise Ghat, in the evening.

This year, the goddess was believed to have arrived on an elephant and will symbolically depart by palanquin. After the morning puja and darpon bisorjon, temples will host sindur khela (vermillion play), where married women apply vermillion at the goddess’s feet before smearing it on one another as a blessing of prosperity. 

Organisers confirmed sindur khela will be observed at Siddheshwari Temple, Banani Mandap, and the Krishibid Institute Mandap at Farmgate, among others.

As Bijoya Dashami draws the curtain on this year’s festivities, devotees across Bangladesh bid farewell to Goddess Durga with prayers for her swift return next year.

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