Durga Puja festivities begin

The biggest religious festival of the Bengali Hindu community, Durga Puja, begins on Friday with Bodhan, the ritual awakening of Goddess Durga, ushering in days of worship and festivities across the country. The celebrations will conclude on Wednesday, October 21, with the immersion of idols on Bijoya Dashami.

According to the traditional calendar, Maha Saptami rituals, including the Nabapatrika ceremony, will be observed on Saturday, followed by Maha Ashtami on Sunday. Special Sandhi Puja will be held on Sunday, while devotees will offer food to the goddess on Maha Navami on Monday. The festival will conclude with processions and idol immersion on Tuesday.

According to religious belief, Goddess Durga will arrive on Earth riding a horse and return to heaven by boat. Devotees will pray for peace, prosperity and the well-being of the world.

This year, the government has extended the Durga Puja holiday to three days through an executive order, meeting a long-standing demand of the Hindu community. 

Combined with the regular Friday and Saturday weekend, the holidays will run from October 20 to 24, giving people five consecutive days off.

Basudeb Dhar, president of the Bangladesh Puja Udjapan Parishad, thanked the Prime Minister for the decision, describing it as a positive step.

The number of Puja mandaps across the country has risen by around 1,500 from last year to 33,851, reflecting the scale of preparations for the festival.

Police, Ansar, Border Guard Bangladesh (BGB) and the Special Response Battalion (SRB), along with volunteers, will help maintain security at mandaps across the country, including in the capital.

The Ministry of Home Affairs has directed the authorities to ensure uninterrupted power supply at the venues. Organisers have also been asked to keep generators and rechargeable lights ready to deal with possible power cuts.

In Dhaka, preparations at many mandaps are nearing completion, with idol-making and lighting work in their final stages. A central control room will be set up at the Dhakeshwari National Temple under the initiative of the Metropolitan Universal Puja Committee.

The temple premises will host devotional music, distribution of items, an arati competition and a Bijoya procession. Preparations are also under way at the Ramakrishna Mission, Tantibazar, Shankharibazar and other temples.

The festival follows Mahalaya, observed on October 10, which marks the beginning of the countdown to Goddess Durga’s arrival. The sounds of drums, cymbals and conch shells are now filling many parts of the country as preparations reach their final stages. Beyond religious rituals, Durga Puja is a celebration of Bangladesh’s cultural heritage and communal harmony, bringing together people from different religious communities in an atmosphere of shared joy and mutual respect.